Re-1 district rated 'average'; MCHS earns ranking of 'low'

Re-1 district rated 'average'; MCHS earns ranking of 'low'

Sept 15, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

Colorado school accountability report cards are in and the Re-1 school district was, on average, average.

Kemper, Downey and Lewis-Arrriola elementary schools all received an "average" rating, as did Cortez Middle School and Battle Rock Charter School.

On the high end of the spectrum, Lakeview and Pleasant View elementary schools received kudos with a "high" rating, in contrast to Mesa and Manaugh elementary schools and Montezuma-Cortez High School, which came in with a "low" ranking.

The grading scale was based on a curve: the top 8 percent received an "excellent" rating; a "high" rating went to the next 25 percent; "average" to the middle 40 percent; "low" to 25 percent; and the bottom 2 percent received an "unsatisfactory" rating.

The scores are based on the Colorado Assessment Program tests that students in grades 3-10 took last winter. Students were evaluated on their reading, writing and math abilities, and scores were statistically averaged and weighted, according to the Colorado Department of Education web site.

Mark Rappe, principal of MCHS, said that the high school’s low report card was not entirely surprising and acknowledged that there are several steps the school can and will take to climb the proficiency ladder.

"This hurts a little bit, and what we’re going to do is work smarter," Rappe told the Journal. "We already work hard but we’re looking at how to work smarter and reach these kids individually. But just having that label is motivation enough for us to look at everything we can do to get these kids performing.

"We have been developing strategies all through the summer and working with teachers on strategies this fall. One of the first strategies we had to look at was the attendance of our students. We need to have daily attendance to improve so that they’re here to receive instruction."

The school district passed a new attendance policy limiting the number of excused absences in addition to limiting unexcused absences. Last school year, several students were reported to have in excess of 50 excused absences, which hurt the children’s abilities to perform well on the CSAPs, administrators say.

"Attendance is a key thing," Rappe stated.

"The next thing is working on student effort and motivation — not just on the test day but every day in school. We’ve got to involve parents and help us get these kids motivated.

"Our major effort is having kids here each day engaged in learning. You can’t just sit in class; you can’t learn it by osmosis. Some of our kids don’t want to come to class and they have more fun playing hooky, and that’s why we’ve had to get really draconian on the attendance."

Rappe pointed out that the CSAPs are taken in one day and may not accurately reflect what a student has learned.

Additionally, test-taking techniques will be a focus of improving accountability results. He said writing is an integral part of all the categories in which the students are tested and accounts for a majority of the scores.

For instance, in math, he explained, not only do students have to arrive at a correct answer but they must also be able to write a summary on how they came to their conclusion.

Although Rappe sang the praises of his teachers, staff development is also a point of improvement he has identified for his long-term plan.

"We are experimenting with the best practices and strategies in a classroom with a particular subject and standard," Rappe said. "Our curriculum is in line with test standards that are in place. Those standards are being delivered in the classroom, there is no doubt about that."

Rappe attributed the low scores in part to socioeconomic factors in contrast to the schools that scored high or excellent.

"They don’t have the demographics and income levels that we do, but we’re not going to make excuses," he said. "We’re going to get ourselves moved up into the satisfactory bunch next year."

Dan Porter, principal of Pleasant View Elementary, credited the former principal, Cindy Smart, with most of the school’s success and high performance rating, as well as good teacher-to-student ratios. However, he was cautious about putting too much emphasis on the report, pointing out that schools with small numbers can easily sway one way or another with just one student’s test scores.

"The first time out of the gate — I’m happy to see it but I can’t put much stock in it at this point," Porter said.

Re-1 Assistant Superinten-dent George Shumpelt stated that the first reports are just the tip of the iceberg because a more detailed report will be out next week including other factors such as discipline and school safety.

"All that is is just one grade," Shumpelt said of the report card. "We were supposed to be holding those documents (more detailed reports) right now but we’re not because of the air (flight) problem."

Each student will receive an individual report regarding his or her performance on the CSAP, Rappe stated. For high-school students, the detailed report will be given to parents during parent-teacher conferences Oct. 4-5.

"That way we can walk through the test results with their advisor and explain it," Rappe said. "I was concerned it would get ‘lost in the mail,’ so to speak, because it’s just too complex to understand if it just came in the mail."

For more information on the recently released accountability reports, visit www. state.co.us/schools/.

Other area school scores were: Dolores High - average; Mancos High - average; Durango High - high; Dolores Middle School - average; Mancos Middle School - average; Miller Middle School (Durango) - high; Dolores Elementary- average; Mancos Elementary- average.