DSST: Cedar High School

150 South Pearl Street

School District

Denver County 1
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:15
Type

charter

School Map for Denver County 1 School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by other on October 04, 2022

It sucks. The school does a great job making it look great to parents and outsiders but as a student that graduated I know how it is. The teachers are just outright mean to students. Especially failing students. They make no real attempt to help them and they get yelled at all day long. The whole vibe of the school is depressing. They claim that being a "different" middle school is better for the students. But I would beg to differ because the entire school is just sad. The only thing that helped was being in a higher math to help me get ahead in high school. If you really want to you can grind out academics for high school but at the price of your mental health.
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2022

Definitely agree with other review regarding lack of direction from running school. It seems teachers don’t have support of upper management when kids get unruly. Mandatory Tutoring rarely happens now because teachers are overwhelmed. CRT is pushed in almost every class and parents need to review Pear Deck and assignments to know what their kids are being taught. However, this seems to be true with all of DPS.
Submitted by parent on May 03, 2021

I was a little apprehensive to learn there was a new director from another parent as new management means a slew of new issues, having to learn a new environment and new policies. I absolutely overlooked some of their issues due to new management, however, this second year, after other parent and staff complaints about bullying issues that were overlooked, there seems to be no management of them at all still. It seems like this school is in serious decline with many different school policies being ignored.
Submitted by parent on June 14, 2019

This school is obviously focused on STEM subjects for student planning to attend college. They have small classroom sizes and attentive teachers. It is strict/structured, but all of the rules have good rational behind them (ie to discourage bullying, emphasize importance of punctuality, etc). We are very happy here! This environment isn't for everyone so do your homework before registering your child to avoid being disappointed. If you want a school that emphasizes freedom of expression and individuality, then this might not be a good match for you.
Submitted by parent on June 02, 2019

Awesome teachers, staff, students and campus. I would say its structured not strict: which creates a safe and welcoming place for all.
Submitted by student on February 04, 2019

The teaching is alright, sometimes it's a bit too liberal though and the teachers seem like they just don't care about their students that much. They're really just there for a paycheck, and for those who do care it's only a certain group that they care about and exclude the rest. But if you're going to enroll your student in this school just know that by the time he/she is done, they will not even know what social contact is, I cannot even begin to say how much homework we get, it's so stressful, I have to stay up every day up until 3 in the morning to even finish 3/4ths of the homework, the grading system is complete garbage and the school doesn't do anything in our favor to help. They only care about the ratings they get and it's cruel, not to mention that they favor certain ethnic groups over others, but it's usually the most demanding ones. Not to be racist but they seem to favor the black students because they're always fighting with each other and demanding 'equality' but I just think that the teachers are scared to pick a fight with them, but it seems to work though seeing as how they have certain privileges about the others. They get to use their phones in school, skip classes, and even dress how they like without any consequence. We're forced to do these 'morning meetings' in which all students sit on the floor, the same floor we also eat and leave food on, for about half an our and discuss things that aren't really important and future evens, even though they can just announce things over the intercom. I can guarantee you that if you ask any of the students about it, everyone wants to get rid of it. It takes time out of our, already short, lunch period and time in our advisory for us to even barely finish our homework
Submitted by parent on November 30, 2018

Principal is leaving which is good. A lot of promises made, very very very few delivered
Submitted by parent on August 23, 2018

We love this school. We have two students who went through middle school here and are now at DSST: Byers High School, as well as a third child who is now in the middle school. The DSST Core Values (respect, responsibility, courage, curiosity, integrity, and doing your best) inform everything done at the school by both staff and students. The school fosters an educational environment that is diverse and works to provide 21st century skills and success for all students. The development and needs of adolescents are at the core of every decision made by faculty. The school has a reputation for being strict, but every "rule" has a basis in logic and teen development. Kids are encouraged toward critical thinking and analysis, as well as challenging themselves every day. I highly recommend DSST: Byers.
Submitted by student on July 21, 2018

Amazing! The school is full of passionate and committed teachers who care for their students.
Submitted by parent on November 08, 2017

Good school but I feel like they hate white students. I love the fact that they are diverse and we can celebrate all sorts of races and religions, but they have so many clubs for students of color and not for white students. Why do they even need these clubs? How to students of color NOT feel welcome here? This is one of the most diverse schools in Colorado! We even have culture day's to celebrate their cultures!! This school should focus more on reasonable equity clubs like for students with physical disabilities or low income students!!!!!! But this school does give and excellent education and the teachers and electives are fun and engaging!!! :)