Our Admissions Process 

PLAN YOUR VISIT FIRST

Challenge School will host a New Parent Information night on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. We will offer an Elementary and Middle School session. If you have students in both Elementary and Middle School, you do NOT need to attend both sessions. This is a parent-only event. We will start our event in the gym and then break out for a short tour. NOTE: We changed the time from our original presentation and we are now splitting the event times.

Sign up here for our Elementary Session from 5:00pm-6:00pm

Sign up here for our Middle School Session from 6:30pm-7:30pm

ADMISSIONS PROCESS & INFORMATION
The admissions process for the 2025-2026 school year will be facilitated by The Office of Neurodiverse Student Services for Cherry Creek Schools.

Challenge School is a highly-gifted magnet school within the Cherry Creek School District. While it maintains a school of choice status, it is not a charter school, but rather a magnet school, and it is charged with the mission of meeting the needs of gifted students. While any student residing in the district may apply for admittance into Challenge School, the purpose of the admissions process is to select highly-gifted students who demonstrate a need for specialized programming due to their exceedingly high levels of cognition and/or academic achievement.

The Challenge School admissions process is an equitable process based on a holistic approach to include a robust Body of Evidence which includes data demonstrating student need for specialized programming. It is the intent of this process to draw broadly from all qualified candidates across the school district and to be inclusive rather than exclusive while also mirroring the racial demographics of the district.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Only students entering grades Kindergarten – 8th Grade and living within the Cherry Creek Schools boundaries may apply for admittance to the Challenge School. Proof of residence will be required and must be submitted as part of a completed application packet.

Application packets can be downloaded below:
English
Amharic
Arabic
Chinese
Dari
Korean
Russian
Spanish
Vietnamese

Application packets and all supporting documentation must be submitted to the Office of Neurodiverse Student Services in one of the following ways:

• In person – see address below
• Via mail – see mailing address below

In-person deliveries will be accepted between 8:00am-3:00pm on any regular business day.  The deadline for application packet submission is on or before 3:00pm, Friday, December 6, 2024. If you mail your packet, it must arrive at our office (not postmarked) by Friday, December 6, 2024.

 It is HIGHLY recommended that you do not delay in the submission of your application.
 

Office of Neurodiverse Student Services 
Student Achievement Resource Center
14188 E. Briarwood Avenue
Centennial, CO 80112
Email: GT@cherrycreekschools.org
Phone: (720) 886-7050

*Again, please note that only complete application packets will be accepted and reviewed.

 
APPLICATION PACKET CONTENTS ~ for students who are currently attending a Cherry Creek Elementary or Middle School or those applying for Kindergarten

• Family Contact Information Sheet
• Parent Questionnaire
• Parent Observation Form
• All available assessment data/reports for the student(s) applying for admissions i.e., 504 Plans, Individual Education Plans (IEP). This includes any and all outside assessments.
  • This information is not used as part of the criteria for admittance and will not be utilized until after the admission process and will only be used to inform the evaluation process and assessment selection.
• Verification of Parent Residency (Please see the list of acceptable verification documents below.)
• Check or Money Order made payable to Cherry Creek School District in the amount of $60.00. (Fee will be waived with documentation of qualification for free and reduced lunch.)
• Completion of a normed-referenced observation scale (for students currently in grades Kindergarten through 7th) which will be given to parent(s)/guardian(s) at the time of application submission (this will be mailed to the address provided in the application packet if application is received via mail at our office). 

 
APPLICATION PACKET CONTENTS ~ for students living within Cherry Creek Schools boundaries but attending a school outside the Cherry Creek School District

• Family Contact Information Sheet
• Signed & Dated Request for Student Records
• Parent Questionnaire
• Parent Observation Form
• All available assessment data/reports for the student(s) applying for admissions i.e., 504 Plans, Individual Education Plans (IEP). This includes any and all outside assessments.
  • This information is not used as part of the criteria for admittance and will not be utilized until after the admission process and will only be used to inform the evaluation process and assessment selection.
• Verification of Parent Residency (Please see the list of acceptable verification documents below.)
• Check or Money Order made payable to Cherry Creek School District in the amount of $60.00. (Fee will be waived with documentation of qualification for free and reduced lunch.)
• Completion of a normed-referenced observation scale (for students currently in grades Kindergarten through 7th) which will be given to parent(s)/guardian(s) at the time of application submission (this will be mailed to the address provided in the application packet if application is received via mail at our office). 

