Tuesday, March 26, 2024

AV #269 - Aurora Public Schools muddies the waters before state hearing

  March 2024


 Embarrassing presentation to the Aurora School Board reveals confusion, obfuscation

After 14 years of low performance at Aurora Central High, APS is no closer to a strong plan

 

When a school has been on Colorado’s school accountability clock since day one of the new system (2010), when this school hit Year 9 on the clock and had to go before the State Board of Education to present an improvement plan (2019) and, in light of its recent performance, the school must do so again in the spring of 2024, one would think it is well prepared.           

                                                                                                                      

April 12, 2017

“Stay the course: Struggling Aurora Central will not face drastic state-ordered changes”[i]  

“Aurora Central High School will continue 

ongoing reforms but with help from a 

management company, avoiding more dire 

consequences for its chronic low performance

over more than five years.”

           (Chalkbeat Colorado, by Yesenia Robles)

One would think the district has given careful thought to its proposal, knowing the State Board has reason to doubt another attempt to say: We can do this. We’re on track. We don’t need you to judge us—or to tell us what to do. 

One would think the high school, aware of its discouraging track record over the past decade, aware of the serious concerns voiced by the State Board at the 2019 hearing, recognizes why it is on the hot seat.[ii] 



    Colorado School Performance Framework (SPF) Ratings for Aurora Central High School

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

*2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20 to 2020-21**

2021-22

PI

PI

PI

PI

PI

TR

PI

PI

PI

PI

TR

TR =Turnaround – lowest rating  / PI = Priority Improvement – 2nd lowest rating / *2014-15-no ratings / **No change due to COVID

It is this school, this program, for grades 9-12, that has needed fundamental change. It has not happened. But what the APS school board heard on Feb. 6, 2024, suggested a way to change the subject. Or at least a way to confuse the issue

Nov. 15, 2019

“Aurora Central High gets one more year to show progress before state weighs more drastic action”[iii]                "Acdemically troubled school has been on Colorado’s accountability clock for nine years” (The Denver Post, by Meg Wingerter)

–and talk about the “new” K-12 campus.

The above School Performance Framework stops at 2021-22 because APS opened a new program in 2022-23, the Charles Burrell Visual and Performing Arts (CBVPA) magnet school,[iv] located on the Aurora Central Campus. Burrell Arts K-8 started with grades 3 and 6; it plans to add grades each year.

The SPF for the Aurora Central Campus for 2022-23 reads “Insufficient Data,” but that is due—as its Director, Jessica Brown, made clear on Feb. 6, to the elementary [and middle] schools only having single grades – thus having “no correlative growth data to measure.” However, there was plenty of data for Aurora Central High School. Once again it was rated on Priority Improvement.


 

Points by Level

Overall Rating by Level

        Academic Achievement             % Points Earned

Academic Achievement

Elementary

52.7

Improvement

56.8%

Approaching

Middle

72.9

Performance

51.1%

Approaching

High

39.9

Priority Improvement

25.0%

Does Not Meet

*Points and Overall Rating by Level were presented to the APS Board on Feb. 6.[v] Achievement data is my addition.


On Feb. 6 Brown joined Kurtis Quig, Principal, Burrell/Aurora Central High, and Anne Ferris, Principal, Charles Burrell K-8, to present their “Accountability Pathway” to the Aurora School Board. (Access the video at the APS website.[vi]) The district’s chief academic officer, Dr. Nia Campbell, also spoke. What this presentation emphasized, to my astonishment, was how much the school intends to continue. Change? Only around the edges. In essence, stay the course.

“We are proposing,” Brown said, “that Aurora Central, first, remain a Community School, keep innovation status, and finally adopt an external management partner.” (Emphasis mine.) That third feature, “Adopt management by a public or private entity,” is a return to what a State Review Panel recommended years ago, in 2017. This led ACHS to connect with Mass Insight. Its role as the external management partner lasted three years, and concluded after 2019-20.

ACHS gained Innovation status back in 2016. It adopted the Community School framework in 2019. It now plans to “sustain” what has brought so little progress. How does this meet the moment?

What is most distressing is how the presentation wants to tell us about the Aurora Central Campus. The Charles Burrell Visual and Performing Arts school, which is currently “in a separate building less than a quarter mile away from the high school,”[vii] completed its first year in 2022-23. A new choice for Aurora families – good to see. But irrelevant, in this context. Burrell Arts K-8 has not been on the accountability clock for 14 years. The new program has nothing to do with the hearing in April for the high school.

