Original Research by School Decision on Colorado High School Charter - Ges
Colorado High School Charter GES is an alternative charter high school in Denver that serves grades nine through twelve. It operates as part of Denver Public Schools, a district that in recent years has approved a record bond measure for facility improvements and shifted to a unified enrollment system for school choice, so the broader district environment is one of active change and investment.
The school’s enrollment is small for a high school serving all four grades. The student body is composed predominantly of Hispanic and Black students, and a very large share of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this school in a high-poverty context. The grade distribution is unusual: the senior class is substantially larger than the freshman class, a pattern that may reflect how students transfer into this school later in high school or that the school focuses on supporting upperclass students to graduation.
Because Colorado High School Charter GES is classified as an alternative school, it sits outside the typical accountability framework. State testing data is not available in the records reviewed, and the four-year graduation rate is also not reported in this data. A parent looking for standardized test scores or a published graduation rate will not find them here. For alternative programs, this absence is common; these schools often serve students who have previously struggled in traditional settings, and their performance may be measured differently. The school’s own website or the district’s alternative education office would be the place to ask about academic outcomes, credit recovery options, and post-graduation plans of students.
No information was available about course offerings, Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment programs, discipline incidents, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or special education and English learner counts. A family considering this school would need to ask directly about the academic pathways available, the support services for students who are behind on credits, and the school’s approach to discipline and attendance.
The school’s location is within the city of Denver, a consolidated city-county that serves as the state capital and a major hub for telecommunications, aerospace, finance, and health care. Denver has a dense downtown with cultural institutions, a large park system, and professional sports teams. Housing in the area around the school is expensive relative to national medians, and rents have been stable to slightly declining in recent data. The school is part of a large district that offers many school choices, and this charter alternative school represents one specific option for families whose needs or circumstances align with a nontraditional high school setting.
See more original research from School Decision →