DSST Public Schools (DSST), formerly known as the Denver School of Science and Technology, is a public

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

network comprising 16 schools on eight campuses in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, Colorado, United States, in partnership with

Denver Public Schools The School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver and State of Colorado, more commonly known as Denver Public Schools (DPS), is the public school system in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States. History In 1859, Owen ...

. DSST is ranked among the top 200

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

s in the US.

Overview

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

area students are selected for admission entirely by a lottery. As students follow a science, mathematics, and technology focused liberal arts education, more than half of the graduates declare a STEM major in college. Students of color comprise 80 percent of the student body and 68 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch. All DSST students follow a prospectus that includes seven years of

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, seven years of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, three years of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, a trimester

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

, and a two-trimester

senior project A culminating project (also known as a senior project, grad project or exit project), is a project that challenges high school seniors to demonstrate their academic knowledge in an experiential way (in most cases). According to the United States ...

History

DSST was founded in 2004 at Park Hill in northeast

by David Ethan Greenberg, who also served as the first board chair of its successor organization, DSST Public Schools. Bill Kurtz, a former investment banker at

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States, and the world's largest bank by mar ...

, is founding principal.

Leadership

In 2024, it was announced that Nella García Urban would replace Bill Kurtz as CEO. García Urban worked in Texas's YES Charter Network prior to her appointment as CEO of DSST.

Network Growth

As its original campus, DSST: Montview (previously Stapleton, after KKK member and Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton) opened as a single high school in 2004, and graduated its first class in 2008. A sister middle school was also opened in 2008, expanding the campus to 6-12. The Green Valley Ranch (GVR) middle school campus opened in 2010 along with the DSST Home Office, followed by the GVR high school and Cole middle school in 2011. The following year, the College View middle school opened. In 2013, the Cedar (previously Byers) middle school campus opened. It was slated to occupy the building previously used by the

Denver School of the Arts Denver School of the Arts (DSA) is a comprehensive arts secondary public magnet school, serving grades 6–12. Located at 7111 Montview Boulevard in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, the school is operated by the Denver Public Sc ...

(DSA). The Cedar building was still undergoing $19 million in renovation, and its inaugural year was at the Calvary Temple Pearl Church in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. In 2014, the Cole high school and Conservatory Green middle school opened. The following year, the College View high school opened. In 2016, both the Cedar high school and Henry middle school opened. By 2017, Conservatory Green opened its high school and in 2018 DSST opened a middle school at the Noel campus. The first campus in

opened in 2019 as Aurora Science and Tech (AST). In October 2020, the DPS school board denied a request to open a corresponding high school for the DSST Noel campus. The following day, DSST appealed the decision and in November 2020, the State Board of Education granted the appeal to open a high school instead at the Elevate campus, opening the door for Noel middle school students to continue locally at a DSST campus. Following the appeal win, DSST opened the Elevate Northeast campus in 2021. In the same year, the Henry campus closed and consolidated with the College View campus. In 2022, the AST high school opened. The Noel middle school also moved to the Elevate campus and took on the Elevate Middle School name.

Recognition

According to the 2015 '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranking of American public high schools, the Stapleton campus was nationally ranked 192nd, 158th in STEM education, 55th among charter schools, and 5th in Colorado. In the same year, the school was ranked 5th in mathematics proficiency, tied for 15th in reading proficiency, and was ranked 5th in college readiness, in the state. In a 2014 Denver School Performance report, five of the top six schools in Denver were part of DSST. Since graduating its first class in 2008, 100 percent of DSST: Montview and DSST: Green Valley Ranch seniors have been accepted to a four-year university. DSST is recognized for its values-centered culture, daily emphasizing respect and responsibility, and has been regarded as one of the top mid-size workplaces in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Demographics

Support

Donors have played a significant role in the establishment and expansion of DSST. Notable contributions include a $7 million gift by

Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, S ...

chairman John C. Malone, a $3 million grant by the

Daniels Fund The Daniels Fund is a private charitable foundation based in Denver, Colorado. It was founded by Bill Daniels, a decorated fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, who went on to become one of the early pioneers of the cable television i ...

, $1 million gift by media mogul

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

, a $1 million donation by the Anna and John Sie Foundation, a $500,000 grant by the Thiry-O'Leary Foundation, and a $50,000 grant by the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Denver School Of Science And Technology Charter schools in Colorado Educational institutions established in 2004 Education in Aurora, Colorado High schools in Denver Schools in Denver Public high schools in Colorado Public middle schools in Colorado 2004 establishments in Colorado