We’ve got the list and you can check it twice to see which Colorado districts have been naughty or nice. With the school choice season approaching about as fast as the holiday season, families across Colorado are starting to learn about the best districts and schools to enroll their kids next year. This week the Colorado Department of Education released its annual quality ratings known as the District Performance Framework, and not a single district received the state’s lowest rating, which requires districts to begin a turnaround plan for improvement. In fact, more schools received the state’s top rating than in 2016. Overall, 65 percent of Colorado’s districts received the top two highest ratings available.
That said, nine districts did make their way onto the state’s “Accountability Clock,” which means they received a priority improvement rating. By state law, these districts can not receive the same rating for longer than five years in a row.
Districts earn ratings based on how well their schools:
- Demonstrate achievement on statewide assessments in English language arts, math, and science.
- Show student growth from year to year on English language arts and math.
- Prepare students for success after high school through graduation rates, dropout rates, and college entrance exam scores and the number of students who gained college acceptance versus those who actually attended.
There are five different ratings that a district can earn:
- Accredited with Distinction – This means that the district meets or exceeds statewide expectations regarding each of the three bullets above and is required to adopt and implement a Performance Plan to maintain success.
- Accredited – The district meets statewide expectations on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Performance Plan to maintain success.
- Accredited with Improvement Plan – The district is required to adopt and implement an Improvement Plan to increase success.
- Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan – The district is required to adopt and implement a Priority Improvement Plan to increase success.
- Accredited with Turnaround Plan – The district is required to adopt and implement a Turnaround plan to rapidly increase success.
So if you’re wondering how well your district is helping kids succeed, check out Chalkbeat’s user-friendly list of the 2017 Colorado School District Quality Ratings. The state will release school-specific ratings on December 14th and we’ll have the list right here on CO School Talk.