Parker Performing Arts

This is the second year my children have been attending. I personally love the smaller class sizes. It makes communicating with the staff a lot easier especially when the children have the same teacher for 2 years in a row in elementary (1 and 2nd, 3rd and 4th) The school even with being a K-8 is still a very small school and everyone knows everyone. I really love how welcoming the staff are from the security officer, to the teachers, to the TA, etc. I couldn't have asked for a better school for my children to be attending. Watching the grade level plays is hands down my favorite thing to attend and watching the growth all the students make each year. Can't wait to see where my children's journey takes them as they continue at PPA.

We have been at PPA since 2018 and have loved every aspect of the school. The school is able to meet kids where they are academically, and for our gifted kids, they follow an APL and provide the extra challenge needed to keep the kids challenged. They split their time half in academics and half in the arts, allowing the kids to engage creatively as well as academically, which further enhances their academic performance. We look forward to send our 3rd kid to PPA into K next year!

My 6th grade student thrives in a learning environment in which she can achieve success not only academically but also in the arts. There is no other k-8 program in the Denver metro area that provides such an amazing opportunity!

This is a young charter with continued potential. Our family has recommended it to others. We appreciate the technology, real time grades daily and opportunity for the arts.

This is our first year at PPA and the improvement my daughter has made is absolutely incredible! She taught me on going to school daily because it was such a struggle for her and now she wakes up on her own excited to go to school and she is thriving! The atmosphere and support she has received at PPA has been remarkable and truly fits her learning style perfectly! We love PPA!!

My kiddo has a unique personality and doesn't learn in the most traditional way. We moved her from her local public school to PPA and she has thrived immensely. All members of the staff are incredibly caring and work hard together to support all of their students.

As our daughter's first grade year comes to an end, we feel grateful and content that we chose PPA for our daughter's education. She has so much joy going to school every morning and we all appreciate that she is able to spend half of her school day exploring interests such as musical theatre, tumbling, dance, music, and art. We believe this, in addition to the amazing teachers at PPA, have helped her thrive.

The school gives every student the opportunity to perform either in the school wide productions (two/school year) or in the performances exclusive to each grade. The students are celebrated by the school.

The office staff is welcoming and the principal seems fun and engaging as he is always surrounded by smiling and laughing students.

The school is more inclusive and accepting than others in the area.

We are looking forward to the opportunities and experiences our daughter will have at PPA.

We’ve been part of the PPA community for almost 4 years now and have always felt supported, they have a great team and work tirelessly to provide IEP accommodations as needed. Both of our kids have grown tremendously and we know is in part to PPA’s team.

PPA is overall a wonderful and inclusive school. My kiddo has been attending for 5 years now and will be back next year for 8th grade.

Absolutely the best school experience my children have ever had. They have exceed our expectations in every way. Still amazed on how they handled COVID and how they kept our children safe and still engaged in all of their classes. We love PPA

My son has had great experiences at school. I'm glad he's being exposed to art, music, and dance as he enjoys it but I don't think he would choose to do it on his own.

I love this school!!! Both my Daughters are very into Performing Arts, they have had the pleasure of being able to participate in many of the school productions, which are absolutely amazing!!!! Being a parent and being able to watch your kids doing something they love to do is the most amazing feeling in the world. The Teachers make the kids feel so good about themselves. I recommend this school to everyone I talk too, BEST SCHOOL!!!!

My family loves PPA! Great teachers, and solid academics in a creative artistic environment - highly recommend!!

PPA is a unique school in Douglas County... welcoming, diverse, supportive of all learners and the perfect environment for students who thrive with creative outlets.

My daughter is in the 5th grade now and has been here at PPA since 1st grade. She attended a different charter school in kindergarten and had a terrible experience and cried about going. She has loved school since coming here and says she wishes she didn’t have to leave it once she completes 8th grade. She has had some amazing teachers who have helped her learn and improve every step of the way. My daughter has adhd and anxiety and is on a 504 plan. The staff are great about working with her, and all the students, and recognize each child has different needs. They communicate and reach out when they have concerns and are responsive when I contact them. The performing arts electives are amazing and so fun for the kids. They also give the students a chance to perform and shine at the end of each semester. My daughter loves the uniforms and relaxed policy. No languages or sports but the rest outweighs that. Highly recommend, especially if your child enjoys music, dance and theater.

