Odyssey School of Denver (6479)
6550 EAST 21ST AVENUE
DENVER, CO 80207
Charter School.
329
Total Students Served
Half Day Kindergarten - Grade 8
School District:
Denver County 1 (0880)
View School List
School Profile
About Odyssey School of Denver (6479)
A MESSAGE FROM:
Odyssey School of Denver
2024-2025
Odyssey School of Denver is a single site, DPS-authorized charter school founded in 1998 that serves 318 students in K-8th grade. Odyssey primarily serves students from the near northeast and far northeast quadrants of the city, although some of our students come from west Denver, Aurora and beyond. Odyssey is a high-performing EL Education (Expeditionary Learning) school that teaches students through expeditions: long-term, in-depth units of study. Each classroom has a focus on crew to teach an…
d reinforce positive character and incorporates an adventure program in which every student participates in overnight camping and a range of challenging outdoor experiences. Our goal is to create an environment for our students to live the school?s motto, ''Leap In. Get Stuck. Push Through.'' Odyssey School of Denver is a diverse, public, K-8 EL Education school. We teach students how to learn through a focus on academic achievement, critical thinking and social responsibility, preparing them for high school and beyond. Odyssey School of Denver students will: Take risks and innovate; Lead with integrity and compassion; Be civically and socially engaged; Push themselves to exceed expectations; Embrace learning as a life-long adventure. Odyssey has a diverse population, with approximately 42% of students identifying as students of color. White students make up approximately 58% of our population, Black students make up approximately 8% of our population, and Latinx students make up approximately 20% of our population. Approximately 30% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch. We are an ELA-E school, serving our MLE students (3.6% of our population) through a model that includes small group instruction and scaffolded instruction. The school participates in the DPS school choice process and typically sees several hundred applicants on the wait list each year. In the last ten or so years, Odyssey has seen re-enrollment decrease at the middle school level because there are a handful of strong middle school options now available for families to choose. Five years ago and in advance of 2020 charter renewal, the Executive Director and Board worked with an outside consultant to conduct a strategic process to facilitate long-term planning for competitiveness and sustainability in our changing K-12 near-northeast landscape. After months of community input sessions, committee planning, and Board deliberation, the school decided on a clear path forward. With DPS School Choice and Enrollment and the Portfolio Management Team?s support, the Odyssey Board of Directors voted in December 2019 to expand our elementary program by 50%, while continuing our small middle school at the same size. Since this decision, Odyssey continues to attract and maintain a staff of highly qualified teachers, and traditionally retains approximately 80% of staff year over year. As we expand, we continue to add new teachers and roles. Odyssey's leadership team includes an Executive Director, Assistant Director (5-8), Assistant Director (K-4), Director of Operations, Director of Adventure. Odyssey has historically performed well in state assessments and school accountability measures. For the past two years we have received a "green" Performance Plan rating on the state SPF framework (2023 & 2024). Although the school has consistently performed in the meets/exceeds categories for student learning as measured by state assessments/frameworks, we have seen persistent opportunity gaps at all grade levels for students of color and in poverty. Odyssey's small number of students can present challenges in interpreting data when drilling down to the grade level for our subgroups. At Odyssey, we have a strong system of support for all children. We work as adult teams in a variety of capacities to screen students, monitor their progress, and make data-based decisions. We provide a layered continuum of support that utilizes evidence-based approaches. We believe in creating a partnership between the school, community and home to build a web of support for our students. Universal screening is performed for both academic and behavioral MTSS and we seek to triangulate more than one data source for students. Our MTSS team is made up of our Executive Director, Assistant Director(s), Special Education Teacher, SSPs when appropriate, and the teachers the student works with. Parents are also part of the meetings and process when possible. Academically, we use iReady as our universal screener in both reading and math. Students qualify for intervention if they flag as either Tier 2 or Tier 3 on the iReady Assessment and have a second piece of data supporting their need for intervention (e.g. mClass (DIBELS), EL Education Foundational Skills benchmark assessments). We use a tiered system of support where students continue to receive Tier 1 instruction, and then receive additional layers. For Tier 2, Tier 1 supports continue