How often should a Colorado principal send a school newsletter?

Weekly is the right target for Colorado schools in competitive enrollment environments, which includes most of Denver, Jefferson County, and the Douglas County metro. CMAS testing windows, Colorado READ Act screening periods, and the state's open enrollment policy all create high-communication periods where advance notice is critical. If weekly is too ambitious initially, bi-weekly is a solid foundation to build from.

What should a Colorado principal include in the back-to-school newsletter?

Cover school hours, the year's calendar, staff introductions, and how to reach teachers. Include the CMAS testing schedule for spring and the Colorado READ Act early literacy screening process for elementary principals. For schools in Denver Public Schools or Jefferson County, mention any school-specific programs or choice enrollment details that returning and prospective families should know. Aurora and Pueblo schools should note any bilingual program information.

How should a Colorado principal communicate CMAS results?

CMAS results for grades 3 through 8 come out in the fall. Send a dedicated newsletter explaining what the Colorado Measures of Academic Success covers, what the five performance levels mean, and how your school compares to Colorado averages. Be specific about what the school is doing for students who did not reach the Meets Expectations level. Colorado's education-conscious parent population responds better to honest, specific data than to vague reassurances.

What does the Colorado READ Act mean for elementary principal newsletters?

The Colorado READ Act requires schools to screen students in kindergarten through grade 3 for reading deficiencies and notify parents when a student is identified. Elementary principals need to communicate the screening schedule at the start of the year, explain what a READ Act notification means, and describe the READ plan process. A newsletter sent before the fall screening that walks parents through the process reduces confusion when individual notifications go home.

What is the best newsletter tool for Colorado principals?

Daystage is used by principals across Colorado, from Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County to Aurora, Boulder Valley, and rural districts in the San Luis Valley and Eastern Plains. It delivers newsletters inline in Gmail and Outlook so families see content immediately. Colorado's tech-forward parent demographics, particularly in the Front Range, expect mobile-optimized communication. Daystage handles formatting automatically and gives principals open rate data to confirm families are actually receiving the newsletter.

The Colorado Principal Newsletter Guide

Colorado principals work in one of the most education-conscious states in the country. Front Range parents are engaged, often well-informed about assessment data, and quick to compare schools across the state's open enrollment system. The principal newsletter is where you set the narrative for your school, establish your communication style, and give families the information they need to stay engaged and stay enrolled.

CDE requirements and what they mean for principal communication

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) sets assessment schedules, school performance ratings, and several required parent notification standards. Colorado principals are responsible for communicating a number of state-mandated items each year:

Annual parent notification: Families must receive information on student rights, the discipline code, and school safety policies at the start of each year.
Colorado READ Act: Elementary principals must communicate the early literacy screening schedule and explain the READ plan notification process to families before screenings begin.
School Performance Framework: CDE assigns performance ratings to schools. When ratings are released, principals should send a newsletter contextualizing the school's rating rather than leaving families to interpret media coverage.
CMAS results: Individual student reports go home through the district. The principal's job is to explain school-level data and what it means for next steps.
Title I schools: Parent engagement plans and annual meeting dates must be communicated. Aurora Public Schools and Pueblo City Schools have significant Title I populations.

CMAS: communicating Colorado's assessment system to families

The Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) covers grades 3 through 8 in English language arts, math, and science. Results are reported in five performance levels: Distinguished, Strong, Moderate, Limited, and Minimal. The results feed into CDE's School Performance Framework, which produces annual school performance ratings that are publicly visible.

Colorado parents, especially in the Denver metro and Boulder areas, often track school performance ratings as part of housing and enrollment decisions. Your newsletter should not just be a compliance exercise around CMAS. It should be the place where you explain what your school's performance data actually means, what the school is doing about areas of weakness, and what programs are producing the strongest outcomes.

Send a newsletter before the CMAS window opens (typically April and May) explaining the schedule and how to support student wellbeing during testing. Send a second newsletter in the fall when results come back.

The Colorado READ Act: what elementary principals need to communicate

The Colorado READ Act has been one of the state's signature early literacy policies since 2012. It requires schools to assess students in kindergarten through grade 3 and notify parents when a student is identified as having a reading deficiency. The notification triggers a required READ plan developed with the family.

Many Colorado parents have heard of the READ Act but do not know what the process looks like at the school level. An August or September newsletter that explains the fall screening timeline, what screener your school uses, what a READ plan is, and how parents will be involved reduces anxiety when individual notifications go home. Schools that do this upfront communication have better READ plan compliance and stronger parent cooperation.

Denver, Aurora, and Colorado Springs: how context shapes communication

Denver Public Schools is one of the most competitive urban choice systems in the country. DPS families actively compare school options during the SchoolChoice enrollment window in December and January. Denver principals who communicate consistently and transparently throughout the year are better positioned during choice season than those who ramp up communication only during enrollment.

Aurora Public Schools serves one of the most linguistically diverse school communities in the state, with over 130 languages spoken. Aurora principals need a translation strategy as part of their newsletter process. The most common language needs in Aurora include Spanish, Amharic, Somali, Nepali, and Arabic. At minimum, translated summaries of the most critical dates and notifications should be available in the languages your school's community speaks.

Colorado Springs, serving Colorado Springs School District 11 and the Harrison, Widefield, and Fountain-Fort Carson districts, has a significant military family population from Fort Carson and Peterson Space Force Base. Military families need clear communication about school transitions, records, and enrollment so that frequent moves are as low-friction as possible. The newsletter is part of making that transition manageable.

Rural Colorado: Eastern Plains and San Luis Valley communication challenges

Rural Colorado districts face connectivity and population density challenges that urban Front Range principals do not. Prowers County, Baca County, and the San Luis Valley districts serve widely spread communities where digital access is uneven.

For rural Colorado principals, a digital newsletter is still the right foundation, but supplementing it with a printed copy sent home in student folders for families with limited digital access is practical. Also worth knowing: rural Colorado families often have stronger relationships with the school itself and are more likely to read a newsletter from their principal than in a larger, more anonymous district.

Colorado school calendar events to always cover in newsletters

CMAS testing window (grades 3-8, April-May)
Colorado READ Act screening periods (fall and winter)
DPS SchoolChoice enrollment window (December-January for DPS)
Parent-teacher conference dates
Report card distribution dates
Colorado state and local school holidays
Title I parent meeting dates
School Performance Framework rating release timing
Kindergarten registration deadlines

Building a newsletter system that works for Colorado schools

Colorado's education-conscious parent base is attentive, but they are also busy. A newsletter that is long, disorganized, or arrives inconsistently loses its audience. The principals who maintain the highest open rates in Colorado are the ones with a clear format, a consistent send day, and a subject line that tells parents why this issue is worth reading.

Daystage principals in Colorado set up their school template in August, map the year's CMAS and READ Act communication windows, and send weekly or bi-weekly newsletters that deliver inline in email. Colorado parents on mobile, which is most of them, see the newsletter without any extra steps. The platform tracks open rates so you know what percentage of your families are actually reading your communication.