DENVER—For Steamboat Springs High School, the solution was test, test, and test again. For rural Fowler Elementary in southeast Colorado, making sure students built on their previous successes sent statewide test scores soaring, and for Wyatt-Edison Charter School in Denver, the key was getting parents involved.
Across the state, educators are sharing their success stories as they try to find ways to improve student test scores, and educators say they are finding out there is no single answer.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Education released the latest round of test scores, which showed mixed results.
Education Commissioner Dwight Jones said new test results that track progress for individual students will help educators develop programs to help them improve.
“Over the last year, the Department of Education has begun the process of redeploying its resources and expertise to serve and support school districts, and that effort will be renewed with zeal and determination. We have many standout schools that are helping all students achieve at high levels and we need to continue to shine a light on their success and spread the word about strategies that work,” Jones said.
Jones said the results show that 84 percent of students are on track to remain proficient in reading, 77 percent are on track to remain proficient in writing, and 66 percent are on track to remain proficient in math.
However, the biggest concern was lack of progress for students who have fallen behind.
Among students currently rated unsatisfactory or partially proficient in reading, only 30 percent are growing at a rate that will lift them to proficiency within three years. In writing, only 26 percent of students rated unsatisfactory or partially proficient are making sufficient progress to reach proficiency, and in math, only 13 percent of students rated unsatisfactory or partially proficient are growing at a sufficient rate. The current rate of growth in achievement for all other students is not enough to make significant progress.
Steamboat Springs principal Kevin Taulman said his 9th and 10th graders improved 12 to 15 percentage points after his school began routine testing. He said teachers and administrators worked long and hard to find ways to improve test scores.
“If there was one magical thing that worked, I’d have patented it a long time ago,” he told fellow educators.
Helen Hargis, principal at Wyatt-Edison Charter School, said her solution was to get parents involved, because “without them, we’ve lost half the fight.”
She said there is no single solution that works for everyone.
“If there was a silver bullet, we’d all have it,” she said.
