Dennison Elementary School

401 Independence Street

School District

Jeffco Public Schools
Grade

K-6
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:20
Type

public

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 parent on August 06, 2024

This school is not for everyone. It is rigorous for students and demanding for parents as well, but the results speak for themselves. We've had two different experiences because we have three kids, an older brother and younger twins. Our eldest came in to kindergarten knowing all his letters and started reading and writing quickly. He's excelled during every year and he finished Dennison last year. In fifth grade, he had a very demanding teacher and she found his weak spot: time management. It was an amazing learning experience for him and a great way to prepare for junior high school. Our twins, though, went into kindergarten not knowing the alphabet and struggled. They were below the benchmark throughout kindergarten, but they got support everyday. And this continued in first grade. Now they are reading and meeting goals and even surpassing them in some areas. What I appreciate more than anything about this school is that they lift all kids up, no matter their background, hence the blue ribbon recognition. They intervene when needed and work with the kids to improve their skills. They not only teach reading, writing, math, and science, but also organizational skills and very important interpersonal skills like manners, respect, and consideration. Oh and they teach cursive and have real text books, not only screens!!!
Submitted by parent on May 10, 2024

It's clear that this school values their Blue Ribbon status moer than any thing else. Yes, they teach a lot of subjects early, but not really often. Most of the learning lift is for the parents, which would be fine except: a) we didn't sign up for home-schooling, b) it's hard to find time within a 2 hour window after a 5pm (often later) pick up and 7:30pm bed time. When lunch is at 10:30am!!, kids are hungry and tired at the end of the day. The only recommendation we receive is "practice at home". What are teachers doing? The kids spend most of their awake hours at school.This is a choice-in school, and I would not recommend this school as a choice. Our local school closed, so we didn't have much choice.
Submitted by parent on April 09, 2024

Dennison is a fantastic fit for our family. The parents, kids, and teachers all work together to create a great leaning experience. There is homework, but it is a manageable amount, and I am able to see what my child is struggling with. It is definitely not a school for everyone, but for those of us who believe in working hard and raising responsible, respectful kids, it is wonderful!
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2023

We love this school! Our child had the best experience attending this school. Teachers and all the staff are amazing.
Submitted by parent on October 27, 2023

Front office staff and school principal are very difficult to deal with. Refused to release my child to me and I almost had to call law enforcement for them to release her. I have joint custody and they have all the documentation. There was also an undertone racism when interacting with the staff and principal.
Submitted by other on June 06, 2023

my child just left this school. kids were jerks but nothing was done about it. way too much homework for my competitive sport kids. some teachers chose favorites and were not supportive and rude. others were great. sure, dennison gives a "good" education, but you can totally get that at a different school that is more fit for kids and not expecting every child to be a valedictorian. this is the nerdiest bunch of band kids i've seen and it was not a good environment for my athletic kids. my daughter came home and told me she got dress coded for wearing a three finger strap, screamed at for talking AT LUNCH, half the people in her grade were reading at RECESS, and she got a bad grade because she put a smiley face in her paper. #nerdybrats
Submitted by parent on November 16, 2022

