Improving test scores could allow Greeley-Evans School District 6 to climb out of the state’s academic basement.
The 17,000-student district has recorded two years of solid growth on the annual Colorado Student Assessment Program, or CSAP.
The improvements prompted Superintendent Renae Dreier – who helped pushed a series of classroom reforms when she took over the district two years ago – to ask the state to take Greeley 6 off its academic watch list.
“The district was late in coming on board when it comes to classroom accountability, and certainly there still needs to be improvements,” Dreier said. “But we are on the right trajectory.”
“They have had some nice positive movement on the CSAP, and it definitely appears they have turned the corner,” said Michael Clough, Colorado Department of Education North Central Regional manager.
The 2006-2007 results showed that of 27 different subject areas in which kids were measured last school year, scores improved on 14 and held steady on 10.
Scores declined in three areas.
The district is the largest in the state to earn a spot on the state’s academic failing list in 2005.
In all, 18 schools and districts in Colorado are on academic watch. If schools don’t improve, they can lose federal funding or be converted to charter schools.
The designation also pushed the district to take quick action. Curriculum was written and aligned to meet district-adopted state standards, Dreier said.
Dual-language schools began emphasizing English, and literacy skills became the top teaching priority, especially in the district’s middle schools.
Meanwhile, teachers and administrators began pounding home the importance of doing well on CSAP tests. Doing poorly on the annual exam over a period of time can lead to a cut in federal funding for schools.
All the while, more students were living in homes considered below the poverty line. Weld County’s poverty rate was 15.7 percent in 2006, up from 12.5 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Census.
Weld County Social Services saw at least a 10 percent jump in the number of people seeking assistance from 2000 to 2006, said John Krause, assistance payment administrator.
Kids living in those homes often don’t have the type of support they need to do well in school, Krause said.
“A family with parents working several low-paying jobs are usually not able to help their kids at night with their school work.”
Dreier said the district tries not to let a family’s financial hardships be an obstacle to learning. Several schools now have after-school programs that supplement the academic work kids get during the regular school day, she said.
“We can’t control what goes on in their homes,” Dreier said. “But we can control what goes on in our classrooms.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
