By Matt Gleckman

While many schools across the state are reeling from poor scores in the CSAP standardized tests, three local elementary schools — Kemper, Lewis/Arriola and Battle Rock — have scored high enough on the tests to qualify for a state recognition award.

The John J. Irwin Colorado Schools of Excellence award, passed in 1999 by the State Board of Education, is designed to recognize Colorado schools for their academic excellence and high levels of student achievement.

Eligibility is based on the most recent third-, fourth- and seventh-grade Colorado Student Assessment Program reading and writing test scores which were taken last spring, according to a news release by Education Commissioner William J. Moloney. Of the 1,208 Colorado schools that participated in the CSAP tests, 252 schools met the standards needed to be considered for the award.

"My whole staff is very excited to have been invited to apply for the award," said Cindy Smart, principal of Lewis/Arriola. "Recently we have been changing our approach to literature by breaking students into three categories and integrating at least 2 1/2 hours of reading plus writing each day," she said. "Last year the Lewis/Arriola third-graders scored 96 percent proficient or advanced on the CSAP reading test which allowed us to qualify (for the John Irwin award)."

Gov. Bill Owens declared an "educational crisis" following the release of the CSAP scores this fall. According to the scores, the state average for fourth-graders reading above proficiency was 59 percent. Only 44 percent of Cortez students were at or above the state’s acceptable level.

Moloney said potential award candidates can become eligible if at least 80 percent of the school’s students score proficient or better on the tests, or if the school shows at least a 7 1/2 percent improvement in the number of students scoring proficient or better since the last CSAP tests.

Howard Culp, principal of Kemper Elementary, says that he was pleasantly surprised when the school qualified to apply for the award.

"Right now we are trying to get our application together before the March 1st deadline," Culp said. "In order to be considered for the award, the school must show strong CSAP results, multiple measures of academic growth, effective strategies for closing achievement gaps in gender and ethnicity, and other indicators related to academic excellence (levels tests) and parent/community satisfaction."

"This is information that I have been trying to compile over the last three years," he said.

Amidst fighting off leaky roofs and other complications involved with running a rural one-room school house, Battle Rock Charter School Director Stephen Hanson says that he is also trying to compile the information needed to be considered for the award.

"It is going to be difficult for us to show sustained academic growth, since Battle Rock has always had a fairly high level of performance," Hanson said.

Students at the rural charter school were 100 percent proficient or advanced according to the most recent set of CSAP reading and writing test results, Hanson said.