Denver School Of The Arts in Denver | Military Town Advisor

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	10/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) data from Colorado Department of Education.
College Readiness	9/10	The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Colorado Department of Education, using 2025 Average SAT score data from Colorado Department of Education, and using 2025 demographic data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Student Growth	5/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student Growth - CO CMAS - Cohort-referenced data from Colorado Department of Education, and using 2025 Student Growth - CO PSAT/SAT - Cohort-referenced data from Colorado Department of Education.

Posted: June 12, 2025

The administration at this school is beyond appalling. they do not protect kids from bullying and are unresponsive to emails. They do not support parents or students when help is really needed. We even had to acquire the assistance of a mediator from DPS in order to get any traction with communication.

Posted: June 12, 2025

Posted: April 21, 2025

While the latest reviews highlight some of what has occurred with the administration, on a positive note, all those administrators have been removed, with one newer, highly engaged and loved middle level AP hopefully getting the position as head principal. She will be focusing on the main issues such as IEP compliance. Theres a lot of passion at this school and Im confident things are headed in a much better direction. My daughter is very happy at DSA, has great friends and, enjoys most of her teachers. If your child is passionate about their art, give it a try.

Posted: April 21, 2025

Posted: February 13, 2025

DO NOT CHOICE INTO THIS SCHOOL! I know it may be hard to trust an online review, if you have questions, ask them in a review. I will respond back in a review. DSA is falling apart and is in crisis, they are losing students even though the district just spent tens of millions of dollars to expand DSA to allow for more students. DSA used to be a highly regarded art school that had strong academics. Trust me when I say this is NO LONGER the case. Yes, all DPS schools are having budget issues, but after a few years of chaotic and unprofessional new administrators at this school, it has been years of quickly becoming an unorganized mess with no return under the current administration. The only thing that DSA had going for them was that they offered art majors, now they don't even do that well, as each year they have to let go of art teachers and some art majors are way too full with teachers that are very overwhelmed with their art class capacity. They are down to two counselors for a school or 1,000 students. They have one dean that oversees 1000 students' behavior. They don't have enough staff to help students with IEPs or 504s. Even though they have the largest number of GT students, they are going down to .25 GT from the district. They don't have enough staff for their two campuses, and that makes one of the campuses very unsafe. They keep blaming it all on DPS, however this is solely due to the current administration not having the professional skills to run DSA. To get a feel for some of the recent cuts DSA is making, go to the DSA website and click Parents, Collaborative School Committee, under CSC schedule, Click on the link in this sentence: Click on this link for meeting agendas and notes for the 2024/2025 school year. This shows a SMALL slice of what is going on. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening there.

Posted: February 13, 2025

Posted: January 29, 2025

Anyone thinking of applying to DSA for middle or high school: DON'T. DSA administration (middle and high school) are checked out, disorganized and unprofessional, they do not have the skills to run a middle and high school, let alone a successful one. Yes, DSA has high scores (DO NOT BE SWAYED BY THIS), but the high scores are all due to being able to admit/choose high achieving students. Once those students are in the school, they have little to offer them. Our students have transferred out. They are much happier and thriving in neighborhood schools, and we supplement their art instruction. The neighborhood schools have better art offerings than DSA! BTW, although the art teachers are wonderful, your students won't receive high level art instruction. They tout a small school, but students do not benefit from this, and it feels more like a large disorganized school without the large school offerings. DSA: Low level academic classes, no middle school electives or language, no social emotional learning/instruction, large class sizes, no GT offerings, one Dean for the whole school overseeing student behavior (it is a "without rules" school), no movement/sports offerings (could easily have running, frisbee, etc!), admin with no middle school experience and it shows, non-existent college counseling/advising in high school, medium level art instruction, overwhelmed teachers, non existent school culture, and unprofessional administration. There is so much more to add to this list but this is the high level stuff. Run, don't walk to a different school. DSA has gone downhill with the current administration, and think twice about placing your student's future in their hands.