 

I have written several newsletters on Aurora Central High over the past 12 years. Addendum A – AV #88 – Aurora Central High - The Case for State Intervention (2012); AV #109 (2014); AV #202 - A response to Aurora Central’s hearing before the State Board of Education in November 2019; and AV #233 (2021). Some of the history in my newsletters might remind the new leadership at both APS and at the high school that the State Board has also been watching … for a long time.


Listen to what Brown, Quig, Ferris, Campbell, and Superintendent Michael Giles had to say on Feb. 6. My comments reveal the confusion. Does APS hope this “narrative” about the “new campus” will distract the State Board from its focus on what has changed (or not) at the high school since 2019? Above all, what does this “story” have to do with accountability for ACHS? 

**

I question many points in the “pathway plan” as laid out on Feb. 6. The Addenda details two concerns, both huge challenges for ACHS, both given short shrift in the plan. Addendum B: declining attendance. Addendum C: students’ low reading/literacy skills. There I also produce data missing from the presentation. The State Board will expect the plan to be transparent about how ACHS students perform on all state assessments. But these are not my main complaints.

After the school principal, Kurtis Quig, spoke for eight-minutes on proposed changes at the high school, Jessica Brown listed improvement strategies. Slide 18 showed the “Goals and Progress Monitoring Plan.”[viii] Action steps included what would be done in grades K-2, 2-3, and K-8.

[COMMENT: Why? Just when we thought we were looking at a HIGH SCHOOL plan?]

The presentation over, Board President Anne Keke expressed her confusion. Her questions led to responses: first by Ferris, then by Campbell, and then the superintendent himself weighed in. Attempts to clean up previous statements. Each failing to clarify. Embarrassing.

Note that Keke never offered any judgment. She merely suggested what seemed a logical cause and effect. The school and the district, though, seemed flustered.

Board President Keke: Is this presentation for the high school, or is it for the magnet. I was a little confused because I would think the high school is not part of the magnet, or am I having it wrong?  [My transcription – using the transcription offered at the website and what I heard. I apologize for any errors.]

[All four on the panel exchanged looks. Who wanted to take this question? Had they asked it of themselves? Perhaps they realized they were stepping into quicksand … After several seconds, Ferris responded.]

Ferris: It’s for the entire campus which makes up both the magnet/Burrell as well as Aurora Central, so we are one campus.

Keke: I see. But the middle and the elementary are not on the clock, are they?

Ferris: As a campus we are all on the clock because it’s one campus.

Keke: So the high school data and performance is affecting our brand new magnet school?

[Here Campbell took the mike.]

Campbell: Thank you. Thank you Madam President. So what I will say is the last time Aurora Central went to the state, Aurora Central was just Aurora Central. But in between now and then our system moved to have a K-12 Aurora Central Campus, our Charles Burrell campus, with the arts pathway that goes all the way through, so we got permission to make sure that when we brought this presentation to our board and the State Board that we represented the full campus – but to be specific, you are absolutely correct … 

            [Correct about what? What had Keke asserted?]

Campbell (con’t) … the high school has a plan and they have to present to the state and when we come back we are focused on the high school as well …

[So here we are told it is the high school that has a plan, that it is the high school that is going before the State Board. Yes?]

… but it’s still an entire campus and we didn’t want to have that separation because it is a K-12 campus.

[Does it matter what the district wants to tell? APS has a 9-12 school that has been on the clock since 2010. Its campus now includes a magnet school, which only opened last year. Based on the results given at this meeting, the new program has begun pretty well. But it has no role in this upcoming hearing. So of course the two programs should be looked at separately. To include Burrell only muddies the waters.]

 So I wouldn’t say that the high school is impacting the whole campus – I would say – when we present moving forward with – it is one campus moving forward, that’s what I’m saying.

