City: Denver, CO

Category: Education

Telephone: (303) 853-3333

Address: 5291 E. 60th Ave.

Description: One of Metro Denver’s smaller school systems, District No. 14 has seven elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, and one alternative high school. It also has a full-­time preschool. This district pulls students from Commerce City and areas in Thornton and unincorporated Adams County. It’s solidly in the midrange of Metro Denver school districts as far as the education and salaries of its teachers and its spending per pupil. Its high-­school dropout rate is considerably higher than the state average, and it has one of Metro Denver’s lowest graduation rate and lowest composite ACT scores in recent rankings. At the same time, District 14 has a gung-­ho attitude about the future, with a commitment to improving its schools under a basic “Reading + Writing x Math” CSAP-­driven base curriculum. Adams City Middle School has a personalized alternative instructional program for students at risk of dropping out. Since it was established in 1991, the program has grown to serve more than 10,000 students and families. With more than 83 percent of its students Hispanic, Adams 14 puts a lot of effort into bilingual education and accommodating cultural diversity.