While overall percentages of Colorado students receiving high marks on the third grade CSAP reading test have risen over the past year, the percentage of local students scoring proficient or better fell 10 percent since 1999, according to test results released this week.

Scores for School District Re-1, which had risen from 58 to 62 percent for the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency on the test from 1998 to 1999, dropped to 52 percent this year.

Re-1 Assistant Superintendent Vic Bruce pointed out on a positive note that the Hispanic and Native American students in the district showed noticeable improvement on their Colorado Student Assessment Program test scores from last year.

"The most positive thing that we have seen with this year’s results has been the closing of the gap between our non-white and white students," said Bruce.

Native American students improved from 26 percent proficient in 1999 to 34 percent in 2000, while Hispanic students went from 42 percent proficient in 1998 to 52 percent proficient in 2000. Hispanic students did not have a score listed for 1999.

White students, however, plummeted from 75 percent proficient in 1999 to 60 percent proficient this year.

At the individual school level, Lewis-Arriola and Downey scored the highest in the district but still managed to slide a few points from the year before. Lewis-Arriola dropped from 96 percent proficient or advanced in 1999 to 91 percent proficient or advanced in 2000. Downey fell from 89 percent proficient or better in 1999 to 82 percent this year.

Kemper Grade School remained nearly the same, falling only two percentage points from 62 percent to 60 percent. Manaugh Grade School dropped seventeen percentage points from 59 percent proficient in 1999 to 42 percent in 2000 and Mesa School dropped from 42 to 34 percent proficient or advanced.

Gov. Bill Owens succeeded in passing legislation this year that will give schools a letter grade based on students’ performance on the CSAP tests, which are administered in grades three through ten.

Schools that receive the highest grades and those that show the most improvement will win financial awards from the state; those that receive failing grades three years in a row could be put under new management as charter schools.

"The CSAP is becoming a high stakes test," said Bruce. "They are forcing the schools to refocus their curriculum to meet the standards of the CSAP."

Bruce said that the CSAP test is changing the way people measure the quality of a school.

"It doesn’t matter what you think of the CSAP test," he said. "We are at a point in Colorado where we must respond by focusing more strictly on reading and math."

Bruce said that courses such as those in the arts are still important to a well-rounded education, but those courses are not taken into consideration during CSAP testing.

In an effort to improve CSAP test scores, local elementary schools have added a number of programs, said Bruce.

"We have recently changed our reading series, have added an early intervention program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade and have added aids and tutors for those students whose second language is English," he said.

School officials also called attention to the parents in the community, saying that if they are concerned over their child’s test scores, they need to get involved in the school’s accountability committee.

George Shumpelt, director of special programs for Re-1, said that school accountability is a program that allows parents to be a part of what is happening in their child’s life.

"Parents are the most important tool that we have," Bruce said.

Bruce said that local schools have identified the problems in their curriculum and taken steps to remedy those problems, but added that it will take some time before those problems are rectified.