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When we look at the educational landscape in the Jefferson Area of Jeffco Schools, we start by admitting that we can do better. We are not providing children with the best chance to succeed into a great career. Blame cannot be pointed just at our school district. Our entire community and county shares in the blame. But let’s not focus on that. Let’s work together to help ALL kids succeed from cradle to career.

Schools in the Jefferson Articulation Area

  • Edgewater Elementary
  • Lumberg Elementary
  • Molholm Elementary
  • Stevens Elementary
  • Wheat Ridge 5-8
  • Jefferson High

Our Current Reality

  • Only 43% of 3rd grade students at Lumberg scored Proficient/Advanced in reading. This is compared to 78% of 3rd grade students in Jeffco Schools.
  • In math, 21% of 8th grade students at Wheat Ridge 5-8 were Proficient/Advanced compared to 61% of Jeffco students.
  • At Jefferson High, only 2% of juniors were Proficient/Advanced in math compared to 41% in Jeffco.
  • According to 2013-2014 ratings from Colorado Department of Education, Stevens, Molholm, Lumberg and Jefferson are rated “Improvement” while Wheat Ridge 5-8 is rated “Turnaround.”
  • 90% of students receive free/reduced lunch which is an indicator of family poverty

Key Elements of the Jefferson Success Pathway

Collective Impact
Collective impact describes the commitment of a group of influencers from different sectors to a common agenda for solving complex social problems. The term was coined in part to describe the work of the Strive Partnership that began 7 years ago in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. A group of youth serving agencies, philanthropists and business leaders grew frustrated with their seeming lack of measurable impact on the region’s youth. Together, they committed to a new way of doing business: together, they would define the problem they sought to solve, devise a shared agenda and action plan to work toward that goal, and commit to using data to measure their impact and guide changes in their practices. The partnership boasts impressive progress on 27 of their 34 key indicators of student success.

Investing in Early Childhood

When children start kindergarten behind academically, it is hard for teachers to catch them up and keep them ahead. For this reason, we are bringing together Head Start and other early childhood providers and programs to work together in helping all kids be prepared for kindergarten.

Wraparound Programming

With over 30 Community Partners, we are working together to apply for grants which would enable our local schools to provide high quality before and after school programming. These programs would offer enrichment and would drive our pathway goals for academic and career success.

College and Career Opportunities

With partnerships with local businesses and Red Rocks Community College, we are working to provide opportunities for students to make their college and career dreams a reality. One of our key indicators is the percentage of students who are on target with their Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP). Our hope is that students from 7-12 grade will work with teachers, mentors and internship providers to experience and plan for possible careers.

7-12 Jr/Sr High at Jefferson 

Jeffco Schools’ leadership is currently seeking community input on a plan to move 7/8 grade students from Wheat Ridge 5-8 to the Jefferson High building. Interestingly, one of the models for 7-12 schools is Cincinnati Public Schools. These Cincinnati schools are involved in the Strive Together Cradle to Career model that is guiding our cradle to career work. Here are some resources and articles that explain this 7-12 model in detail:

Community Schools Model from Cincinnati

Middle School Model Re-Thought

Cincinnati 7-12 High Schools

7-12 Configuration Research from Tulsa Public Schools

Why Middle Schools Harm Student Achievement

Next Steps