Posted: January 29, 2025

Posted: January 26, 2025

We are in the middle of dealing with DSA Administration with a teacher that does not teach the class. There have been no graded assignments; although the bare minimum is one graded assignment a week. This teacher frequently has emotional outbursts in class (a middle school class), leaves the students alone for extended periods of time, allowing physical fighting in the classroom, and has accused a student of harassment. The teacher uses the children as her therapists, and then disciplines them when they do not agree with her multiple issues (ie. discussion of depressions, sexuality, abuse etc.) The teacher has also presented the children with a presentation on how DSA has "violated" its rights. We have been trying to come to a resolution for weeks; leadership seems uninterested in finding a suitable solution. The classroom is very unsafe and inappropriate for any school age child.

Posted: January 26, 2025

Posted: December 4, 2024

It's only been a few months at the school, but we are very happy with the level of support our student is getting, both from his counselor, teachers and even the principal. We had a couple of unique requests to make sure our student's experience is as positive as can be and the administration & staff has been amazingly accommodating.
For the most part, the teachers are engaged, care and support the students as best as possible. The level of art instruction is great. We don't have much experience with DPS coming from a private school, but so far the experience has been great.
Our only complaint is the food... not very nutritious or tasty... but you can't have it all!

Posted: December 4, 2024

Posted: January 30, 2024

This is the worst school our kids have attended in DPS. The DSA admin team is disorganized and disrespectful. Believe the reviews on here about what a mess this school is on all levels! If you are a current DSA family, report your issues/problems as a formal complaint to FACE at DPS, not to DSA as that will be the only way to get positive school-wide change!

Posted: January 30, 2024

Posted: December 16, 2023

I started here my sophomore year as a stagecraft and design major. At first I really loved it, but come senior year, my already poor mental health was diminished and I was completely fed up. I was a special needs student that ended up getting the shaft from my support teacher that had no idea why I was struggling. I had to juggle two critically important stagecraft projects, mandatory weekly work calls (where you would stay after school for a couple hours working nonstop for your major), and two extra classes because transferring through various schools messed up my credits. Those extra classes, without my knowledge, were AP level. My academic support teacher tricked my mom (who is naive and does no prior research) into having me take them with my permission. My parents had to spend well over $340 for them. I couldnt even complete the first lesson in either of them.

I was in charge of the props for the upcoming production we were doing: Indecent. I was assigned a partner because my set teacher said that other students were worried a wouldnt be able to work on it until the end. They ended up being right after I had a mental breakdown that left me unable to go to school for a week much less even leave my bed for most things because I was in an anxiety attack 24/7 just a few days before dress rehearsal started. I was emailed that I was being pulled from the production and I would be given no credit. I understand being pulled, but I spent at the very least 100 hours within one month cleaning, graphing, photographing, counting, etc. only to be given no credit. I also want to mention that I have had issues with the student who was my (involuntary) partner in the past. I carried the project the entire time. I found out he later ended up badmouthing me, saying I was lazy and incompetent and that he was the one who had to do everything because I wasnt.

I dropped out October of 2021. I got my GED less than a year later. Not long after I left, over half of the teachers, including the lead stagecraft teacher and all of the mental health staff, all quit or moved jobs to another school.

Posted: December 16, 2023

Posted: November 16, 2023

As a former student, DSA's student body seemed average for the highschool experience, however, the teachers and admin failed to provide the students with the necessary requirements within highschool. The teachers rarely left feedback on schoolwork, the lesson plans weren't interactive, and overall the courses didn't support students individually. The admin expected to release the schedule in April, however, sent out the schedule only a week before the start of the 2023-2024 school year. These schedules still required change due to schedules missing electives, incorrect classes, or multiple free periods within freshman year. They failed to fill unrequested free periods, as their classes were overfilled and didn't have more space for students. Multiple students considered transferring due to gaps in their schedules, my family sent in a transfer request, it took five weeks to get approved. None of the problems were communicated to families. The highschool is horribly unorganized.

