Nearly three quarters of Colorado’s 60,063 third-graders are reading at grade level, the highest mark in five years on the annual Colorado Student Assessment Program test.
For the last four years, percentage of students proficient or advanced on the third-grade Colorado Student Assessment Program wavered between 70 percent and 71 percent. This year, 73 percent were proficient or advanced.
The highest mark was 74 percent proficiency set in 2003-04.
This year’s 3-point increase over 2008 shows real statistical improvement, said Jo O’Brien, assistant commissioner for the office of standards and assessments at the Colorado Department of Education.
“We are not declaring a victory or this being over,” she said. “Three points is a very nice move forward.”
A sobering fact remains that 27 percent of Colorado’s third-graders have not grasped the basic literacy fundamentals that educators believe are building blocks to learning — which does not bode well for their future.
“If you are a fourth-grader and are not able to read or write, your chances of catching up is statistically low,” O’Brien said.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