[Good grief, I thought. Stop before you sink any further. As she finished Superintendent Giles chimed in. Perhaps he sensed how unsatisfactory the responses had been. Even contradictory. Maybe he could put a positive spin on all this …] 

Superintendent Giles – I think telling the story of the entire campus also speaks to the innovation that is going to help support the status of the high school …

[SOME HISTORY: ACHS first gained “innovation status” in 2016 as part of the APS Action Zone. Any evidence this has led to significant improvement? Never mind – a central feature of the proposal to the State Board is to “sustain its current Innovation Plan.” Is Mr. Giles aware of the skepticism about innovation expressed by the State Board to then-Superintendent Rico Munn and ACHS Principal Gerardo de La Garza at the 2019 hearing? A skepticism shared more widely today.[ix] My guess is that the State Board will look for evidence of what the high school has been doing—and, yes, with the waivers that comes with being on innovation—that has led to better outcomes for students. And if not …] 

Giles (continues): … So I understand what you’re saying, but at the same time I think the elementary - middle school is a positive part of the story to tell on how we’re going to create engagement and help support Aurora Central [to] get where they need to be.


[See what I mean about “changing the subject” and crafting an upbeat story? And what, exactly, was Keke saying? Wasn’t it a question … about whether the high school’s chronic low performance was affecting the magnet?] 

**

Before concluding this part of the Feb. 6 meeting on the “Proposed Pathway” from APS and Aurora Central Campus, the Board President asked one final question.

Keke: Here we are going for a second time before the state – so what’s different about this plan than what was implemented over the last six years that’s going to make sure that this time around – we no longer have just a high school, we have a whole educational experience that’s coming with it – that we make sure that it is going to be successful – and at the same time – pull the whole magnet out of the accountability clock?

[WHICH AGAIN IS NOT, as I see it, accurate. See above: Ratings of Performance (middle) and Improvement (elementary). Keke’s question appeared to assume the presentation to the State Board needed to address how the entire Aurora Central Campus is going forward. (Again, I see no such need.) Which led to a nebulous answer that wandered even further away from THE ONLY REASON FOR THE HEARING BEFORE THE STATE BOARD: THE PERFORMANCE OF AURORA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.]

Campbell: You named the first one, Madam President, just to have a K through 12 educational experience that allows students to engage in a way that they hadn’t been able to before …

[WHICH IS not relevant, of course, to the 1,800-plus students at the high school today, not relevant to the low achievement and below average growth evident in the state assessments, and not relevant to the woeful attendance we see again this year.]

Campbell (con’t): The other shift is the way we are designing and engaging with school leadership teams around the creation of a plan is really making it about creating systems that outlast specific human beings and making sure that there is that very clear role and expectation for partnership, for school, for school sustainability even after the partnership, and also district alignment and responsibilities. So we have our own, I want to say, internal accountability system that helps us really manage those metrics and milestones we are expecting to make sure that nothing is left to chance.

[I call this DISTRICT-SYSTEMS SPEAK. As clear as mud.]

 

** 

Before the State Board hearing in April, there is still time to reassess. If the goal for APS is to show how current plans will produce a different and better high school, the school director and principal must take the lead. If they speak in plain English, from a school perspective, it will help. They will need to talk about how the school’s culture, its expectations, and everything that reflects on relationships and teaching and learning will be significantly different.

Above all, the plan should not cloak the harsh reality – little progress at Aurora Central High –behind an upbeat portrayal of the new K-12 campus. That’s just a ploy not to be accountable.


**


Addendum A: Paying attention to Aurora Central for over a decade

Another View – from 2012, 2014, 2019, and 2021

9/18/2012 – AV #88

Aurora Central High – The Case for State Intervention

How is it that the state can allow a school to continue with such low performance, when SB 163 was intended, in part, to grant CDE more authority so that districts do not let a chronically failing school survive a day longer than it should?”

 

2/12/2014 – AV #109

Why turnaround schools do not turn around

One reason struggling schools fail to make real progress: Aurora Central High as a case study

“Twice in the 2012-13 school year Aurora Central put together a self-portrait that falls well short of what we should expect of a school performing this poorly.  This failure is integral to the modest plans in the SIG application—lots of new personnel—that cannot begin to address what the school acknowledges as more deep-seated causes behind its consistently unsatisfactory results.

“I cannot believe anyone thinks such reports are good enough, or truthful enough, to provide a useful guide for ‘transformation.’”

 

11/20/2019 – AV #202 (One week after the Nov. 13 hearing for ACHS before the State Board.)

A Thanksgiving Note to the Colorado State Board of Education

 What if local school boards demonstrated a similar focus on student achievement?

“Same topic – How is Aurora Central High School (ACHS) performing? – entirely different responses. The contrast—notably what the Aurora School Board did NOT say when the district presented its reports on ACHS at board meetings this fall, as opposed to what the Colorado State Board of Education DID SAY, repeatedly, at its November 13 meeting—tells us a lot. It might explain why a school district feels little pressure from its board to address such dismal academic results.”

