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The Denver Schools have a new roadmap to reform * The Denver Plan. After making the Plan public, the Denver schools then solicited comments from principals, teachers, parents and the community at large. Thirteen public meetings were held across the city. All were packed with people who wanted to discuss the future of the Denver schools. The Denver schools received hundreds of emails and letters, as well.

Superintendent of the Denver schools, Michael Bennet, described the process as a very powerful experience and was happy to find that many parents support the Denver schools in their work toward reform. *Parents realize that there is ample room for improvement across the district,* stated Bennet.

The purpose of the Denver Plan is to succeed in graduating students who can read and write at expected levels. It addresses this problem by focusing on improving the quality of teaching, provided in all classrooms by the Denver schools.

Feedback, provided by educators, parents and the community, meant some changes to key provisions within the plan. Once these changes were evaluated and made, The Denver Plan Committee then scrutinized the Plan. The Committee, a group of 40 teachers, principals and staff, has one purpose * analyze and critique each word of the Plan, which they did at two meetings each week for a two-month period. Upon completion of their mission, the Committee sent the finished Plan to the Denver schools* board, which then evaluated it during a four-hour work session.

Bennet believes the resulting Plan is an enduring, common roadmap for reform within the Denver schools