AND one aspect of instruction changes in the classroom: decrease in group size; increase in frequency; increase in duration of small groups. There is a clear match between the intervention and the instructional gap, and appropriate tools (curriculum, online programs, tutoring, etc.) should be used. For Tier 3, we continue Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction, as well as add an emphasis on one targeted skill. For reading, we also utilize our Literacy Interventionist to provide pull-out interventions using research based methods including Orton Gillingham, Wilson and CR Learning Success. Additional staff resources may be used to target specific students at Tier 3 (Sped, Admin, tutoring programs). For behavioral MTSS, students are flagged at 3+ referrals in one month (type 2+ only) or through teacher recommendation. This leads to additional data collection by admin (including teacher meeting, family meeting, and proof of Tier 1 interventions). Students may also be flagged on BESS in grades 3-8 which then leads to a mental health referral. The primary intervention we use for behavioral MTSS is Check In, Check Out (CICO). For Tier 2, the teacher leads CICO (crew or math). The student has three daily goals (linked to CASEL competencies and function of behavior), and has a formal check-in with the teacher at the beginning and end of the day. For Tier 3, the student is assigned an adult in the school as their CICO buddy (i.e. someone in the building with whom they have a strong relationship). The student has one daily goal (linked to CASEL competency and function of behavior), and has a beginning and end-of-day check-in with the adult as well as an added ''check up'' midday. Additional supports may be added to the student?s intervention plan as well. Progress monitoring for MTSS is completed by the student?s teacher every two weeks using formative assessments or CICO data and formally by the administration every month. For academics, we administer iReady Growth Checks to determine if students are making progress towards their goal. We follow DPS guidelines for identification of students as Gifted and Talented or Talent Pool. We administer the NNAT or CogAT and SIGs, as well as collect a portfolio of work for students. Our GT coordinator and crew lead teachers then support students in the implementation of their Advanced Learning Plans. Odyssey?s mission, vision and special sauce describe clearly what we seek to accomplish for our students and families. The implications for fostering a cohesive vision for a school culture are critical to our success. Our implementation of the EL model supports this work because we celebrate students? character development by building a culture in which adults and students work together to become effective learners and ethical people. This is made possible through our deep commitment to teach, model and discuss the Habits of a Learner and a spirit of crew, in which our community works together as a team to sustain a learning community where everyone belongs and can succeed. The concept of crew and its aligned practices are central to creating an inclusive and culturally responsive school culture. Crew as a Culture - Leaders and teachers establish a culture in which every crew member feels respected and valued and part of the culture of crew by creating systems to overcome challenges (e.g., creating norms, discussion protocols, team-building events), planning crew meetings to fit the community?s need at that moment, and modeling for students what the culture of crew looks and sounds like. Crew as a Structure - Leaders and teachers hold sacred time for crew meetings or circles, and plan/facilitate crew experiences that support building relationships, Habits of Character, literacy, adventure and service learning. Positive behavior is celebrated and concerns about behavior are addressed through restorative approaches or conflict mediation strategies. Since the 2021-2022 school year, Odyssey has engaged in a self-initiated audits, with support from external consultants, to investigate our equity practices. The school and community engaged in a year-long process that included community input, classroom observations, and professional development for our team on multicultural education practices. In June of 2022, our community was presented with 34 recommendations from the equity audit that drives our continued work to ensure all students, staff, and families are valued and belong in our community. This work guides Odyssey's Black Excellence Plan and our Strategic Planning for the school. Odyssey's UIP has been a collaborative process, stemming from our Instructional Leadership Team's work on a yearly work plan and the Executive Director's work with the Board of Directors and the School Accountability Committee on school goals.
Final 2025 Performance Rating
Note:
N/A means these data are not available.
-- means the group size is too small, so these data are not displayed to protect student or educator privacy.
Explore More:
SchoolView Legend
SCHOOL
DISTRICT
STATE
N/A
Data not available.
--
Group size too small. Data are not displayed to protect student or educator privacy.
Click these icons on any chart to show or hide data
