It is nearly 20 years since the Colorado
legislature passed HB 07-1118. It is over five years since the Graduation Guidelines
went into effect (2021-22). And yet we still have little good data to show how
our students are meeting the new guidelines. Who knows if we have fulfilled the
goals of that 2007 legislation?
With the new Guidelines in place, graduation
rates have improved every year, reaching a new high in 2025 of 85.6%, when over
60,000 students graduated. However, we have no evidence that tells us these seniors
met the standard as defined in our Graduation Guidelines:
|
FROM the Menu of College and Career-Ready Demonstrations: “Students must demonstrate readiness for college and career based on at least one measure in Reading, Writing and Communicating, and one measure in Mathematics.”[i] |
|
“The Colorado State Board of
Education is responsible for establishing, maintaining, and updating
Colorado’s High School Graduation Guidelines and for providing information to
districts and the public on students’ college and career readiness.” Colorado
High School Graduation Guidelines Adopted by the State Board of Education,
May 2013. [ii] |
Given the lack of
information available, Another View has raised concerns. First, in Sept.
2023, “Colorado’s new Graduation Guidelines – early warning signs that they
fall short” (AV #263). More recent newsletters have tried to show that the
expectations for several options in the Guidelines have lowered the bar to
graduation in Colorado.[iii]
Last winter AV
#295 raised doubts about the clarity and rigor in the expectations for three
options: Industry Certificates, District Capstones, and ACT
WorkKeys. (Included there: examples of the low bar in a WorkKeys Practice Test, see Endnotes.[iv])
AV #305 presents what CDE sent me in response to this year’s data
request: Addendum A. It gives us a four-year picture and hard numbers
around the (eleven) Menu of Options available to students to “earn” a high
school degree. Though helpful, basic questions are still unanswered.
It does not tell us how many students use each of the eleven options.
Nor does it tell us what skills and
knowledge students must demonstrate in each of the options.
We might feel confident about a high school degree earned when students meet a nationally accepted minimum score on assessments, as is the case with the SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and ASVAB. But until we have more clarity on what students are actually demonstrating on Industry Certificates and District Capstones (with no state standard; satisfactory results are “district determined”[v]), we cannot be confident that our ever-rising graduation rates tell a good story. Ditto for those students who only score at the Bronze level on ACT WorkKeys—a level deemed insufficient in several other states.
Data the state cannot
give us – but one district can
It would be enlightening, it might even be shocking, if CDE provided
solid evidence showing how many Colorado graduates—the number and/or a rough
percentage of them—are using each of the eleven options in order to meet
our new Graduation Guidelines. What if thousands of our 60,000 graduates “earned”
a degree in 2025 using one of the three options that appear to lower the bar? Would
we be OK with that?
CDE insists it does not have and cannot present this kind of information for the state.
|
27J
Schools – Menu of Options Graduating
class of 2025 |
|
|
|
English
(Reading & Writing) |
|
Industry
Certificate – 43.1% |
|
SAT
– 37.7% |
|
ACT
WorkKeys – 29.3% |
|
ASVAB
- 29.1% |
|
AP
– 26.1% |
|
Concurrent
Enrollment – 17.6% |
|
Capstone
- 14.5% |
|
NOTE:
Students can use more than one option to meet the Guidelines. |
I followed up. Did CDE now have good numbers? (I was hopeful. At last!) But as Addendum C shows, CDE was unable to provide data supporting Córdova’s assertion. Again, Addendum A indicates CDE does not have such data.)
|
Math |
|
Industry
Certificate – 43.1% |
|
ACT
WorkKeys – 29.3% |
|
ASVAB
– 29.1% |
|
SAT
– 24.0% |
|
AP
– 16.3% |
|
Capstone
– 14.5% |
|
Concurrent
Enrollment – 9.2% |
It would be an act of transparency. And it would be brave. For it might distress
many to see the number of students using the Industry Certificate, District
Capstone, and ACT WorkKeys, as a way to graduate.
But how good it would be if it leads to important conversations about
what it means to earn a high school diploma in Colorado. And what we can do to
raise the bar.
Addendum
A
Report from
Colorado Department of Education –
Graduated
Guidelines – Menu of Options – “Reported Records”
Responding to a data request from Another View, on
May 14, 2026, CDE provided a document with lots of data, for all four years
(2022-2025), around two categories:
Graduation
Ranking by Quantity of Districts Reporting (Highest to Lowest)
and
Graduation
Ranking by Quantity of Reported Records (Highest to Lowest)
The two rankings were often similar, so Another
View will just summarize the data from the Quantity of Reported Records.
Uncertain as to
what was meant by “Reported Records,” I asked CDE for clarification. See the
exchange under the first box with the 2021-22 figures. It became clear what
these percentages do not tell us.
There is no
breakdown related to English versus Math assessments as this information is not
about the percentage or number of students who are meeting expectations in
order to graduate.
On April 28, 2026, CDE sent me this note on what it could and could
not provide: (Bold mine)
“… we can
provide an updated version of the data that CDE previously provided (the
rankings of guidelines by quantity of reported records). We cannot provide
the number and/or percentage of high school graduates meeting grad guidelines
with a breakdown of which of the 11 options they met to satisfy the state’s
expectations. This is because the constraints we previously shared
about the data (that the data CDE receives only confirms a student has met math
and English requirements in some way, but CDE isn’t able to determine which
specific pathways the districts used to confirm which options were used to meet
the requirements) remain today. The purpose of CDE’s collection of the data
is simply to validate a student has met requirements – not to report out the
number of students who have met which requirements – and therefore CDE doesn’t
collect data in a manner that allows us to do so.”
