5440 W 115th Loop, Westminster, CO 80020

Ryan Elementary is a really special place, where everyone is unified with the same goal, to make the best educational experience possible for each and every child. We choice-enrolled both of our sons into Ryan Elementary, and had a uniformly positive experience. The teachers at Ryan are superb--they know those kids and what each one needs to do their best, and they genuinely care about each kid's learning and well-being as an entire individual. Time and again, I observed teachers and staff going above and beyond, working together to figure out how to improve their teaching, even when they were already doing a great job. Ryan is a supportive environment, where the staff hold themselves to high standards and keep the kids' best interests front and center. I was particularly impressed by the way that the teachers, paras, and social-emotional experts were able to tailor their services to students with varied needs--kids on IEPs or special ed needs, kids with Advanced Learning Plans or who were identified as gifted and talented, and kids who had strengths in areas that were in areas outside of the traditional core academic areas, like music and art. Principal Kristi Shaner is a strong and responsive leader, who effectively seeks out and balances feedback from her staff, parents, and objective data about students' performance and how that compares to district and state-level performance. Ryan is a gem; Westminster residents are lucky to have access to the school and those of us in neighboring communities are lucky to be able to choice into the school. They do so much with a modest budget and despite Jeffco's relatively poor teacher salaries. I would enroll my kids there again, in a heartbeat, and count myself fortunate to have been a part of their community.