[AV #202 included quotes from board members Angelika Schroeder, Rebecca McClellan, Debora Scheffel, and Steve Durham pertaining to achievement and instruction at the high school. All four are still on the State Board.]


6/22/2021 – AV #233

Analysis of one school’s 2020-21 Unified Improvement Plan – Aurora Central High 

Weak UIP reveals one way low-performing schools fail … to see themselves clearly

“I realize that Aurora Central High School just experienced one of the most difficult school years imaginable. And, before that, the spring of 2020—part of the school year which the current UIP is supposed to address—must have been incredibly hard. So I am sure the school leadership and staff are exhausted – or ‘fried,’ as they say. In that light, my criticism of the school’s UIP will seem ill-timed and unkind. We’ve been through hell, ACHS staff might say; give us the summer to recover. So why do I consider it necessary to produce this study? Who does it help? 

“I believe we should see any chronically underperforming school in our state as a tragedy for its students. I do not agree that tolerance or ‘grace’ should apply when a school presents to the state a report as deficient as this. It looks as if Aurora Central did not even try. I present this study in the hope it adds to the urgency with which CDE and the State Board ‘monitor progress’ at Aurora Central High.”

 

 Addendum B – Criticism of the presentation on attendance/absenteeism

Attendance/Absenteeism - Principal Quig’s presentation and the Executive Summary both failed to address a central problem for the high school: attendance and absenteeism.

It’s true that the written report presented at the Feb. 6 APS board meeting, “School/District Pathway Plan Template: Accountability Clock Re-Hearing (Year 6+) School & District Pathway Plan,” stated the problem directly. This is from Page 9.

 

Average Daily Attendance

 

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

 

1 year change

4 year change

ACHS

83.08%

84.29%

74.31%

75.63%

70.31%

 

-5.32%

-12.77%

 From 2019-2023, overall average daily attendance has declined and the school has seen chronic absenteeism increase. School leadership has identified this as a priority challenge aligned through a focus on overall engagement. Average daily attendance rates are higher at the beginning of the year and trend downwards especially near the end of the school year.  (Bold mine)

 

In her presentation on Feb. 6, Jessica Brown, Director, Aurora Central Campus, also acknowledged the concern for the high school. Her power points 8-10 included these facts.

                                                                    ATTENDANCE

 

2022-23

2023-24 (TO DATE)

Burrell Arts Elementary

K-3 – 89%

K-4 – 92.4%

Burrell Arts Middle School

Grade 6 – 91%

Grades 6 & 7 – 93%

Aurora Central High School

9-12     70.1%

 

 

70%

Brown added: ““Our average daily attendance continues to drop in high school – from 2016, 2017, 2018, where we averaged approximately 80% ADA, and today our current average daily attendance is 70.%.”[x] 

What followed that stunning admission, however – Brown’s look at the “Identified Priority Challenges” (slide 11) and her comments on what questions to ask (“Is our attendance system working? How are we able to leverage a flexible schedule that meets the needs of our students?”) – appeared inadequate for such a fundamental issue at the high school. 

Finally, the school’s most recent UIP is forthright about the issue and the challenge.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

From the UIP for ACHS for 2023-24

Colorado's Unified Improvement Plan for Schools – Aurora Central Campus

Narrative on Data Analysis and Root Cause Identification (p. 4)

                                                                                                                                                                   All bold mine

“The Instructional Leadership team established a large priority for the 2023-2024 school year (see SIP). As we began digging and looking at our data for the 2022-2023 school year, we were able to see that we had a major gap in our attendance percentages. We identified that our students were coming to school less often and their Average Daily Attendance rate dropped dramatically.”

 

UIP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (p. 5)                                                                                                  

“Based on the data and the results, the team determined that the data was clear that the Aurora Central Campus needs to focus on student engagement. The data shows us that students have a lower attendance rate, higher behavior referrals, and lower grades and GPA than in past school years… ”


63%

 School Climate Data Trends (p. 6)

  “The Average Daily Attendance rate at Aurora Central High School for the 2022-2023 school year was finalized at an average of 63.13%. This was a decrease from the overall average daily attendance rate from the 2021-2022 school year. Additionally, chronic absenteeism data showed us this school year that we must work on engaging our more chronically absent students.” 

