A group of organizations and charter schools signed a letter Tuesday asking Denver Public Schools to re-write the School Performance Framework that evaluates and ranks each school in the district and to start so by the end of November.
The framework is an annual rating system that looks at school growth, student test scores, and parent satisfaction among other indicators. .
Specifically the letter sent Tuesday argues that the framework is confusing, too focused on growth, and that the actual performance of schools defined as “high performing” is varied and inconsistent. The majority of groups that signed on are reform-minded groups such as A+ Denver, the Donnell Kay Foundation and Stand for Children Colorado, but also included individuals like Jeannie Kaplan, a former DPS board member.
The Denver school board has been discussing changes to the framework for months and some changes are coming next year, including one that gives more balance to current student’s test scores, and slightly decreases the weight given to how much students grow.
At a March meeting when staff presented the proposed changes, board president Happy Haynes explained her support for decreasing the focus on growth:
“Schools rightfully have gotten credit for growing kids, but it has inflated how well they’re doing overall,” Haynes said. “Growing them is great but you still have to get a certain number of kids to be proficient. The goal of growing them is to get more kids at proficiency each year.”
Van Schoales, chief executive officer of A+ Denver, one of the groups who signed the letter, said while the changes help, it may not be enough.
“It improves some things,” Schoales said. “There needs to be a broader discussion. Speaking for A+ alone, I would say from A+’s perspective we think growth and status should be balanced, like a 50-50 sort of thing.”
The letter to which groups agreed to doesn’t suggest any specific ratios for that balance.
Using the latest framework, the nonprofit A+ Denver analyzed schools in the “green” or “meeting expectations” category — that is just one step below the highest label that schools can reach. This year, DPS had 64 of its 154 schools in the green category.
Within that category, schools have a wide range of proficiency levels, which the letter argues shows a lack of high standards.
At some “green” schools with more low income students for instance, an average of 30 percent of third-graders are writing at a proficient or advanced level, where all green schools together have an average of 45 percent of students writing at those levels.
A+ Denver also highlights data showing an achievement gap for low-income students and for minority students.
“It is critical that DPS not complicate the message to families that “high performing schools” are actually that — high performing, rather than simply on a path toward high performance. Some green schools are on a strong path to proficiency while others are on a path to proficiency but will never get there,” the letter states.
It’s a conversation DPS board members and superintendent Tom Boasberg have already had, though with some disagreements.
At a recent board meeting, board members discussed changes to decrease the framework’s weight on growth.
Boasberg cautioned the board not to take steps back by once again grading schools heavily, or solely, based on performance snapshots, warning they could penalize schools that get an influx of unprepared students who don’t score well on tests.
Part of the reason for the changes, is to align the rubric to to have 80 percent of students in the district in a “blue” or “green” seat — the two highest ratings by 2020 — ensuring they are distributed equally throughout the city.