My children have thrived at PPA. We have a grade schooler and a middle schooler. They both receive 504 support and I was so glad we could access this at a Performing Arts School! We have seen them grow in both their sense of community and sense of responsibility since starting at PPA. The academics are rigorous but our kids have been able to rise to the expectations set for them. There are so many different ways parents can engage and be a part of the school (which is really cool in middle school). We love to watch them SHINE on stage but even more love seeing them shine as great kids. We love PPA!

Such a great school! The teachers are what set this school apart. The teachers are caring and truly work to make sure my daughter is successful. My daughter loves school so much she never wants to miss a day. My son also attended and is now in high school and experiencing great success after PA prepared him so well academically.

I have a first and fourth grader at PPA right now. I love this school. For my son's kindergarten and first grade years, we drove 45 minutes from North Denver to attend, and then we moved out here in 2020.

Each classroom not only has a teacher but also has a teacher's assistant, so there’s additional help in the classrooms, and a lot of schools do not have that. They also have the same teacher for two years, so the teacher knows your child, and your child has a great relationship with their teacher. I love that they get to do tumbling, music theater, art, and music as well as math, literacy, science, and social studies.

The school's culture is unparalleled they have great rates of diversity and a culture of acceptance. I love that I get emails from both the administration and my kid's teachers weekly with updates.

I adore the performances and how they make everything tie together both academically and with the arts. The school is K through eight, which is a really big deal to me because I had to move a lot as a child. Now I know that my kids are going to have the same community for basically the first nine years of their life. And even though the school goes K through eight, it still has about the same amount of students as a typical elementary school, and every single one of those teachers in that school knows my children and cares for them.

Where children GROW, as whole people, not just academically, but are genuinely cared for to pursue their passions and interests in a safe learning environment. Each teacher invests themselves in their lessons and conveys a passion for learning to a student body that is incredibly engaged in the learning process. Using technology to enhance the learning process is just a cherry on top! These kids are full of creative energy that is steered towards fabulous performance opportunities, for both star personalities AND the supporting crew. Here is a school I would have loved to attend as a kid!!! Meeting all the state standards for learning is only half the battle in education. The rest is growing a LOVE of learning! What better place to do it than somewhere a child knows they are cared for?!

We have been enrolled in PPA since the first day it opened. It has definitely been an evolution and the school has changed dramatically since those first days. No school is perfect but my children have absolutely thrived at PPA in both elementary and middle school. My middle school students are now in high school and are FAR better prepared academically than their peers who attended the neighborhood middle school in DCSD. They are in honors and AP classes and are excelling because of what they learned at PPA.

(This review is mainly about middle school - if your student is K-4th, your experience will be a night and day difference. I had children in all age ranges.)
We came here because my children love the performing arts, as do I, but after two years we knew it was time to leave.
Their discipline tactics used were horrible. My son, who NEVER got in trouble a day in his life, had to suddenly do "think lines" during recess. This consisted of walking around the basketball court during recess, humiliated in front of everyone.
I agree with others, I was surprised that there was not many theater productions and the same people were constantly chosen. My children tried to branch out and learn how to do tech/lighting/makeup, but were told they had to PAY A FEE to volunteer to do this. Ridiculous.
There are NO art classes in middle school. :(
I was not a fan of the ipads. They are literally on there all the time! All their homework was on there too, so the kids had to be on it when they got home from school as well. The ipads were not well supervised, they were on games sites or other sites they shouldn't have been, and 'paid' kids in candy to rat out their other friends and tell the IT guy what sites to block. Students wrote emails and notes in Google Drive back and forth all day to each other.
There was a boy always in the girls bathroom, even when our girls had to change in there for ballet. :( Also, vaping.
The academic side was severely lacking and way too much technology. The performing arts side is TRULY FANTASTIC, however. My son loved choir and tumbling class and even got to try out an instrument for the first time. The dance teacher (Ms. P) is amazing and her shows were always professional!

