An on the academic woes that plague Aurora Public Schools, ” should be seen as a call to arms.
The district’s record is deeply alarming: Only 5.5 of every 10 students will graduate. Of those, only two will go to college, and one of those will need remediation, according to the study.
Unfortunately, Aurora doesn’t hold exclusive rights to this story.
The same scenario has played out for decades in every metro area school district that serves high numbers of low-income and minority students, including Adams 14 in Commerce City, Mapleton, Westminster 50, Sheridan and Englewood school districts.
Denver Public Schools also cannot be left out of the discussion, although it already gets a lot of attention as the state’s largest district.
Finally, a light is being shown on another district besides Denver.
Aurora, with 41,729 students, is the fifth-largest district in the state and its problems should be a concern to everyone.
But smaller districts in the metro area are having similar woes that should also be given the same focus. For example, the combined enrollment of Westminster 50, Adams 14, Mapleton, Englewood and Sheridan would be the ninth-largest district in the state. It also would be among the lowest-performing.
Their combined graduation rate last year was 57.1 percent, very similar to Aurora’s. Only 30 percent of those grads went to college in 2013, and 59 percent who entered college needed remediation once they got there.
Test scores also mirror Aurora, as they are well below state averages in reading, writing and math.
Whether it is happening in Aurora, Denver or tiny Sheridan, it should provoke the same concern: Generations of poor and minority children are often emerging from school with substandard educations — while many never graduate at all.
The report on Aurora should be a clarion call for reform. It’s a matter of social justice and educational equity, not only for Aurora but for every low-performing school and district.
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