My child is now in 6th grade at Dennison in 2022. Throughout his school career, he has had LESS THAN an hour of homework per school night. I would actually estimate that through all years (k-6) he averaged less than 30 minutes per school night. In 5th and 6th grade, the homework load is more like 45 minutes per school night. My son is not a genius, and he probably has undiagnosed ADHD. I would say that he is a fairly normal kid. We (as parents) rarely "tutor" him nor do we assist him with his homework. In kindergarten we did go over his flash cards with him for 5 or so minutes a day. I say all this to counter the "hours of homework" and "parents must tutor" reviews. Throughout his schooling at Dennison his grades have averaged about a B-. He has had D's, he has had C's. He usually gets B's or A's if he does his school/homework. When he has had issues, the school and the teachers have been happy to talk to us about what is going on and how to address it. Dennison certainly stresses academics. It is a school! That being said, I do not believe that they do this at the cost of citizenship, art or inclusivity. These are part of the experience - but the focus is academic education. The secondary purpose of how and what they teach is to prepare the students for D'Evelyn High School, one of, if not the top rated college preparatory High schools in Colorado. To that end, skills that Dennison tries to instill in their students are organization, time management and critical thinking. I believe that these skills are a benefit whether attending college or not. If a parent does not think that preparing for college is important, that is thier perogative and this school may not work for your family. I agree that some kids may not find success at Dennison, but I truly believe that the opportunity for success for most kids does exist at Dennison.I have read reviews and comments from students that have either graduated or left the Dennison/D'Evelyn schools. Generally these comments are that if they leave prior to graduating that the school that they attended next was comparitively "easy". If they have graduated from D'Evelyn and gone on to college, the transition to college was also "easy". This, in my opinion, has everything to do with the skills and the expectations that Dennison and D'Evelyn have taught them.I wish, for the betterment of our kids and education system, that there were more schools that followed these methodologies.
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2022

Our family has had a great experience at this excellent school. Dennison students are successful learners because they work hard, their teachers are effective, and parents are invested. Yes, there is homework, even in kindergarten. The homework is purposeful and manageable; it helps as a parent to know what your child is learning and whether it is clicking for them or not. The principal, Mrs. Crispin, is professional and friendly. She is committed to the school’s mission and is great with students. We have found that families work to build community, fostering a positive and enjoyable environment for the kids. The parking lot is smaller than it should be for a school of this size, but it sounds as though Jeffco may resume bussing to option schools this year which would improve the situation.
Submitted by parent on January 28, 2022

Great principal and teachers. It is sad that Jeffco removed bussing from the school.
Submitted by parent on August 16, 2019

All four of my children attend/have attended Dennison. We’ve had some tough years but my children are emerging with resilience, grit, a desire to always do their best, and confidence in who they are. Thank you Dennison !
Submitted by parent on August 16, 2019

The best decision I made was to remove my kids from this school. Almost instantly, they declared that they loved learning, loved math, felt good about themselves, and made a group of diverse friends.
Submitted by parent on January 17, 2019

I love the school except I agree with the parent below that commented on the aides. They are pretty awful. I hear about the yelling and disrespect. I feel badly for the kids.
Submitted by other on September 26, 2017

Denison strives to bring the best out of their students in every aspect.
Submitted by other on September 02, 2016

My child attended Dennison and was fully prepared for his later years of school. The students, families, and staff are dedicated and kind. I felt my child was well-educated and safe at school.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2016

If you are solely concerned with academics, this school is probably right for you. If however, you believe that the role of an educational institution is to prepare children to be conscientious and well rounded adults, I would recommend looking elsewhere. Doing 5 hours of homework a night in elementary school will only teach your children how to be busy. It won't teach them critical thinking, social and emotional intelligence, or diversity of thought and experience. Send your child to a school where they not only have the academic experience, but also have the freedom to be children and cultivate all of the different forms of intelligence that will empower them to lead happy and successful lives. Do not be fooled by the test scores, Dennison is rigid and mechanical and very little (if anything) exceptional happens within their walls.
Submitted by parent on March 19, 2016

