Reading scores this year among Colorado’s third-graders improved only slightly from the previous year, according to state Department of Education preliminary figures.
Seventy-one percent of the state’s 56,472 third-graders who took the Colorado Student Assessment Program test this year were rated as “proficient” or “advanced” – meaning they are able to read at grade level or better.
Last year, 70 percent of third- graders statewide were proficient or advanced readers, compared with 71 percent in 2005 and 74 percent in 2004 and 2003.
The results were released for publication today.
“The bad news is that growth has been very slow,” Education Commissioner William Moloney said.
Despite more than two decades of nationwide education reform, statewide totals have not demonstrated strong gains, he said. “We have been on this reform kick for a long time. It isn’t that we don’t know what to do. It’s that we’re not doing it.”
The CSAP measures how well public school students meet state standards for math, reading, writing and science. Reading scores for third-graders are released earlier than other tests and other grades so that districts can catch slow readers early.
At 11 elementary schools across the state, 100 percent of third-graders were at least proficient. At Quest Academy in Aurora and Iliff’s Caliche Elementary in the Valley Re-1 School District in northeastern Colorado, this was the third year that all students were at least proficient.
Several districts saw dismal results. In the Westminster 50 School District, just 49 percent of third-graders could read at grade level. In Aurora, 46 percent were proficient or advanced, the same percentage as in 2006.
In Jefferson County Public Schools – the state’s largest district, with roughly 84,000 students – third-graders on average performed better than their peers across the state but also had only slight growth. This year, 77 percent were either proficient or advanced readers, compared with 75 percent last year.
Scott Murphy, director of language arts and social studies for the district, said he believes a districtwide push to test students’ reading skills at frequent intervals, rather than once a year when the CSAP is given, has allowed teachers to identify and tackle weaknesses.
At Fitzmorris Elementary, for example, this year’s third-graders were 74 percent proficient, compared with 63 percent last year.
Computer-assisted reporting editor Jeffrey A. Roberts contributed to this report.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
Excellence at 11
At 11 schools statewide, 100 percent of students were proficient or advanced in third-grade reading scores on 2007 Colorado Student Assessment Program tests:
Cañon Elementary, Cheyenne Mountain School District in Colorado Springs
Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen, Jefferson County Public Schools
Pioneer Bilingual Elementary, Boulder Valley School District
Bear Creek Elementary, Boulder Valley
Liberty Common School, Poudre School District in Fort Collins
Traut Core Elementary, Poudre
Quest Academy, Aurora
Challenge School, Cherry Creek
Caliche Elementary, Valley Re-1
Pike Elementary, Colorado Springs
Sunnyside Elementary, Durango
