>> School Partners Program

More than 30% of students in DPS are English Language Learners, speaking approvimately 124 different languages.

after-school & summer Programs

English Language Acquisition Academy

The English Language Acquisition (ELA) Academy is funded through the efforts of the Denver Public Schools Foundation, The Denver Foundation and the district to ensure that English language learners in grades 1-4 don’t fall behind in their language development during the summer months.

The ELA Academy launched in 2008, with more than 1,600 students attending the free, four-week program. Enrollment in Summer 2010 more than doubled, with 3,400 students participating in the Academy at 16 sites across the district.

The Denver Post: "DPS' summer English studies help kids make big leaps in language"

All students in the program receive breakfast and lunch, along with three hours of instruction daily. The curriculum covers literacy and math. All instruction takes place in English and all instructors are DPS teachers. Classrooms have a student to teacher ratio of approximately 15 to 1.

Participating students speak more than 32 native languages including Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic and Somali.

Purpose

More than 24,000 students in DPS (30%) are English Language Learners, speaking approximately 86 different languages. If these students don’t speak English at home, they may fall behind in their learning over the summer months. The ELA Academy is designed to keep these students on track with their language development during the school break.