About the Colorado Department of Education (CDE)

As a dynamic service agency, CDE provides leadership, resources, support, and accountability to the state's 178 school districts, 1,780 schools, and over 130,000 educators to help them build capacity to meet the needs of the state's approximately 840,000 public school students. CDE also provides services and support to boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES), early learning centers, state correctional schools, facility schools, the state's libraries, adult/family literacy centers, and General Education Development (GED) testing centers reaching learners of all ages. CDE operates the Colorado Talking Book Library which provides supports for people who have vision, print, and reading disabilities. In addition, CDE provides structural and administrative support to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and the Charter School Institute.

As the administrative arm of the State Board of Education, CDE is responsible for implementing state and federal education laws, disbursing state and federal funds, holding schools and districts accountable for performance, licensing all educators, and providing public transparency of performance and financial data. CDE serves students, parents, and the general public by protecting the public trust through ensuring adherence to laws, strong stewardship of public funds, and accountability for student performance.

Fact Sheets

These short documents provide a high level understanding on many hot topics around Colorado’s education system. You may download the PDFs, save them to your computer or print them off and share with colleagues.
 

Strategic Plan

View Strategic Plan (PDF)

Goals

The department has four overarching goals. The goals are described in greater details in the strategic plan.

Successful Students

1. Prepare students to thrive in their education and in a globally competitive workforce.

• Ensure every student is making adequate growth to graduate from high school postsecondary and workforce ready.
• Increase achievement for all students and close achievement gaps.
• Ensure students graduate ready for postsecondary and workforce success.
• Increase national and international competitiveness for all students.

Great Teachers and Leaders

2. Ensure effective educators for every student and effective leaders for every school and district.

• Increase and support the effectiveness of all educators.
• Optimize the preparation, licensure, retention, and effectiveness of new educators.
• Eliminate the educator equity gap.

Outstanding Schools and Districts

3. Build the capacity of schools and districts to meet the needs of Colorado students and their families.

• Increase performance for all districts and schools.
• Turnaround the state's lowest performing districts and schools.
• Foster innovation and expand access to a rich array of high quality learning options for all students.

Best Education System in the Nation

4. Build the best education system in the nation.

• Lead the nation in policy, innovation, and positive outcomes for education.
• Operate with excellence, efficiency, and effectiveness to become the best SEA in the nation.
• Attract and retain outstanding talent to CDE.

For additional information, e-mail: fuller_j@cde.state.co.us