Editor’s note: The SHIFT Chronicles is a new monthly feature dedicated to amplifying student voices, where those most impacted by the public education system share their thoughts, reflections, and experiences. In collaboration with FaithBridge SHIFT fellows, these commentaries offer a genuine glimpse into the challenges students are facing within our city’s schools. These students represent a diverse range of schools across the city, each with distinct cultures and expectations, yet all united under the DPS banner. A special thank you to all the student writers who contributed their entries.
This month’s entries focus on student views of what makes a high-quality school.
Alazay Jaime, junior, Destinations Career Academy of Colorado
“What makes a quality school?” As a junior now doing online school, I’ve definitely seen my fair share.
A quality school is built on three main things: safety and security, a quality education, and a supportive community. Another huge factor is how staff and teachers are treated. If teachers lack motivation, it will reflect in their students’ academic performance.
Resources should be offered to students in any school. Access to counseling, extracurricular activities, academic support, and technology can make a huge difference in a student’s life. These resources not only provide academic help, but also emotional support, ensuring that every student feels valued and has the opportunity to succeed.
Every child deserves to feel supported and understood.
In my current school I do outdoor leadership. They offer a lot of options like culinary arts and veterinary classes. These kinds of programs help set students up for the real world by giving them skills and experiences they can use in their future careers.
Every student should have access to these types of opportunities to help them succeed. Additionally, schools can offer internships, mentorship programs, and workshops on career planning.
I’m blessed to have found FaithBridge, a program that is helping me get to and through college, but not every student gets this opportunity. By providing experiences and support, schools can better prepare students for life beyond the classroom.
Personally, when I was attending in-person school, fun activities like pep rallies or field trips always made me look forward to going to school even more. They felt like a reward and added so much excitement to the “high school experience” we all fantasize about as kids.
I don’t believe schools are just places for learning. They’re safe havens for many students who need a break from toxic households or just serve as a place where they can be themselves. A supportive community within a school can make all the difference.
A student can be given all of these resources and still struggle with motivation, but taking these steps into consideration can give that extra push for those who need it. Education is incredibly important, and today’s students are the future doctors, scientists, and leaders. They deserve to be treated with the respect and support that reflects their potential.
Lawrence Thomas, junior, Colorado Early Colleges of Aurora
When I think of what makes a quality school, I imagine a school where its goal is to support students and teachers and prepare students to become adults and live in an ever-changing world.
A quality school is one where teachers have the resources needed to create an environment where students are engaged and learning. These teachers must have the resources to focus solely on pouring into the students and helping them when they are confused or need help.
For students, I believe it is a school that has adequate resources to help such a wide variety of students, knowing students learn differently. It is a school that is not seeking to create one type of student but working with the students to help them be themselves and flourish.
Providing resources like mental health services, nurses, technology, a library, and anything else that students need to succeed. Also, this school would ideally have a good amount of community engagement, creating good relations between parents and the local community
With this idea of a quality school, I don’t believe I have fully experienced this at my school, but they are trying their best to provide it. We have decent mental health services that are always trying to remind us of the importance of our mental health. We have a good supply of technology and classes that try to help us reach our dreams and advisors who try their best to make sure every student has access to these resources.
Since my school has a smaller building, a smaller number of enrolled students, and offers concurrent enrollment, it might not always be the easiest to provide multiple classes that solely focus on preparation for life, not just immediately after high school, but classes that can help you throughout your life. Whether you go to college or not, knowing how to manage your finances, or understanding how credit and insurance works is just as important as any other subject we learn.
Although my school doesn’t yet have these classes and might not be a “quality” school, I hope they will adjust the curriculum and improve the overall experience for students like me and others.
Olivia Ewudziacquah, senior, East High School
I believe what makes a quality school is how well it teaches its children.
For example, if the school claims to be a school that highly values its students’ writing and reading, I would expect the children going to that school to be exceptional at reading and writing. If the school claims to be good at teaching its students something related to computers and the students going there don’t even know what a computer is, then I would believe that the quality of that school is subpar.
But if the school claims they are a quality school because it is exceptional at teaching students how to read and write, and the proof is right there, but the school’s happiness levels are very low, I personally don’t think it’s a high-quality school.
My school claims to be a great quality college-prep school, and I believe it. Our school prioritizes having deliverables that prepare us for college, like going on trips to various colleges, messaging teachers for letters of recommendation, personal statements, and even making us apply to scholarships and summer programs. Although it’s a little annoying, I know in the long run it’s helpful.
My school is helpful and a quality school in a sense, but in other aspects it is lacking. For example, listening to student voices. My school prioritizes college prep so much that it ignores what their students want and it’s polarizing between deliverables and student happiness.
