“This is a big win for everyone – students, parents, staff, and community,” said Superintendent Karen Cheser. “It’s clear evidence of our district’s success and our students’ increasing achievement – even during a challenging pandemic year.” The district celebrated Friday with cakes and balloons delivered to each school in the district.
The Spring 2022 State Assessment Results of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) and PST/SAT were presented to the district’s staff, families, and Board of Education in September. Read the full reports here. Additional indicators of the district’s achievement in state test score results include:
- Several of the district’s schools had very high growth on English Language Arts (ELA) and math with growth rates of 70 and above.
- Many schools have dramatically decreased the achievement gap among diverse student groups as well. For example, the district growth gap between students participating in free and reduced lunch (FRL) and those not participating in FRL is only 2.5 percent. “While we know we still have work to do to ensure all students reach proficiency, this is a tremendous reflection of the hard work our staff and students are demonstrating to reach that goal,” said Cheser.
CMAS and PST/SAT results provide a picture of student performance to schools, districts, teachers, parents, and the community. Results show how students are progressing academically, which is a key component to ensuring students are on track to graduate prepared for college and careers.
“We are proud of this accomplishment,” said Cheser. “These scores reflect that our district didn’t just survive the pandemic. Our students and staff rose up through the challenges and increased our scores and cumulative state ranking from previous years.”
Test scores are only one measure of a student’s growth. That’s why the district’s new Portrait of a Graduate vision was created to support social-emotional competencies (characteristics plus skills), such as Empathetic Collaborator and Creative Problem-Solver. Portrait of a Graduate complements the district’s “bedrock” of instructional framework to support the whole child.