 

Trend Analysis (p. 11) – Trend Direction: Decreasing

Performance Indicator Target: Student Engagement 


69%

                                                            


“The final attendance rate for the 2022-2023 school year ended at 69%. Aurora Central recognizes that our attendance rate has decreased from previous school years, and we are working on a plan to address this.… Additionally, chronic absenteeism continues to be a persistent challenge as our community continues to suffer from the pandemic and we are seeing our high school students forced to work to support their family. We spent time during the 2022-2023 school year re-engaging our chronically absent students.” 


Its 2023-24 UIP set this goal:

GOAL for 2023-24: 

Increase to 75%

Priority Performance Challenge : Student Engagement - Connectedness to the school (p. 31)

PERFORMANCE INDICATOR: Student Engagement    

                                              

MEASURES / METRICS:  

“Attendance 2023-2024: By the end of May 2024, Aurora Central High School (ACHS) will increase the ADA to 75%.” 

(2023-24 UIP for Aurora Central High School - https://co-uip.my.salesforce-sites.com/UIPPublicFacingdev_Print?id=a0d6g00000Q1cWkAAJ)

**

 Again, the school is aware of the problem. But true recognition demands more. Where in the plan do we see the school asking hard questions about why this decline in attendance? What more must change to create a school that students want to attend, where they feel they need to show up? Where is the urgency in the presentation to tackle this issue? 

 


Aurora Central compared to three other APS/DPS high schools on the accountability clock 

To show how extreme the attendance/absenteeism issue is for Aurora Central High School, consider this comparison with three other high schools on the state’s accountability clock.

Note how much attendance has declined at ACHS. Our world, post-COVID? Maybe. Still, …

Everything here is from CDE’s reporting on attendance[xi] - except for the attendance rate for ACHS in 2022-23. The state figure combined the attendance (and truancy) rate for the students at the new Burrell Arts program last year with the students at ACHS. This produced a higher percentage for attendance—for all grades—in 2022-23 (76.5%) than in 2021-22.

But as the presentation to the APS board meeting on Feb. 6 indicated (see above), the attendance rate at the elementary (89%) and middle (92%) was much higher than at the high school (70.1%). So 70.1% is the one figure here different from the state data. 

 

 

2018-19

2021-22

2022-23

 

Attendance Rate

Attendance Rate

Truancy Rate

TOTAL Days Missed Unexcused Absences

Attendance Rate

Truancy Rate

TOTAL Days Missed Unexcused Absences

Aurora Central HS

79.2%

74.2%

21.0%

54,460

70.1%

N.A.

61,570*

Gateway HS

78.2%

80%

14.1%

30,122

80.0%

14.1%

34,166

Hinkley HS

76.4%

80.7%

14.4%

40,991

81.0%

13.6%

35,678

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In DPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abraham Lincoln HS

85.7%

84.1%

12.4%

19,563

84.7%

11.5%

18,247

*This total would include missed unexcused absences for grades 3 and 6 at Burrell Arts. As noted earlier, attendance there was strong last year.


 

 Addendum C – Criticism of the presentation on reading/literacy

Given the state of basic literacy skills at ACHS, how is this not a central focus of its school improvement plan?

In his eight-minute presentation, Principal Kurtis Quig’s power points never addressed a fundamental challenge for teachers and students at ACHS: the huge number of students there who are not reading anywhere close to grade level.

The eight-page Executive Summary touches on reading in generic terms. All that is stated, under the heading, “Priority Performance Challenge 1 - Reading + Writing in All Content Areas,” applies to Math as well: “consistent instructional practices … consistent assessment plan … special and measurable goals ….” And that heading provides the single reference to reading. In these same eight pages we see ILT (school leader and instructional team) referred to 36 times and PLC (Professional Learning Community) referred to 29 times.  

The old truism applies: we cannot solve a problem if we are unwilling to name it.

 

Reading/literacy as a central issue at Aurora Central - newly released data from CDE

 

The Colorado Department of Education has released data on the number of high school students still on a READ plan in 2021 and 2022.[xii] At ACHS the number on a READ plan increased (87 more students) between 2021 and 2022. (2023 data not yet available.) Among all Colorado high schools, this is the second highest number of students on a READ plan.  

High schools in Colorado with highest number of students on a READ plan in 2022.

