Lower School Admission

• After September 1: Submit Step 1: Student Form.
  • There is no application fee to apply to CA.
  • Once the Step 1: Student Form is submitted, you may log back into your account and complete the remaining steps of the process.
  • The deadline for submission of the Step 1: Student Form is December 15. 

• Birth Date Information:
  • Applicants to Pre-K must turn four years old by September 1 of the year they start Pre-Kindergarten.
  • Applicants to Kindergarten must turn five years old by September 1 of the year they start Kindergarten.

As parents/guardians, your responses on the Parent/Guardian Form will help CA learn more about your child and your family.

Once the Step 1: Student Form is submitted, you may log back into your account and complete the Parent/Guardian Form due on or before January 15.

• The Student Visit calendar is available once you submit Step 1: Student Form. Please log in to your application portal to view the Student Visit calendar.

• Once the Step 1: Student Form is submitted, you may log back into your account and request Recommendation Forms* and the Transcripts from designated faculty/staff members at the applicant’s school. These forms must be completed on or before January 15.
• For Grades 1-5: Please also request Transcripts from the Current and Previous School year (if applicable).
  
  *Colorado Academy is one of several Denver-area independent schools that use the Common Recommendation and Transcript Request Forms to reduce the workload for an applicant’s current teachers and school staff. Once you have created an account in the application portal, you will be able to submit requests for recommendations and transcripts using the common forms.

• Once the Student Form is submitted, parents/guardians of students applying for Pre-K, Kindergarten, or Grade 1 are provided a prompt to submit two short video clips of the applicant. These clips highlight developmentally appropriate fine motor and gross motor skills.
• Video clips are due on or before January 15.

• The Grade 3 Applicant Assessment scheduling calendar is available once you submit Step 1: Student Form.

For Applicants to Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grade 1*

• Developmental readiness is assessed by our teachers during the Student Visit, and no other formal testing is required.
  • If submitting CogAT, MAP testing and/or other standardized testing (such as the ERB) from the applicant's current school, request that the school send those results along with report cards and attendance records through the Transcript Request Form.
  • You may upload WISC or DAS scores directly to the Checklist in the portal, or else you may email the report to admission@coloradoacademy.org.
  • If your child has no recent test reports available, you may register your child for testing with an evaluator from the Denver Area Testing Consortium. Please contact Paige Siemers to request assistance if the fee is a hardship. 

*Applicants to Kindergarten or Grade 1 may submit optional testing results if available.

For Applicants to Grades 2-5

CA is test-type flexible and will accept the results from any testing that an applicant has completed within the last two years. Examples include the CogAT, WISC, DAS, MAP, DIBELS, ISEE Primary, ERB, and any state specific standards-based assessments, among others. Test results are due on or before January 15.

There is no need for the applicant to take more than one test, and the Admission Committee does not prefer one test over another.

Optional Parent/Guardian Tour

• Prospective Parents/Guardians may schedule a campus tour by registering for Admission Preview or for an optional Parent Tour through the Applicant Checklist once the Step 1: Student Form is submitted.

Optional Parent/Guardian Zoom Check-In

• A Parent/Guardian Zoom Check-in is available once families submit Step 1: Student Form. The goal of this optional appointment is to share feedback after the student visit and answer any additional questions that families may have about the process. Appointments last approximately 20 minutes.

Financial Aid Application Process

• With over $5.7 million in tuition assistance each year, CA welcomes students and families from all backgrounds and encourages families to consider CA, no matter their income.
• The Application for Financial Aid is separate from the Application for Admission, although the timing of the two cycles overlaps. Families who wish to apply for tuition assistance should submit an Application for Financial Aid through Clarity Financial.
  • We recommend starting the application after January 1, as it is helpful to have end-of-year tax documents available to complete the form.

START APPLICATION

• Within the Clarity portal, you will be asked to upload your 2023 tax return, as well as 2023 and 2024 W-2's and K-1 statements, if applicable.
• CA prefers the Clarity Financial application, but, if you've already submitted a Financial Aid application for another school through FACTS, please add Colorado Academy as a recipient on your FACTS application.
• The deadline for the Financial Aid application is February 15. We realize that many families have not yet completed their 2024 tax return by this deadline. The Financial Aid Committee considers an application complete as long as we receive the 2023 tax return and 2024 W-2 and/or Profit & Loss Statements (if self-employed) by February 15. The 2024 tax return should also be submitted as soon as it is completed.
• Completing the Financial Aid application by the deadline allows the Financial Aid Award to be communicated at the same time as the Admission Decision.
• Questions? Contact Financial Access Manager Lisa Dean at 303-914-2516.

Notification: February 28

• In conjunction with other Denver-area independent schools, Colorado Academy sends Lower School admission decisions (Pre-Kindergarten—Grade 5) by email at 4:00 p.m. MST on Friday, February 28, 2025.