Denver Public Schools recently released state assessment scores for around 55,000 students who participated in CMAS and SAT testing, claiming, “… the district is making a real difference for all of our students.” Digging into the data (as EDUCATE Denver and other civic leaders did recently with an independent data analyst), a more nuanced story unfolds.

It is a proverbial “tale of two cities.” One plot line reveals that approximately three quarters of DPS white students are proficient in reading, outscoring their Colorado peers by 17 points. A parallel tale suggests that of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students who 70% or more are not proficient in reading and, in contrast to their white peers, underperform similar students statewide.

These same terrible patterns hold true in math,

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