 

2020-21

2021-22

 

Grades 9-11

Grades 9-12

#1. Westminster High

335

327

#2. Aurora Central H.S. (APS)

203

290

      

Three other high schools on the accountability clock (two in APS)

had a high number of students on a READ plan in 2022. 

 

2020-21

2021-22

 

Grades 9-11

Grades 9-12

#5. Hinkley High School (APS)

199

225

#6. Abraham Lincoln H.S. (DPS)

182

224

#7. Gateway H. S. (APS)

137

190

 

 Test data on literacy (and math) NOT INCLUDED in the district/school presentation

What the district and school presented to the APS Board of Education misstated which students took the PSAT. And it gave no data on the SAT.

The 46-page School/District Pathway Plan Template: Accountability Clock Re-Hearing (Year 6+) School & District Pathway Plan” presents “Aurora Central Campus: High School Data” on page 8. 

Two concerns:

1.     Academic Achievement included scores over several years on Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and on Math. The data is accurate but it is not, as stated, the results for “ALL ACHS students.” These were only the scores for the 9th and 10th graders on the PSAT. (For some reason the report never defines these as the PSAT test.)

2.     There is nothing on the SAT results and the Academic Achievement of 11th graders.  (If you wonder whether we should use the SAT to assess a school like Aurora Central, see Caveat.*) 

 

Below includes what was included in the report presented on Feb. 6, in black, and what was not included, in red. To give a more complete picture, I add two more years of data (2017, 2018).

 

2017-2023 - Data from the annual School Performance Framework for Aurora Central High School[xiii]

 

2017

2018

2019

2022

2023

2017 to 2023

PSAT – R & W

386

379.6

381.8

374.8

385.2

same

PSAT - MATH

391.7

376.2

375.9

367.6

377.4

-14.3

Percentile Rank for both R&W & Math

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

 

  Growth – R & W

43

37

43

34

38

In each category & each year, short of 50% - the median growth % for the state

    Growth - Math

34

41

46

31

40

SAT – R & W

423.6

422.2

406.7

396.2

397.4

-26.2

SAT - MATH

405.3

409.5

400.1

382.0

381.5

-23.8

Matriculation Rate - All

26.9

35.8

37.2

23.8

29.8

Up 2.9

2 year

12.2

15.8

14.7

7.3

10.3

-1.9

4 year

12.5

17.2

14.3

13.2

18.1

+5.6

CTE

2.2

4.2

10.7

4.9

1.7

-.5

 

Scores on the Reading and Writing portion of the SAT in 2023 show 74% of ACHS 11th graders (248 out of 336 students) scored in the lowest performance level: Did Not Yet Meet Expectations. On the Math portion of the SAT, 88% (297 out of 336) of 11th grade students scored Did Not Yet Meet Expectations.

The Percent and Number of 11th graders who Met/Exceeded Expectations on the SAT:[xiv]


 

Reading & Writing

MATH

STATE of COLORADO

58.9%

35.2%

APS

30.7%

14.4%

Aurora Central High School

10.4%  -  35 students

3.9%  -  13 students

 

 

ONE ADDITION

 

Information the APS Board might find meaningful – four APS high schools

 

The Keystone report combines PSAT/SAT score for all three grades, 9-11

 

Data from the Keystone Policy Center’s Student Academic Performance Map (Nov. 2023)[xv]

 

Results far below the state average at four APS high schools/high school programs.

 

Colorado Student Performance  -  Academic Year 2022-23  -  PSAT/SAT Proficiency, grades 9-11

 

English Language Arts

ELA

Median Growth Percentile

 

Math

Math

Median Growth Percentile

STATE of COLORADO

62%

49

 

40%

49

APS

37%

44

 

20%

44

Hinkley H.S.

26%

42

 

11%

38

Gateway H.S.

28%

41

 

10%

39

Aurora West College Prep. Academy (6-12)

25%

46

 

4%

37

Aurora Central H.S.

21%

38

 

9%

40

 

  

*Caveat - On the questionable value of the SAT for high schools like Aurora Central

   Is the SAT test a good way to assess academic achievement and growth for a high school like Auora Central? As I wrote in Another View #222 three years ago, I do not believe it is. (That newsletter included scores at Aurora Central, Gateway, and Hinkley to illustrate my point. 2023 scores at ACHS speak to this concern; when roughly 80% of juniors score Did Not Yet Meet Expectations, we must ask if this is the right test for these students.)

