In 2010, Denver Public Schools (DPS) was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) validation grant from the U.S. Department of Education with a private match from community partners to implement CSR Colorado. The initiative was facilitated by a unique partnership between Denver Public Schools, the University of Colorado Boulder and Padres & Jóvenes Unidos. CSR Colorado was a leading-edge initiative
to bring Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) to DPS middle schools. Through research, classroom implementation, and community outreach, CSR Colorado provided a holistic approach to improving the reading comprehension skills of middle school students. The project ended in 2015, having supported 21 schools, 410 teachers, 11,138 students, 1200 families and 300 parent leaders. CSR Colorado also provided extensive technology supports and training to DPS middle school classrooms, including iPads, ChromeBooks, digital video cameras and more than 400 Promethean Boards. The classroom components of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) are part of the Denver Public Schools’ toolkit for best first instruction, and CSR continues to be used in more than 20 DPS schools. If you are interested in using CSR at your school, the CSR teacher toolkit is located here: http://toolkit.csrcolorado.org/Login?ReturnUrl=%2f
