The researchers who released a La Raza report to capture the Latino experience in Denver have recommended a number of ambitious goals for the district to achieve in a three-year implementation plan presented to the board on Thursday.

“These are really big, audacious outcomes,” said Darlene LeDoux, chair of the La Raza Advisory Council.

The proposed outcomes by the 2026-2027 school year include:

• 80% of Latino students achieve grade-level proficiency in reading by the end of third grade.

• Significantly increase the number of Latino students enrolled in Career and Technical Education and in “rigorous courses” to improve graduation rates.

• Increase the number of Latino families in leadership positions that drive the district’s decision making.

• Have the racial makeup of district and school leaders reflect the diversity of students.

These outcomes, and others, were synthesized from the original report, which had more than 30 recommendations.

Denver Public Schools released the long-awaited La Raza report in the spring. The report was designed to capture the experiences of the Latino community in Colorado’s most populous city.

Conducted by The Multicultural Leadership Center, the report relied on a historical analysis, literature review, academic achievement and student population data as well as surveys to capture the lived experiences of parents, staff and students.

The report touched on many of the same themes Chicano students at West High School identified five decades ago when they walked out of class in protest over racism on their campus. At the time, students had demanded more bilingual classes and Chicano history and literature to be integrated in the curriculum, among other things.

As much as things have changed since, many of the issues remain, former board President Xóchitl Gaytán has noted.

Gaytán has described the report as “historic.”

“History repeats itself,” Gaytán, who illegally crossed the border with her mother as a toddler before becoming a U.S. citizen in the ‘80s, has said.

District officials sought research in 2022 that examined the barriers and opportunities for Latino students, families and staff.

Among the study’s original findings:

• Researchers found no statistically significant difference over a 15-year-period in overall reading and math scores at district-run and charter schools, which emerged in Colorado in the early ‘90s.

• Despite a district emphasis on equity, researchers found what they called the “brown ceiling” in which Latinos are underrepresented in district and school leadership.

• An increased number of White and Latino students have scored below expectations in math and reading since 2015, indicating a rocky transition from the old to new academic standards.

Researchers also highlighted in the report a decline in Latino enrollment, having lost nearly 4,600 students between 2015 and 2022, while the White student population increased by roughly 4,200.

About half of the student body across the district is Latino.

The report does not address the challenges the district faces with the influx of immigrant students because the data was collected before the unprecedented wave of immigrant students.

Over the past 22 months, Denver has welcomed more than 40,000 immigrants from South and Central America, many who crossed the border illegally with school-age children. While not all of them stayed in the city, as many took Denver’s offer of bus tickets to their final destination, schools still felt the impact.

In other actions Thursday, the board of education unanimously approved a resolution in support of the Denver Health sales tax measure before voters in November, which hopes to raise $70 million.

As the city’s safety-net system, Denver Health is seeking to alleviate the financial strain from rising uncompensated costs. Rising demand for uncompensated health care — driven in part by the influx in immigrants — is anticipated to climb to $124 million in 2025.

The board also received a presentation on student test scores, which were released by the state last month.

DPS had modest gains with 31.2% of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math, a 0.9% gain over last year, while 40.7% of students did so in English, a 0.4% increase.

“I believe we have an incredible amount of momentum,” said Superintendent Alex Marrero.

The Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS, is an annual measurement of student success in reading and math for third through eighth graders. Students are also tested, to a lesser extent, in science and social studies.

High schoolers take the SAT and PSAT administered by the College Board to measure college readiness.

School districts across the state — including DPS — have struggled to return to pre-pandemic testing levels.

“Even when the playfield is unfair, our kids can do it,” Marrero said.