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Douglas County School District test scores lead metro area schools


Submitted by Jim Christensen, Douglas County School Superintendent*

The beginning of August for school districts in Colorado is a time we begin our focus on the year ahead and the next phase of educating our students. It is also the time we have an opportunity to reflect on how our kids in each school and district across Colorado performed on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP).

CSAP exams are intended to measure a district’s effectiveness at delivering Colorado Model Content Standards in mathematics, reading, and writing in grades 3-10 and in science grades 5, 8 and 10. The magnitude of this testing is considerable as DCSD processed 91,557 CSAP exams this past year.

We can proudly state that our students on CSAP exams not only exceeded the state average in every grade and every subject tested, but also led all fifteen districts in the Denver area in reading, writing and mathematics. This is an accomplishment that should not be understated nor undervalued, given the work it requires of our entire learning community.

These results validate tremendous student and staff effort in learning the Colorado Model Content Standards. Douglas County administrators, teachers and support staff continue to have high expectations for all students as we focus on a quality liberal arts education.

These outstanding results are to be celebrated and the staff and students are to be commended for keeping the focus on student learning during difficult budget times. We have stated our top priority in reductions is to protect the classroom as much as possible. That said, we are not immune to consequences from the reductions in our classrooms.

Difficult decisions have been made and have impacted areas such as supplies, textbooks, and staff salary concessions. More has been required from our people. Our teachers and leaders in the schools deserve our utmost respect for their continued focus and success with our kids.

The reduction plan in DCSD of $58 million is understandably not fully conceptualized by some in our public. So defining what this amount of money really represents is important. It equates to 1,000 less teachers out of the 3,500 teachers in our current system.

Instead, we have redesigned most services and eliminated 175 central service staff, which includes 55 manager-level personnel to support and protect the classroom. We have saved 850 teaching positions in this reduction plan so we can keep our focus on learning and perform at this high level. We appreciate our stakeholders’ support as we realize some of these services cause challenges to all of us in our system.

Although Douglas County students continue to perform exceptionally well on the CSAP exams, it is important to remember this test is only one piece of evidence used to determine student proficiency.

This year’s student growth results will reflect the Colorado Department of Education’s new model for growth. Colorado Department of Education will eliminate School Accountability Reports (SARs) and school rankings.

Instead, focus will be on median growth percentiles and status (percent proficient or advanced). SchoolView, a new tool that affords the comparison of growth performance by schools and districts, is now available at www.schoolview.org.

Thanks for your support in learning, and take the time to thank a teacher when you get a chance. We will continue to make academic excellence a top priority in Douglas County and we invite you to join our learning community.

*Jim Christensen resigned from the Douglas County School District in September. Following the school board election in November, the new school board will select a superintendent. In the meantime, Steve Herzog, the District’s Chief Operating Officer, is serving as interim Superintendent.

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