Last year, students advocated not including RP (detention) lists as a factor on whether 11th-graders could go off campus for lunch. The deans claimed that if more than half of the students in RP did not attend, the entire grade couldn’t go off campus.
There was a time when only five people were on the list, and three people didn’t go. We were upset and argued that we shouldn’t have to hold other students accountable on whether they went to RP. What were we supposed to do? We didn’t even know their names because the RP list showed their lunch IDs.
After claiming how unfair this was we gave reasons for why we thought that they no longer should cancel off-campus lunch for the entire student body, but rather the individual. However, this year they brought the same rule back for the 11th-graders. And guess what happened: The exact same advocating from both the 11th-grade and the 12th-grade, because again, it wasn’t fair.
In my eyes, for my school to be a high-quality school, it must take student consideration in mind and keep the rules that students advocated for in place.
Vintrell Davis, sophomore, DSST: Elevate Northeast High School
A quality school is defined by student choice, and some of you might be confused about what I mean.
I mean that students should have the choice to choose their own classes and extracurriculars. In a quality school, students aren’t forced to take classes that don’t align with their career choice. For example, if a student wants to become an engineer, they should be able to take engineering classes.
Quality schools take advantage of their resources to support students on their journey. Students who choose to be athletes are supported with school resources and sufficient training. Quality schools also have resources for student well-being, like having a field, air conditioning, and having diverse cultures and courses.
At DSST: Elevate, we can choose between art, computer science, and video production. Even though you can only choose one of these classes per year, it is a huge start towards being able to choose all your classes. My school has access to a field and a basketball, soccer and volleyball team. Due to DSST: Elevate being a new school, it doesn’t have access to many things older schools do, such as a football, track, or a baseball team.
This is the first year DSST: Elevate has seniors, so we don’t have as many resources as older schools. DSST: Elevate also has a many different courses for students. My school gives students mental health support, although the mental support is not enough. Still, having it in place is better than no support at all.
A quality school has mental health support and a sufficient student to counselor ratio. The average student to counselor ratio is 385-1 which is not enough, and instead schools should have a much lower counselor to student ratio such as 18-1. A higher student to counselor ratio means students aren’t getting the support they need.
Unfortunately, this isn’t properly placed at my school as there are two counselors for over 300 students. With the shortage of teachers, school quality is also at risk. 51,000 teachers quit their jobs in 2023. A big reason for teachers quitting is low pay and lack of resources. Colorado ranks 49th out of 50th of lowest paid teachers. If teachers were paid more, school quality would be improved greatly.
With teacher pay being so low, far fewer people are choosing to become teachers, resulting in lower school quality and lack of proper education. As time progresses this may only become worse, leading to more schools closing and lower student support and development.
Audrey Goodman, junior, East High School
In my opinion, a quality school is an organized space that fosters creativity and curiosity through a community.
A quality school also supports the diverse needs of students and ensures that its students and teachers feel empowered and valued.
At East High School, the students and teachers work to create a strong learning environment, while still offering fun in-school and after-school activities to strengthen the bonds between community members. During our homecoming spirit week, the administrators devised an extended lunch period with food trucks, games, and activities.
During our extended 80-minute lunch period, teachers and students gathered at the front of the school to enjoy activities including a bouncy house, a dunk tank, music, food, and games. East has never done something like this in past years, so I enjoyed having the opportunity to see people come together as a community and spend time together.
It is extremely important for schools to have a strong sense of community, and the games and food offered at lunch allowed the East High School community to grow stronger.
Along with that, East has proven itself to be a “quality school” through the clubs offered. Through student-led clubs such as Volunteer Club, Latina Students United, and Unified Club, East has ensured that all students feel welcome and like they belong, no matter their interests. The wide range of clubs allows students to advocate for their beliefs, start movements, connect with peers, and have fun.
The clubs range from mobile activities such as Rock-Climbing Club, Pickleball Club, and Run Club to activist groups such as Students Demand Action and DPS Students for Climate Action. These student-led groups foster a strong community and allow students to feel welcome and valued at school.
Because of this, I believe that it is important for any school to have a wide variety of clubs, and I am grateful that East High School has been able to provide this for me and my fellow peers.
Not only does East promote the importance of community, but it also ensures each student has opportunities to grow and learn. With over 30 Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment classes, East offers courses that challenge and push students to be the best version of themselves. The school also offers financial aid plans that cover the cost of AP classes to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities and resources needed to take these classes.
A quality school nurtures curiosity, knowledge, and impactful change. East High School has done a good job of supporting the different needs of its students and fostering a strong community to ensure that everyone feels welcome.
