Denver’s First Public French Immersion School

The French American School of Denver is a DPS charter school opening in fall 2020 offering a research-based French immersion education to students K-5. As a public school, FASDenver does not charge tuition and families enroll through the DPS SchoolChoice process. All are welcome regardless of language background. Those living outside the DPS boundaries may also apply through SchoolChoice. The location of FASDenver is still being finalized, but will be announced soon. Understanding how essential transportation is to ensuring equal access to the school, FASDenver will provide free DPS bus service to all registered students residing within the DPS boundaries. Bienvenue!

Take the Next Step: Learn about enrollment. We’ll guide your through the SchoolChoice process.

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Cultivating Excellence for All Students

Welcoming families from all backgrounds, the French American School of Denver employs a proven, research-based bilingual French/English immersion curriculum to cultivate critical thinking, creativity and empathy. Immersion education has been shown to improve test scores in math, reading and vocabulary, and boost mental flexibility and problem-solving skills. Our collaborative school culture and commitment to equity, inclusion and culturally responsive education provides students with a supportive learning environment. Our goal is to develop open-minded, bilingual and biliterate learners who are prepared for a life of global opportunities as innovators and leaders.

Programs: Full-Day Kindergarten  •  PE  •  Music  •  Technology  •  Visual Arts  •  Library  •  Language Immersion  • STEM • International Focus •  French  •  Integrated Content and Language Development (ICLD)  •  Inquiry-Based Learning  •  Differentiated Instruction •  Project-Based Learning

Clubs and Activities: Community Service Club or Organization •  School Yearbook or Newspaper •  Student Leadership  •  Club Based on Ethnicity or Culture  

Early Education: Kindergarten English; Kindergarten French

Student Supports: Language Supports:Dual Language; Special Education: Mild-Moderate Support

Transportation: DPS bus service for families living within the DPS boundaries
Before-school programming: Yes
After-school programming: Yes
Lunch: Yes
Uniform: Yes
ELA Services: Supported English content instruction  •  English language development services for Els  • ELA-E and ELA-T teachers

“We have a growing body of research that makes clear that students who are bilingual have advantages, not only in their literacy development, but in the development of problem-solving skills and other areas of cognition. What we see now is that bilingualism is a gift that we can give to our students and to our communities. And that is a powerful shift in our historical perspective on bilingualism… We know that our competitiveness as a country depends, in part, on advancing that goal. A recent survey of California employers showed that a majority of employers, across all sectors, small business, large business, want and prefer bilingual employees. We know that our international competitors often do a significantly better job of preparing bilingual students. And so, we’ve got work to do as a country to ensure that we embrace bi-literacy and multi-literacy.”

– Former Secretary of Education John King (2016-2017)

Why Immersion? 

Immersion is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for content instruction including math, science and social studies. In other words, in an immersion class, students are learning key academic subjects through the language not just the language itself. Decades of research shows that immersion education delivers reduces the achievement gap and delivers lifelong benefits. Immersion education is suitable for students from all backgrounds. Some of the benefits:

• Improves mental flexibility and problem-solving skills
• Improves test scores in math, reading and vocabulary
• Improves high school graduation rates
• Reduces the achievement gap
• Expands employment opportunities in adulthood

Read More about the academic, cognitive and economic benefits of Immersion Education.

“FASDenver has designed its mission and program to serve a diverse community of students and foster global citizenship.”

French American Chamber of Commerce-Rocky Mountain

Why French? 

French is the world’s 5th most spoken language and one that is projected to grow in terms of number of speakers over the coming decades. French is the official language in 29 countries, which puts it in second place behind English. These 29 countries are: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu.

French is also the procedural language for the EU, the only language used for deliberations at the Court of Justice for the EU, and one of the recognized working languages of the United Nations. In addition, dozens of international organizations use French as a working language including the International Red Cross committee, International Labor Organization, Amnesty International, and Doctors without Borders. Francophone countries form an important bloc in the UN, the EU, the African Union, and the Arab League.

French is taught in every country of the world, with 100 million students and 2 million teachers – 20 % of whom are outside of francophone countries. The number of French speakers has TRIPLED since 1945 largely since most former French and Belgian colonies kept French as their language of government, education and science after decolonization. According to demographers,  the total number of French speakers could rise to as much as 700 million by 2050 due largely to population growth in Africa.

“We are confident that FASDenver would be an appropriate candidate to receive future grants and Embassy support.”

Consulate General of France Los Angeles

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