Dr. Nathaniel Easley (left), NCAN board president, presents the 2021 Partner of the Year Award of Excellence to Bernard McCune (right), associate chief of academics for Denver Public Schools during NCAN's virtual conference.
Denver Public Schools received the 2021 Partner of the Year Award of Excellence at NCAN's 2021 National Conference. This award recognizes an institution, department, or school district that collaborates with an NCAN-member college attainment organization
or program to ensure that the organization's students – and all underrepresented students served by the partner – get the supports they need to begin and complete a two- or four-year degree.
Denver Public Schools (DPS) serves over 90,000 students, and more than 60% of its students come from lower-income backgrounds. DPS is committed to equipping its students with the knowledge and skills necessary to
achieve success and to ensuring that postsecondary education is possible for all.
Denver Public Schools has fostered a strong partnership with the Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) to maximize attainment outcomes.
The district houses 14 DSF-operated Future Centers, or advising offices, within its high schools. During the 2019-20 school year, DSF college advisers supported nearly 6,000 DPS high
school students through college access programming that included academic, career, and financial advising as well as college tours.
DSF attributes its ability to reach this many students to Denver Public Schools, as the district has interwoven college access services into its high school curriculum and helps fund the foundation's programming.
Denver Public Schools' four-year graduation rate increased from 62.8% in 2014 to 70.9% in 2019. In addition, college enrollment for DPS graduates increased by approximately 35% over the same period.
Moreover, DPS enables students to earn college credits for free while they're still enrolled in high school, which both prepares students academically for college and alleviates a significant financial burden for them and their families. During just one
recent academic year, DPS students earned 54,000 college credits. Furthermore, DPS facilitates students' access to high-growth industries through its CareerConnect program, which connects
students to career development programs and paid internships and apprenticeships.
DPS is actively working to close equity gaps in postsecondary education by bolstering students of color through its numerous measures to support student success. The number of Black and Latinx DPS students who enrolled in college the fall after graduation
more than doubled between 2006 and 2018.
Also, DPS students who are English language learners are now outperforming their peers statewide in reading, writing, and math – after historically scoring about 10% lower ¬– due to the district's heightened focus on equity.
"The leadership of DPS is equally as committed to quality education as it is to student success, not only while [students] are inside its walls, but long into their futures," wrote Lorii Rabinowitz, chief executive officer of the Denver Scholarship Foundation,
in a letter nominating DPS for the NCAN award.
As the Partner of the Year award recipient, Denver Public Schools will receive $5,000 to put toward general operating support, scholarships, and/or professional development.
NCAN solicits nominees from its membership for the annual Awards of Excellence in College Access and Success. A committee of NCAN members reviews all nominations, with final decisions confirmed by the NCAN board of directors. NCAN thanks the members of
the 2021 Awards Committee for their service:
Jamie Covell, Community Engagement Consultant, Iowa College Aid
Jeremy Raff, Coordinator of College and Career Services, School District of Lancaster
Soilo Felix, Chief Program Officer, Be A Leader Foundation
Laurel Wilder, Director of Marketing and Communications, College Now Greater Cleveland
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