Like any school there are great teachers and not so good teachers - some perhaps have been teaching too long and don't enjoy it anymore. The benefit is sending your child to a school with kids who have like-minded parents who value education. I can’t complain about the education but the treatment of the children at this is school isn’t great. It’s a very authoritarian school and children are expected to have the utmost respect for everybody (which I agree with) yet staff is not expected to do the same - especially the aides. There has been a lot of complaints this year in particular from kids regarding the aides at the school and nothing seems to change. The principal smiles and tells you she is very upset to hear about it but nothing changes. She is big on smiles and using sweet words to describe students but her actions don’t reflect her words. We have only stuck it out because we wanted our child to get into D’Evelyn. During the several lunches I have been lucky enough to attend over the years, the aides condescend and demean the children using their speaker system, calling out kids by name. The only screaming that goes on during lunch comes from the aides over the speaker system, not the kids. The same goes for recess. It’s really hard to tell kids they have to respect their teachers and staff when the respect isn’t returned. It seems unlikely that this will change about the school because it has been this way the entire time our child has been here and the administration seems to support the disrespect towards the students. I hope this doesn’t continue at D’Evelyn because I don’t want my child to think this is the way she is supposed to be treated by grownups especially when her behavior has been nothing but stellar her entire time at this school - never once on “red” or any disciplinary action in the grades beyond. The parent in me wanted to leave this school with feelings of warm memories and pride that I chose the right school for my daughter but I am sad to say that it doesn’t turn out that way - it has been nothing but a disappointment in the staff attitudes towards the kids. I believe in a rigorous academic program but I also believe in respect being demonstrated throughout the process. We are thankful our time at this school will be over and hope to see deserving students treated with respect at D’Evelyn.
Submitted by other on December 14, 2015

The teachers care about the kids and want them to succeed. Dennison has some of the best teachers I've seen at any school. Four of my five kids have attended dennison and I can't say enough about the teachers and curriculum.
Submitted by parent on June 24, 2014

We wanted this school to work for us, we really did. This school has many wonderful teachers, staff, and parents. This school doesn't work for all types of children. Everything is a competition for performance and grades. This school isn't nurturing for children regardless of ones strengths or weaknesses. Your child can be bright, creative, and smart, and still feel like a failure in this school because of the grading standards. Should children be ultra competitive when they are in the elementary school? What pushes some kids to work harder (school strategies), crushes other kids and makes them feel inferior. My suggestion to Dennison is to realize there are other types of kids. Bright, artistic, funny kids that are shy, introverted, that have all sorts of strengths and weaknesses. My child is more than just a test score. When everything at school is a competition a child loses. They give up, they stop trying and assume they will never measure up. Please, start valuing the different types of students that need encouragement instead of criticism. Nurture these kids and have fun with them (do a crazy hair day), treat them like kids. You are burning out your students.
Submitted by parent on September 17, 2013

I still don t understand this hours of homework theme that is being propagated in these reviews. Yes, EVERY STUDENT AT DENNISON, including Kindergarteners, DOES HOMEWORK. If it requires a student HOURS of homework, then maybe the rigor of this school isn t a good choice. Rarely does it take more than 30 minutes in the lower grades & rarely more than an hour in the upper grades. Usually in the upper grades, homework is given on Friday for the following week so that kids have the opportunity to work on it over the weekend. There are plenty of families who have music lessons & sports in addition to the expected work. Not only does the author of 9/12 post need a class in time management but perhaps one in basic math concepts as well. I have no idea what MANY kids are too burned out to go on to D Evelyn means. There are 90 6th graders who get priority placement for getting into D Evelyn. I would be hard pressed, in any given year, to find more than 5% of kids who opt out of going to D Evelyn, & that would include those who move districts or even out of state in addition to the so called "burned out" kids. I would hardly equate less than 5 of 90 as equal to the word MANY .
Submitted by parent on September 12, 2013

This school is about making the parents feel good, not about educating children. The whole school seems to take pride in "if you need to know it next year, you can know it this year." Which would be fine if they would teach instead of letting the parents pick up the slack by assigning hours of homework. If you or your children want to do anything besides school, go somewhere else. If you want your child to be given an A for getting all his math right, instead of a C because he had sloppy handwriting, go somewhere else. If you think that because you are teaching the kids more than they are learning at school, and that because you spend hours a week doing things to help the teachers, aides, parking lot and everything else function, would give you some kind of credibility when you see with your own eyes inappropriate actions by personnel, think again. Any suggestion of wrongdoing meets with instant scorn that that the school makes sure your kids feel. You will never hear of a problem here, but you will hear of a great many people who "aren't cut out for this school". A truly great school teaches, not eliminates. A final note is that many kids are too burned out to go on to D'Evelyn