La Academia at the Denver Inner City Parish is a private, non-profit school located in West Denver serving 80 sixth through twelfth grade low-income students. Founded in 1971, La Academia has addressed the educational and social needs of at-risk youth.

Our Adult Night School assists an additional 20 students who earn their high school diploma or prepare for the G.E.D. test.

La Academia follows the Denver Public School schedule, late August through May. Night School is open during the same months; classes are 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm Monday through Thursday.

Our community is mostly Latino, earning less than $15,000 per year; 71% of the resident children under the age of 18 are living in poverty. Most of our students have not been successful in prior schools and many come to
us below grade level.

The Colorado Children’s Campaign Report detailed a four-year study, which found that 65% of Latinos in Colorado who began 9th grade dropped out of high school. During the same period 70% of La Academia’s 9th graders graduated. The study also indicated that only 13.5% of Latinos attend college. In the last five years, 75% of La Academia graduates attended college.

• Our average student is Latino/a and lives in poverty. 98% of our student body qualifies for Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program.
• The average grade level gained in reading is 2.8 years per year and annual grade level gained in math is 1.8.
• Students are expected to maintain a 3.1 G.P.A.
• Average daily attendance is 88%.
• The average stay at La Academia is 3.5 years, despite the fact that, on average, our students move more than once a year.
• Graduation requirements include an expected 18 or higher on the ACT College entrance exam.
• Seven out of ten graduates go on to college.

Our public schools are an important community asset, but not all kids succeed in a public school setting. In fact, a Latina student starting ninth grade at La Academia has nearly three times the chance to graduate from high school and sixteen the times the chance of going to college compared to her public school counterparts. Pre- and post-testing of students is done in reading and math annually.

100% of our families contribute something towards their child’s tuition each year; all of them receive financial aid. On average, scholarships cover nearly $3,900 of the $4,000 in costs it takes to educate a single La Academia student.