Nearly half of Colorado students attended a school rated “excellent” or “high” last school year — almost 10 percent more than in 2001-02 when the state’s School Accountability Reports were first published.
The reports that go out to schools and parents, ranking schools based on student assessment scores, were released Wednesday in a muted manner and with indications that the reports would change in the future.
In the past, the official unveiling of the annual School Accountability Reports has been marked by a news conference hosted by Gov. Bill Owens, who had hoped the reports would be a part of his legacy.
This year, however, under a new governor and a new education commissioner, the announcement was via a press release while Ritter unveiled his new education plan during a forum discussing how to cut the student dropout rate.
“We can and should continue to debate whether the (report) is the best measurement tool available to us,” Ritter said.
The possibility for change wasn’t lost on anyone.
“Clearly they are trying to get away from the brand of accountability that Owens trumpeted and do something different than using this (report) as a weapon against schools,” said Alan Gottlieb, vice president for policy at the Public Education and Business Coalition.
The reports showed modest gains for the state’s students — with 20 more schools achieving “excellent” ratings and nine schools falling off the “unsatisfactory” category.
In total, 410,502 students, or 47 percent of the state’s 875,458 students, are in schools rated “high” or “excellent.” That’s up from the 38.6 percent tabulated in 2001-02.
“The steadily increasing number of students learning in strong schools is an upbeat trend,” said Education Commissioner Dwight Jones in a prepared statement. “We know from looking at the overall CSAP results that students from every background are fully capable of reaching state standards when expectations are high and instructional practices are aligned to meeting the needs of children.”
However, students who meet the federal poverty standards remain disproportionately enrolled in schools that are rated low or unsatisfactory, according to a nonprofit children’s advocacy group that analyzed state education data.
For example, about 70 percent of students in schools rated low are from poor families, said Alex Medler, vice president of research and analysis for Colorado Children’s Campaign.
“In excellent schools, only 10 percent of kids come from poor families,” Medler said. “The key question is how excellent would that school be if it were serving poor students, and how good would low-performing schools do if they had a bunch of kids who weren’t so poor.”
The achievement gap in Colorado’s schools is not a new development and has been the underlying story of the state’s School Accountability Reports since they was first unveiled in 2001.
“It’s important for people to understand those facts and that reality,” said Michael Bennet, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, where 66 percent of students are eligible for federal meal benefits. “It’s critical that we design a system of public education that ensures all kids have a shot at a great education. That’s why this data is important.”
The forms are mailed to 1 million Colorado parents at a cost of $290,000. The reports also provide information on academic progress in schools — ranging from “significant improvement” to “significant decline” or “no growth” — and other specifics about the school, such as teacher-student ratio, safety data and district financial information.
The forms have long been controversial — some claiming they fail to take into account how the school educates disadvantaged students. And others have complained about inaccuracies in some of the data, specifically safety information that is self-reported by the schools to the state.
Last year, lawmakers passed a law splitting up safety data to classify fights and felony assaults differently on the forms. Officials last year claimed erratic safety data would be cleared up this year, but statistics this year had some strange results.
For example, Aurora Public Schools led the state in the number of fights at its schools, with 1,433 incidents — almost three times as many fights as the next highest district, Cherry Creek.
But Aurora school officials said their district is not more prone to fighting than others, just that they are adhering to the state’s reporting rules that were delivered last year.
“I wouldn’t say kids are fighting a lot,” said Barbara Cooper, director of school services. “We are reporting it differently.”
In Littleton, principal Wendy Rubin of Falcon Bluffs Middle School celebrated with her staff because the Jefferson County school improved from the “high” category to “excellent.”
Rubin was particularly pleased because the school offers an inclusive program for all of its 700 students, regardless of whether some are in special education.
“We don’t have any classes that are remedial math or English or special-education science,” she said. “When kids have gaps or are struggling, you are not going to help them by going slower or taking important information out. You need to find the supports.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