I toured another school and was shocked by how quiet the halls were and how respectful the students were. I hadn't realized until then how chaotic PPA is, and that the middle school students pretty much run the school.

After 3 years in the middle school, I would highly not recommend this school. Communication, poor teaching, and lack of support for students educationally where our biggest problems. Teachers use inappropriate language, and had bad attitudes towards students. When you discovered your children were in small classes of under 20 students, and the middle school teachers couldn't manage classwork being turned in, you realize there was a problem. Admin have deaf ears and often don't listen to kids and parents. We felt we gave the school a fair chance, and in the end they let the students down. They had a loss of a student last year, and instead of support the students, they put them down. Diversity, while high in the school compared to other, teachers didn't take this into consideration in their lessons often putting students of color in bad situations with their peers. It's sad to see the disfunction. School could have had so much potential, but they seem to focus on just a few students (teacher and like parents) kids, and forget about the rest. Sad

I wish we would have seen some of these reviews before we had enrolled. My students academic scores have fallen since attending here. We went here for the performing arts, which my student is very active in, but hates here. Communication between teacher-student, teacher-parent, administration-student, administration-parent is poor. Most teachers and administrators, especially the vice principal, prefer to use their authority to intimidate others. Keep looking, this environment is not conducive to anyone learning.

This is the perfect school for my kids. If you want children to be happy this may be the school for you. There is so much movement during the day the my kids are thriving here. Most schools at cutting arts programs while this one offers so many.

We loved the school sad we have to leave.

If you have a child going into 5-8 grade I strongly suggest you go elsewhere. The middle school program is a huge disaster, the administration, the teachers and the classes are in horrible shape. The only plus on the arts side is Mrs. Peterson, the dance instructor. Her hire is the best thing the school has going for it. Mr. Kelly, who was an exceptional teacher for choir, is taking an admin position next year. That is a total loss for the kids. My youngest daughter ended up with the same arts teacher for all 3 of her arts classes. Totally unacceptable. As a performing arts school they should have different teachers for all classes. Teachers use foul language in front of students, teachers discuss inappropriate topics with students and I feel they cross the Teacher/Student line often. They tend to pick on certain kids all the time and give out detentions for minor infractions. They have no idea how to control a classroom. The administration team has failed me and my kids all year long. We are so excited to be leaving and moving on. If your kids are smart and outgoing this is not the place for you.

This school had so much promise but fails to deliver on that promise. Academics are woefully lacking...in fact my children’s reading and math scores have declined since attending PPA. So the focus is clearly on the arts yet there is zero opportunity for most children with clear favorites repeatedly chosen for every part. Very few plays or performances which is odd considering that’s what this school is about. I have yet to see my child perform in dance even once this year. How do I know what they’re learning? And bullying is rampant. Dramatic personalities routinely clash with zero repercussion from administration. In fact it almost seems encouraged. Definitely pulling my children out after this year and do not recommend.

Parker Performing Arts is a school of lies. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE. The arts training they speak of is beyond inadequate, with very little individualized learning on either arts or academic education. Since enrolling my children have made very little progress in any school subject and I am frankly appalled at the lack of proper advanced learning plans at the school. When they do create advanced programs it is always mismanaged somehow. For example they once switched every child’s classes to cater to the whims of one teacher who quite frankly should not work at any school. The teachers are allowed to give detentions for ridiculously minor offenses and in some cases accidents. Not to mention that my daughter has never gotten a part in even the ensemble of a single school production despite having been in several plays outside of school which leads me to believe the teachers running the operation have some sort of bias against my daughter. She tries exceptionally hard and has never been in any serious trouble and yet is consistently picked upon by teachers. I will not be enrolling her next year and strongly suggest that none of you make the same mistakes I did with this BS