Is Denver Public Schools capable of producing the next Gladys West?

Last week, we lost one of America’s most consequential and least celebrated mathematicians, Dr. Gladys West.

Her pioneering work in the 1950s, while employed by the United States Navy, helped lay the mathematical foundation for the Global Positioning System, a technology now so embedded in daily life that it is almost invisible. GPS guides airplanes, supply chains, emergency responders, farmers, and nearly every smartphone user on the planet.

What struck me most in reading about Dr. West’s life was not only her brilliance, but her perseverance. A deep love of geometry sparked a career that unfolded in the face of profound racial and gender discrimination, in an era when Black women were systematically excluded from advanced mathematics and scientific fields.

I found myself wondering what role schools played in nurturing or failing to nurture her talent, her confidence, and her perseverance. How many doors were opened, how many were closed?

Her story raises an uncomfortable question closer to home. Are Denver’s public schools systematically cultivating the next generation of Gladys Wests, or are they leaving that talent unrealized?

Over the past year, Denver Public Schools leadership has publicly celebrated recent math gains. In August 2025, Superintendent Alex Marrero said he was extremely proud of students as they continued to show improvement in nearly every summative exam, pointing specifically to CMAS math results and subgroup growth.

Following the release of National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial Urban District Assessment results, district communications similarly highlighted math gains as evidence that Denver is moving in the right direction.

While these statements are defensible in a narrow sense, they fall far short of showing the complete picture.

Yes, Denver has made incremental progress. National benchmarks show improvement over the last decade, particularly in elementary math. But Denver’s Black students still perform below Black students statewide. Denver’s growth largely mirrors Colorado’s recovery trend rather than exceeding it.

Most importantly, Denver continues to trail several large urban districts that have demonstrated faster and more sustained improvement for Black elementary students.

Yes, there has been progress. It has not occurred at a scale sufficient to change outcomes or long-term trajectories for more than 80% of Denver’s Black students.

The NAEP TUDA, widely considered the gold standard for large district comparisons, shows that Denver improved fourth-grade math performance for Black students between 2013 and 2022.

Denver’s gains exceeded the large city average and stood out during the pre-pandemic period, suggesting some degree of instructional stability and system coherence in the early grades. At a time when many districts saw stagnation or decline, Denver moved in the right direction.

Boston and Chicago, two districts facing comparable (and greater)levels of poverty, segregation, and urban complexity, posted substantially larger gains over the same period. Denver improved faster than some peers, but not fast enough to alter its relative standing or meaningfully close long-standing gaps in achievement.

Progress occurred. Acceleration did not.

NAEP TUDA — 4th Grade Math Scores for Black Students (Selected Urban Districts)

Scale scores; change shown 2013–2022

Source: NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), Grade 4 Math, Black/African American students. Scores rounded for clarity.

Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) data tell a complementary and more sobering story. Denver’s mean math scale scores closely track statewide trends, typically landing one to three points below the Colorado average, including through the pandemic disruption and subsequent recovery.

Recent gains largely reflect statewide improvement rather than district-specific acceleration. In other words, Denver is not pulling ahead. It is keeping pace.

For Black students, that distinction matters enormously. Research consistently shows that early math proficiency by grades three through five is one of the strongest predictors of later access to advanced coursework, STEM pathways, and postsecondary success.

When districts fail to accelerate early outcomes, gaps widen even when scores inch upward.

Taken together, these data raise questions Denver leaders should confront directly rather than distract with celebratory press releases. The superintendent, school board and the public should be asking (in public forums):

• Which Denver elementary schools demonstrate sustained multiyear math gains for Black students, and what instructional practices distinguish them? How consistently are evidence based early numeracy strategies implemented across DPS schools?
• Is Denver using the right elementary math curriculum? Illustrative Mathematics was implemented in 80 elementary schools in 2025, is the district monitoring how it is being used and whether teachers are being effectively supported to ensure the curriculum is working? And is this curriculum effective with Black students?
• Are resources, coaching, and accountability sufficiently targeted toward schools serving large numbers of Black students per any number of reports from the last 20 years?
• And, notably, why have all of the calls for action and reports regarding the education of Denver’s Black students not resulted in much or any change in terms of educational outcomes for Black students? What happened to the recommendations of the 2016 Bailey report? Were the Bailey report and the Black Excellence Resolution more than just a set of platitudes? Will anyone lead an honest inquiry into what happened, what worked, fell short or should be included for a more effective plan to support Black students?

These are not rhetorical questions. Districts like Boston and Chicago did not improve by accident. Their gains were driven by disciplined attention to curriculum quality, instructional practice, sustained coaching tied to student work, and relentless monitoring of Black and other groups of student’s performance. It’s hard challenging work.

If Denver is serious about accelerating math outcomes for Black elementary students, it must focus on fewer, higher leverage strategies and execute them well. And do this with far more public oversight and support from Denver’s school board.

One final point, since some of my “reform” friends are likely to argue that if only we had more charter schools, we’d solve this and a host of other public education problems. There are charter schools and district-managed schools in Denver that do an excellent job educating Black students in math. Denver School of Science and Technology is often cited, and rightly so.

Governance structure is not a substitute for instructional quality. Charter schools, like district-run schools, must do the hard work of curriculum coherence, instructional rigor, teacher development, and accountability if they are serious about raising achievement for Black students.

There are no shortcuts.

It is time for Denver to step back, take an honest look at what is working both locally and nationally, and adapt those lessons with urgency. This work is hard. There are no silver bullets.

Denver and the country face challenges that demand mathematical thinkers, problem-solvers, and innovators. We cannot afford to let thousands of potential Gladys Wests have their talents and dreams unrealized because adults were satisfied with platitudes and incremental gains.

Boards of education exist precisely to prevent this kind of complacency. If Denver new board is serious about equity and excellence, it must demand clearer evidence of what is working, insist on follow through when strategies fall short, and hold the system accountable for accelerating outcomes for Black students.

Celebration has its place occasionally at the Denver School Board. Oversight, urgency, and managing for results against a detailed plan matter far more.