VERIFICATION OF PARENT RESIDENCY
*Actual residence at the address supplied is required.

 If you OWN your home, any of the following documents will be accepted.

• Current gas or electric bill within 30 days (No Disconnect or Final Notices) - Include all of Page 1 AND Page 2 of the bill
• Warranty Deed - must be signed within the last 60 days 
• Three pieces of current USPS business mail received within the past 30 days ~ The address, date and your name must be visible. We will also accept e-statements and e-bills for 2 of the 3 pieces.  
• Future Build - A letter from the builder with completion date within the current semester
• Future Purchase Contract - Complete, signed contract with Possession Date and Closing Date within the current semester

If you RENT your home, any of the following documents will be accepted.

• Current gas or electric bill within 30 days (No Disconnect or Final Notices) - Include all of Page 1 AND Page 2 of the bill
• A fully executed Lease Agreement for a new property leased within the last 60 days (No sub-lease) - Signatures from the lessee and the Landlord/Property Manager are required.
• Three pieces of current USPS business mail received within the past 30 days ~ The address, date and your name must be visible. We will also accept e-statements and e-bills for 2 of the 3 pieces.  
• Future Lease - Fully executed Lease Agreement and a receipt of the first month's rent payment.  (During the school year, you must be moving in within two weeks of registration). Signatures from the lessee and the Landlord/Property Manager are required. 

If you live with another family, please provide ALL of the following THREE items: 

• CO-RESIDING RESIDENCY FORM - Completed and Signed
• Verification of residency for the family with whom you are living with, such as their current gas/electric bill.
• Current proof of your residency at that address. (ie: bank statement, insurance statement, new Colorado driver's license receipt, mail received, etc.), with your name, the address and the date clearly listed.
  
  

EVALUATION PROCESS

After a thorough review of all student records, administration of additional cognitive and/or academic assessments might be conducted to compile a robust Body of Evidence to determine student need for programming designed for highly gifted learners.

• • After review of the Body of Evidence, parents will be notified and students will be scheduled, if needed, on a rolling basis for cognitive and/or academic assessments.
  • Not all students will require additional assessment. The need for additional assessment will be determined on a student by student basis and is dependent on the existing individual body of data for any given child.

Please note that for children younger than age 4 years 11 months prior to assessment, 1:1 cognitive assessments and potentially 1:1 academic achievement assessments will be administered as those are the only assessments normed for students of such a young age.  The first assessment administered will be a gold-standard IQ test. The exact test administered will be chosen to fit the needs of each individual student as it is our desire that all students perform to the greatest ability possible as well as to ensure that all students have fair and equitable access to meeting admission criteria. Due to the length and intensity of these assessments, coupled with the young age of the children being assessed, 1:1 academic achievement assessments will only be scheduled if the results of the cognitive assessments fall into the 90th percentile or higher.

DETERMINATION PROCESS

Upon the gathering and compilation of a robust Body of Evidence including the information contained in this application packet, personnel from the Office of Neurodiverse Student Services in collaboration with the administrators of Challenge School will review all of the information gathered about each student, and a decision will be made, about whether or not the child’s Body of Evidence meets the requirements for potential admittance into the Challenge School.

Once all applicants meeting the requirements for admittance have been determined, a holistic approach is employed to determine the final applicants being selected for the upcoming school year’s openings.

Provided below is a grid which represents an approximate average number of applicants for each grade level and an approximate average range of openings available at each grade level in any given school year. A student meeting the definition of “highly gifted” will score at or above the 97^th percentile in 1 or more cognitive domains, as well as, in two or more areas of academic achievement.

* One full Kindergarten and First Grade class will be filled each school year; however, availability for grades 2nd - 8th can vary greatly, from year to year. 

Determination letters will be sent to Parent(s)/Guardian(s) via US Mail, to the address provided in the application packet.

• Letters will begin being mailed starting on Friday, March 14, 2025, not sooner
• If you have not received a letter by Friday, March 28, 2025, please contact the Office of Neurodiverse Student Services at (720) 886-7050 or email to GT@cherrycreekschools.org
  

Due to the technical information contained within the assessment reports, determinations will not be given over the phone or through email.