D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School Adds Sixth-Grade Wing to Create Seamless Experience
Already setting a strong pace as one of the top schools in Colorado, Jeffco’s D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School is now home to a cohesive sixth-grade wing thanks to the 2018 taxpayer-backed bond program.
The opening of the refurbished wing in the fall of 2023 completes a year-long transition in collaboration with D’Evelyn’s feeder school, Dennison Elementary School.
D’Evelyn had long served students in grades seven through 12, while Dennison was once kindergarten through sixth grade. However, some students who wanted to attend D’Evelyn would spend a year in a middle school for sixth grade, arriving at D’Evelyn a year behind in grasping the school’s rigorous philosophy. Now, D’Evelyn adds sixth grade to its high-standards program under the “junior high school” model.
The idea is seamlessness.
“D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School has always had a “college feel,” says Assistant Principal Greg Kottcamp. “It’s a really strong learning environment.”
The seven upgraded classrooms in the new wing will serve 180 sixth graders. The wing comes complete with a new conference room for sixth-grade teachers to meet and plan. The area also has new landscaping, a new art room, upgrades to the weight room and gymnasiums and renovations to the music room -- all part of Jeffco Builds, Jeffco Public Schools’ Capital Improvement Program.
Principal Josh Shapiro, who is beginning his first year as the principal of D'Evelyn, expressed his appreciation for the new and improved learning facility that will provide extraordinary student experiences for years to come. “The new sixth-grade wing gives us that cohesive flow that the school has been after for many years.” Adds Kottcamp: “That is something that makes this school special—vertical and horizontal alignment.”
The school sets high standards through extensive reading and writing assignments, two hours of homework every night and a solid liberal arts curriculum.
The school promotes independent, analytical reasoning and year-to-year sequential continuity in the development of knowledge and competence. Student participation in Advanced Placement classes, which can lead to students earning college credit, is at 95 percent. The school’s minority enrollment is 31 percent and 9 percent of the school population is economically disadvantaged.
D’Evelyn is ranked the number one high school in Colorado by U.S. News & World Report.
“Students really have to pace themselves,” says Kottcamp. “Every class is rigorous, but if you listen to the students coming back from college, they all say the same thing—that the rigor paid off because our graduates have a zero percent remediation rate in college. Parents know, too, that their students were well prepared for the challenge of college.”
And now, that process begins firmly and seamlessly in sixth grade.
“Continuity,” says Principal Shapiro, “is the most important thing and that alignment is a great service to the students.”