   We hear of the lack of motivation for many high school juniors by the time it comes to taking the SAT. They struggled on the PSAT for two years … and now this?

   I do not include SAT results because I believe they are what we should be using to assess academic progress in a school like ACHS. I only do so because they are what we currently use. Until we change this, they will be part of accountability in our state.

 

AV #222 - The PSAT and SAT do not work well for perhaps 25% of our high schools (Jan. 12, 2021)

As we examine how best to improve the School Performance Framework, let’s ask if these tests are meaningful – and helpful - for many of our high schools and their students


 **


Endnotes

[i] “Stay the Course: Struggling Aurora Central will not face drastic state-ordered changes,” Chalkbeat Colorado, by Yesnia Robles (April 12, 2017), https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2017/4/12/21100392/stay-the-course-struggling-aurora-central-will-not-face-drastic-state-ordered-changes/#:~:text

[ii] At that Nov. 2019 hearing, the State Board only gave the school one year to show improvement.  Then COVID hit.

Colorado’s state board gives Aurora Central one year to improve its ratings,” by Yesenia Robles, Nov. 14, 2019.   

   “The State Board of Education on Thursday gave final orders to Aurora Central High School in its efforts to keep improving student achievement, but only gave the school one year to increase its state ratings.”

   “One of the suggestions the state board added to its order is that Aurora Central should hire outside experts on instruction who can help accelerate improvement efforts. By law the board can’t order the collaboration.”  https://co.chalkbeat.org/2019/11/14/21055533/colorado-s-state-board-gives-aurora-central-one-year-to-improve-its-ratings 

“State school board recommends Aurora Central hire additional private firm,” by Grant Stringer, Nov. 18, 2019.

   “State education decision-makers decided Thursday to keep struggling Aurora Central High School on a short leash for another year and recommended the school hire an additional private management company to work with teachers.” 

   “The meeting Thursday between APS officials and the state board is the latest development in a long effort to get Central students up to speed. The school reached its deadline to improve enough and escape state oversight in 2014.” 

https://sentinelcolorado.com/news/metro/state-school-board-recommends-aurora-central-hire-additional-private-firm/

[iii] Aurora Central High gets one more year to show progress before state weighs more drastic action,” The Denver Post,  by Meg Wingerter (Nov. 15, 2019), https://www.denverpost.com/2019/11/15/aurora-central-high-school-state-accountability-clock/

[iv] From the presentation to the APS Board of Educatiion, Feb. 6, 2024. “In August 2022, a new magnet pathway was launched as a result of Aurora Public Schools’ (APS) Blueprint Strategic Plan. This plan was based on community feedback and aimed to develop seven magnet schools over the next three years. Aurora Central became Aurora Central Campus (ACC*) with the addition of a new pathway: Charles Burrell Visual and Performing Arts (CBVPA) magnet, commonly referred to as Burrell Arts*. Burrell Arts currently includes grades K-4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 and will grow to a full K-12 magnet by August 2026.”

[v] “Aurora Central SPF Overview,” slide 4, from Aurora Central Campus Accountability Pathway,  https://go.boarddocs.com/co/aurora/Board.nsf/files/D22SV2746938/.

[vi] APS BOE Work Session, 2/6/2024,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y1Vxp9Ubc4.

[viii] “Aurora Central SPF Overview,” slide 18, from Aurora Central Campus Accountability Pathway,  https://go.boarddocs.com/co/aurora/Board.nsf/files/D22SV2746938/.

[ix]A ‘mixed bag’ — again — for test scores at Colorado innovation schools, new report finds,” bMelanie Asmar, Chalkbeat Colorado (Dec. 22, 2023),

https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2023/12/22/colorado-innovation-schools-mixed-bag-test-scores-keystone-report/

[x] YouTube of the Feb. 6, 2024, APS meeting of the Board of Education, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y1Vxp9Ubc4   

[xi] Attendance, Colorado Truancy Rates By School, Colorado Department of Education, https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/truancystatistics.

[xii] From my report on reading: “After the Read Act - Beyond third grade, how well do our students read?” -  Another View (February 2024), https://anotherviewphj.blogspot.com/

[xiii]Performance Framework Reports and Improvement Plans,” Colorado Department of Education, https://www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview/frameworks/welcome

[xv] The Colorado Sun/Keystone Policy Center, https://coloradosun.com/colorado-student-academic-performance-map/   

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