Accountability report gives mountain schools excellent rank

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Poudre School District on Dec. 5 received its Colorado School Accountability Report, which ranked 42 schools as high or excellent in academic performance for the 2006-2007 school year.

Stove Prairie and Livermore Elementary Schools were among 13 PSD schools ranked excellent.

Northern Larimer County schools ranked high are Poudre High School, Wellington Junior High, Cache La Poudre Junior High, Cache La Poudre Elementary, Red Feather Elementary and Tavelli Elementary.

Rice Elementary School in Wellington does not have a rank because it just opened this fall.

Overall, 13 PSD schools were rated excellent, 29 schools were rated high and seven schools were rated average. Lincoln Junior High was the only PSD school ranked low. No PSD school was ranked unsatisfactory.

The state Department of Education bases its rankings on Colorado Student Assessment Program test scores in reading, writing, English and math in elementary and junior high schools and 10th-grade CSAP and 11th-grade ACT scores in high schools.

Five alternative educational programs or schools were exempt from this year's reporting: Centennial High School, Mountain View Junior High School, New Vista Academy, Poudre Transition Center, and the PEAK program.

In the seven years School Accountability Reports have been compiled (2001-2007), the number of PSD schools rated either excellent or high has increased from 24 to 42.

"These reports are one more tool we use to assess at our performance and to help us determine areas for improvement," said Chuck DeWayne, director of student assessment and accreditation.

Other data also are listed in each School Accountability Report, including CSAP scores by grade, teacher experience, student/teacher ratios, student attendance, students in or near poverty level, safety and discipline. The reports are available on the state's web site at www.cde.state.co.us.

"It's difficult to accurately compare one school to another based on these ratings for several reasons," said Manny Ortega, executive director of secondary schools. "Each school has a unique community and faces its own economic, social and even geographic challenges, and the School Accountability Reports really do not take these differences into consideration. Whether it's language, mobility or socioeconomic differences, these factors play a role in student performance."

Every family will receive a School Accountability Report for their children's schools. Elementary school parents will receive a report in their student's weekly school folder, and junior and senior high school parents will receive a report by mail. Reports are also being translated into Spanish this year.