This summer, I had the opportunity to visit Switzerland on a trip sponsored by Governor Polis, alongside other state leaders.A common sentiment I heard repeatedly was ‘Wir konzentrieren uns auf die Zukunft – we’re focused on the future.’ We were touring several Swiss schools and companies to explore the strategies and structures the Swiss have implemented. Their approach has created a leading global model of workforce innovation through career-connected learning and apprenticeships. This is the world our students are entering – a highly competitive, complex, and globalized world, driven by rapid, unprecedented technological advancements and change. In St. Vrain Valley Schools, we too are laser-focused on the present and the future.
In the competitive arena of our modern world, St. Vrain Valley Schools isn’t just engaged in the game of career and workforce readiness, we’re rewriting the playbook. Vision, strategy, talent, execution, evaluation, and advancement – these are the defining characteristics of championship teams. Education innovation begins with strong, informed leadership that challenges the status quo and fosters a culture where creative ideas can take root and grow.
NBA legend Michael Jordan once said, “Some people want it to happen, some wish it could happen, others make it happen.” Jordan embodied that championship mindset as someone who was not only going to dream big and take the action necessary to realize success for himself, but also to inspire those around him. In St. Vrain, we have made it a top priority to not only advance the best educational system for our students and community, but strengthen public education statewide and nationally. St. Vrain routinely hosts companies and organizations, such as the Reagan Institute, Apple, and Cisco, as well as numerous school districts and education leaders from across the United States who aspire to learn how to replicate our system. Additionally, St. Vrain hosts a well-attended National Innovation and Leadership Institute where district leadership teams from across the U.S. and Colorado come to our Innovation Center for three days of deep-dive learning with our district leadership team. In partnership with the Colorado Education Initiative, this program is designed to support public education leaders in accelerating their process of designing for district excellence and student advancement.
St. Vrain has also been awarded approximately $64 million in competitive grants, including a recent, highly sought-after $7 million Opportunity Now grant to strengthen our workforce pathway opportunities, and lead other districts in replicating our unique Pathways to Teaching (P-TEACH) program. Additionally, we were awarded an Innovative School System Grant (ISSG) from the Center on Reinventing Public Education to continue to grow our Advanced Global Interactive Learning Environments (AGILE) program. Our AGILE program enables students throughout our district to take courses taught at any one of our 11 high schools by leveraging technology to support engaging, high-quality synchronous online instruction. Recognizing the disparities in many rural districts for students to have the same access and opportunities as those in St. Vrain, we have also expanded access to courses such as Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus and others to students attending rural schools, increasing access and opportunity for high-quality instruction and learning across the state.
"Our on-time graduation rate is the highest it has been in the history of our district, at 93.3% for all students, alongside a dropout rate of 0.6%. "
This is all part of our strategic and systematic game plan for excellence – our commitment and focus on delivering a championship culture and school system to ensure a strong future for our community, state, and nation – and our playbook is yielding significant results. Our on-time graduation rate is the highest it has been in the history of our district, at 93.3% for all students, alongside a dropout rate of 0.6%. St. Vrain now has the highest graduation rate and lowest dropout rate of any other district in the Denver Metro Area, with the higher graduation requirements than those districts. This represents an extremely rigorous academic core and strong elective courses that ensure a strong education foundation.
Our student participation rates in high-quality co-curricular opportunities also continue to rise. If you follow me on X (@SVVSDSupt), formerly known as Twitter, you’ve seen the numerous celebrations of our students winning state, national, and global championships in robotics, athletics, debate, welding, the arts and so much more. As other districts are significantly reducing their music, performing arts, and other programs, we are committed to increasing and advancing these programs in St. Vrain. Accordingly, we’ve been recognized as a top district in the nation for music education and other co-curricular activities. Further, student achievement continues to climb. Last year our third grade reading levels were the highest they’ve been in the district’s history, and our iReady scores across all grade levels continue to increase.
A champion doesn’t just show up on the day of the game; they put in the work every single day. They work, they strive, and they refuse to retreat. That’s the same spirit we bring to public education. We believe in the champion’s mindset – each and every one of us is committed to unlocking the great potential within every student. With each innovative initiative, we’re advancing and leading the state and nation toward educational excellence. Because, in the competitive game of life and the complex world our students are entering, the reward we’re all striving towards is a great future for every student. In St. Vrain, we will relentlessly keep our eye on student achievement and success.
