About 800,000 young Coloradans are sharpening No. 2 pencils and bidding summer a fond farewell. It’s time to go back to school.
There will be smiles and tears and a host of significant challenges for students, parents and educators in the K-12 system. We offer them not only heartfelt wishes for success but great expectations they’ll turn around some troubling trends in Colorado education.
The tasks at hand include improving test scores, keeping kids in school through graduation and figuring out models for how public schools can succeed in the toughest situations.
While the answers are undefined, one thing is clear: It’s not going to happen without the complementary efforts of parents, students and educators. Some of the areas needing improvement are:
CSAP scores: This year’s scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program test, designed to measure how well students are learning, were largely flat as compared to 2006. When the scores were released in July, state officials, including Gov. Bill Ritter, said the state must do better in educating its young people.
Statewide reading: In a related finding, a “longitudinal” tracking study found that most of Colorado students whose performance was rated “unsatisfactory” on statewide reading tests when they were third- graders remained so when they were retested in fifth grade. As Dwight Jones, the state’s new education commissioner, noted, reading is a cornerstone skill. “We have got to realign our resources, and we need to have tough conversations based on the data.”
Adequate Yearly Progress: The federal No Child Left Behind law requires states make adequate yearly progress — or AYP — toward the goal of having all students be proficient in math and reading. In 2006, 1,422 Colorado schools made AYP goals and 467 did not. While we believe that federal penalties for failing to meet AYP are draconian, it’s troubling nonetheless that so many schools failed to hit the goals.
Graduation rates: Studies have shown that Colorado’s overall high school graduation rate exceeds the national average. But the rates for Denver and Aurora, urban districts with large at-risk populations, were far worse than the statewide average. According to a study by the Maryland-based Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, the graduation rates for Denver and Aurora were under 50 percent. Other statistics show that dropout rates are nearly a third for all Colorado students and 50 percent for minority students. That’s unacceptable.
Innovative efforts: We’ll be watching closely and rooting for the success of innovative efforts such as the one underway at Manual High School in Denver. Michael Bennet, the district’s superintendent, took some heat when he closed the troubled school in 2006 to spend a year reinventing its structure and culture. Today, Manual opens its doors with only a freshman class, adding a grade level each year until it’s a fully populated high school. Many of the practices meant to shape its culture are taken from successful private and charter schools.
Combined with challenges in securing adequate school funding, the tasks facing students, parents and educators are substantial.
It’s imperative that all parties work together to ensure children get the education that will help them live productive lives and ultimately benefit all of us. That’s something to keep in mind as we watch fresh-faced youngsters strap on their new backpacks and head off into the promise that a new school year offers.
