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The Denver school board on Thursday unanimously approved Superintendent Alex Marrero’s latest performance evaluation, which found that he earned 73.5 points out of a possible 100.
The 22-page evaluation from the board says Marrero met his goals last school year related to boosting the number of young students reading at grade level, increasing the percentage of older students enrolled in rigorous courses, and recruiting diverse staff.
Marrero met some goals related to academic achievement, including increasing by two percentage points the number of third through eighth graders who met or exceeded expectations on state math tests. In 2023-24, 31% of students scored that way. In 2024-25, 33% did.
The evaluation says Marrero successfully carried out the board’s policy for closing schools with low enrollment. Ten such schools closed or partially closed at the end of last school year.
But Marrero missed his goals related to the percentage of third through eighth graders who met expectations on state literacy tests. He also missed goals related to the sense of well-being and belonging reported by students and staff in district surveys. Marrero’s goal was to increase it for both groups. While the metric for students was unchanged, it declined for staff.
“The decline was most pronounced among teachers and central office staff, who cited fatigue from reorganization, enrollment decline, and school closures,” the evaluation says.
School board members praised Marrero Thursday for his focus on raising the academic achievement of Black and Latino students, most of whom made gains on state tests last year even if their scores were lower than the goals set by Marrero.
Board member Kimberlee Sia asked how Marrero would continue that trajectory. Marrero said that while some might characterize the progress as insignificant, he would call it incremental, which he said “can become monumental if we all row in the same direction.”
Board member Scott Esserman thanked Marrero for reducing costs in the district’s central office in order to direct more funding toward schools. Board President Carrie Olson praised the superintendent for “taking on” President Donald Trump.
In February, Denver Public Schools sued the Trump administration in an attempt to protect students from immigration enforcement in and around schools. The district has also refused to get rid of its all-gender restrooms despite an order from the Trump administration to do so.
Those actions “strengthened public trust, safeguarded student rights, and solidified Denver Public Schools’ reputation as a national model for equity-driven leadership,” the evaluation says.
In past years, Marrero got a bonus based on his performance. But he won’t this year. The school board got rid of the bonus when it extended his contract in May.
The teachers union and others had decried the bonus structure as unfair. Marrero earned an $8,200 bonus in 2023 and a $17,300 bonus last year.
The contract extension was controversial, too. Some board members thought the board should have waited until after Marrero’s performance evaluation to decide whether to extend his contract. Under Marrero’s old contract, the board had until Jan. 1 to make that decision.
Marrero had far fewer performance goals in the 2024-25 school year than in prior years. In 2023-24, Marrero’s goals included more than 230 metrics. In 2024-25, there were just 27.
The evaluation includes a quote from Marrero’s self-evaluation noting that he considers the “degree of board influence” in shaping his goals this past year to be “outside the norms” of the governance structure that the board uses, known as policy governance.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
