Denver schools refocus on Black students' success with new initiative

• A cohort of six to 10 schools will participate in the initiative, our education reporting partners at Chalkbeat write.

Why it matters: The move comes about 4½ years after the Denver school board approved a resolution requiring each school to develop plans — with mixed results — to help Black students.

By the numbers: About 14% of the district's 89,000 students are Black, and data shows they graduate and learn to read at lower rates than white students amid pervasive segregation in schools.

Of note: Michael Atkins, the current Stedman Elementary principal, will step down in January to lead the new team.

• He attended Denver public schools as a student during busing integration 50 years ago and remembers how he was treated differently as a Black student.

What he's saying: "And my whole push, whether it's leading Stedman Elementary or whether it's leading this team of Black Student Success, is to ensure that the babies that look like me that enter into our school system, that I'm doing my part to change the system in a way that is going to illuminate their identities and dreams," Atkins said.