SCHOOLS MAY FACE ACTION OVER RATINGS
Colorado board could require external managers over low ratings
Colorado could order some institutions to hire an external manager over “accountability clock.”
Six schools in the Denver area could face state action based on low test scores, but overall the metro has seen improvement, with preliminary data showing more schools met expectations.
Denver Public Schools’ Abraham Lincoln High School has been on the state’s “accountability clock” for five years, and Manual High School hit its sixth year in 2019. Schools are placed on the clock if they score in one of the state’s bottom two rating levels, based on standardized test scores, student growth and graduation rates.
Joe Amundsen, director of school improvement at DPS, said in a statement that the district is making a “significant” financial investment in both schools. Both also will have new principals with experience in school turnarounds and “community building,” he said.
After five years of low performance ratings, the Colorado State Board of Education is allowed to order schools to hire an external manager, convert them into charter schools or close them. It sometimes holds off for several more years before taking aggressive action, however.
The other metro- area schools that could face board action are Hope Online Learning Academy Elementary in Douglas County School District, after nine years on the clock, Aurora Public Schools’ Aurora Central High School ( nine years), Gateway High School ( five years) and North Middle School
Health Sciences and Technology ( five years).
Corey Christiansen, spokesman for Aurora Public Schools, said the district doesn’t expect state action on Gateway and North because it submitted a plan earlier this year for those schools to partner with external managers. Aurora Central is making progress in improving its graduation rate and test scores, and the district will continue analyzing what parts of its innovation plan for the school aren’t working, he said.
Districts can appeal to the state if they believe a ranking doesn’t accurately reflect their students’ achievement, however, so it’s possible that some of the schools could come off the clock.
Adams City High School and Adams County School District 14’ s Central Elementary both have been on the clock for more than five years, but they aren’t likely to face additional action, since the state board already required Adams 14 to hire an external manager. The manager, MGT Consulting, has been at work since July, so it’s too early to know if it will be successful in raising students’ scores.
Overall, however, schools are moving up in the state’s ratings. According to the preliminary data, 77 out of 702 schools in the Denver metro area moved into the “performance,” or green, level, for a total of 503 area schools meeting expectations. At the same time, 52 schools were bumped down to a lower rating, though some may choose to appeal.
The Denver Post’s analysis didn’t include alternative education campuses, which serve students at risk of dropping out, because the state hasn’t yet released their ratings.
The preliminary data showed 60 of 702 rated schools in the Denver area were rated “turnaround” ( red) or “priority improvement” ( orange) — the fewest number of traditional schools ranking at the lowest levels since new tests were implemented in 2015.
Last year, 76 schools in the metro area scored in one of the bottom two levels. Nearly all of the decrease came from Denver Public Schools, which had 14 fewer schools in the bottom two levels.
Jeremy Meyer, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, cautioned against reading too much into the rankings at this point, because they could change before they are finalized. Last year, districts challenged the rankings of 164 schools, and CDE staff agreed to reconsider 117 of them, he said. The number of schools at the lowest levels is unlikely to increase, however, since districts don’t have an incentive to seek lower rankings.