Posted: November 16, 2023

Posted: September 23, 2023

Literally the worst school, administrators do not have any integrity. Admin has made it clear they dont care to reply to emails or meet with parents despite multiple requests.
Whoever said this school is great with IEPs is lying. DSA is notorious for discrimination against students with disabilities. Google it. Multiple families have left this school due to constant sped issues.
Mass exodus of teachers. Administration has zero integrity or care for the students & I believe its teachers as well. Not sure why they are even called administrators because they do nothing for the students, in fact I think they would prefer there were no students at this school because they are driving them all out. No school dances, no all school musical, barely any electives, no AP teacher, maybe you can get an AP class-maybe not, no buses, classes filled to max capacity too. Want lunch? Good luck, you will spend all of lunch time waiting for the cold pizza they serve twice a week.
Admin does not want any input from any parents but they want parents to donate $$$$. This school does pretty much nothing to build community for students and between the majors. Do not recommend this school for anyone.

Posted: September 23, 2023

Posted: June 25, 2023

We love this school for both of our boys. Highly recommend if your child is creative, hard working, dedicated to their major.

Posted: June 25, 2023

Posted: February 6, 2023

The review two below this one states that there are no IEP plans in place for students. I am not intending to start an argument with this parent, but I must point out that this is untrue information. My child has had an IEP since starting at DSA and has had a great experience at this school with lots of support. I am sorry if someone else did not have a good experience here but they should not post misinformation that would give others a false impression of the school.

Posted: February 6, 2023

Posted: February 22, 2022

The administration of DSA earns negative stars. The principal is non existent, as is communication with pretty much any counselors, vice principals, or anyone that works in the office. When you do finally get some communication, they are downright rude. No integrity, at all. They speak down to you, and ignore questions, doing the absolute minimum possible. There was an exodus of teachers this year who left in a cloud of mystery, there are no IEP plans in place for students, and most people of color and/or those on a lower socioeconomic circumstance are treated as less than. The administration has turned DSA into the exact opposite of what it was meant to be. Think twice before auditioning here.

Posted: February 22, 2022

Posted: June 14, 2018

My oldest son just graduated, and is going to continue with art in Europe. My daughter will be a junior next year, and she couldn't be happier at DSA. We love this school.

Posted: June 13, 2018

Man this school is one of the most fantastic environments I've ever experienced. The atmosphere and environment is so much more mature and kind than anywhere else I've seen and the student body is unbelievably talented to boot.

Posted: June 13, 2018

Posted: September 7, 2017

Some of the reviews regarding the dance program are absurd. My daughter has been in the dance program for almost 7 years. The teachers are tough and fair. Your child will be expected to be responsible (which means showing up ready to work, complete their homework on time, and be communicative to their teachers). There is no name calling because the directors are 20 year professionals who are well respected in the dance community. I understand that many dance parents have come to expect special treatment for their children. This is a public school with an exacting tough program, both artistically and academically. Each child will be expected to be responsible for themselves. After almost 7 years, I feel honored that my child will graduate from this school. She has been accepted to each university that she has applied and been offered very large scholarship packages from each. This school has prepared her to be a success in her future.

Posted: August 1, 2017

Some were, some weren't. Mixed bag like any school

Posted: August 1, 2017

School is geared toward students who are high achievers. No room for kids who might struggle at times.

Posted: August 1, 2017

We were excited when our child got into this school, but by second semester we were very disappointed. This school is for kids who are talented in their artistic area AND academic over-achievers. No room for kids who might struggle with some of their schoolwork. My child's artistic area teacher seemed to care very little about offering support and didn't respond to our emails regarding the situation. Seems like their main goal is to churn out high-achieving students who go to 4-year colleges and make the school look good. Kids who only have artistic talent fall by the way-side. We tried working with the school counselor who was really helpful, but without any teachers who were willing to step up and mentor our child, we decided to leave after one year.