Graduation
Guidelines File Summary
Guidelines Ranked
by Quantity of Reported Records (Highest to Lowest)
|
2021-22 |
||
|
Rank |
Guideline name |
Percent of Total Reported Graduation Guidelines Records |
|
1 |
SAT |
29.8 |
|
2 |
District
Capstone |
21.4 |
|
3 |
Concurrent
Enrollment |
15.9 |
|
4 |
Advanced
Placement |
7.2 |
|
5 |
Accuplacer
(all subjects) |
6.9 |
|
6 |
Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) |
6.3 |
|
7 |
ACT WorkKeys |
6.3 |
|
8 |
Industry
Certificate |
3.1 |
|
9 |
ACT |
2.7 |
|
10 |
Collaboratively Developed Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
0.1 |
|
11 |
International
Baccalaureate |
0.1 |
Clarification. Exchange with CDE. (I wanted to be sure I understood what these figures meant. I was slow to grasp the meaning, but CDE was patient with me, and I am grateful.)
PH to CDE: That data under Percent of Total Reported Graduation Guidelines Records for all eleven options totals 100%. So does this mean 29.8% of high school graduates that year (2021-22) met the Guidelines using their SAT score? [I was unclear how to read that 29.8% figure.]
CDE: “… we are NOT saying that the data indicates students who met their graduation requirement specifically with SAT, or any other one of the measures….
(Bold mine) “… 29.8% of the records reported to CDE in 2021-2022 for students in grades 9-12 were for students who attempted a SAT guideline. Measures can be reported regardless of the score meeting or not meeting the benchmark for that guideline. Please note there may have been other guidelines reported for those students as well. The number of records is not equivalent to the number of graduates, but rather the guidelines reported to CDE for that school year. This could include students who attempted a guideline prior to their year of graduation as well as multiple guidelines per student.”
PH to CDE: Can you confirm this data (on all the options) is not saying what % of graduates met the Guidelines using each option?
CDE: “Correct. This data DOES NOT tell us the percentage of graduates who met their graduation guidelines requirement with a specific measure. It only shows the distribution of reported measures within a specific school year, regardless of the student’s status as a graduate or a younger student who attempted a measure in preparation for graduating in a future year, and regardless of whether or not the measure reported met the minimum cut score for that measure.”
“Students may meet their minimum graduation requirements in one or many
ways, and it could be reported at any point in their high school career. The
data is not collected or stored in a manner to support the calculation
referenced below.”
“The data provided for this request and your prior request of 2021-2022 data all have these same parameters.”
|
2022-23 |
||
|
Rank |
Guideline name |
Percent of Total Reported Graduation Guidelines Records |
|
1 |
SAT |
29.0 |
|
2 |
District
Capstone |
18.7 |
|
3 |
Concurrent
Enrollment |
16.8 |
|
4 |
ACT WorkKeys |
10.8 |
|
5 |
Accuplacer
(all subjects) |
7.1 |
|
6 |
Advanced
Placement |
6.2 |
|
7 |
Armed
Services (ASVAB) |
5.7 |
|
8 |
Industry
Certificate |
4.1 |
|
9 |
ACT |
1.3 |
|
10 |
International
Baccalaureate (IB) |
0.1 |
|
11 |
Collaboratively Developed Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
0.1 |
|
2023-24 |
||
|
Rank |
Guideline name |
Percent of Total Reported Graduation Guidelines Records |
|
1 |
SAT |
27.0 |
|
2 |
District
Capstone |
19.6 |
|
3 |
Concurrent
Enrollment |
19.4 |
|
4 |
ACT WorkKeys |
7.8 |
|
5 |
Advanced
Placement |
7.5 |
|
6 |
Accuplacer
(all subjects) |
6.8 |
|
7 |
Armed
Services VAB (ASVAB) |
5.3 |
|
8 |
Industry
Certificate |
4.8 |
|
9 |
ACT |
1.4 |
|
10 |
International
Baccalaureate |
0.2 |
|
11 |
Collaboratively Developed Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
0.1 |
|
2024-25 |
||
|
Rank |
Guideline name |
Percent of Total Reported Graduation Guidelines Records |
|
1 |
SAT |
25.6 |
|
2 |
Concurrent
Enrollment |
18.7 |
|
3 |
District
Capstone |
17.6 |
|
4 |
ACT WorkKeys |
10.5 |
|
5 |
Accuplacer |
8.0 |
|
6 |
Advanced
Placement |
7.9 |
|
7 |
Armed
Services VAB (ASVAB) |
5.5 |
|
8 |
Industry
Certificate |
5.0 |
|
9 |
ACT |
0.9 |
|
10 |
International
Baccalaureate |
0.2 |
|
11 |
Collaboratively Developed Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
0.1 |
The following was also included in CDE’s report.
Graduation Guidelines File Overview
Graduation Guidelines (CG)
In order to graduate high school, students must demonstrate postsecondary and workforce readiness in at least one measure in Reading, Writing, and Communicating and one measure in Mathematics according to the Graduation Guidelines Menu of Options. Local school boards have embedded the state Graduation Guidelines into their graduation requirements.
Reporting Graduation Guidelines
For each graduating student, districts and LEPs must report in the
Graduation Guidelines File at least one measure each for
Reading/Writing/Communicating and Mathematics, at or above the minimum
benchmark for that measure, based on the cut points outlined on the Graduation
Guidelines file layout and the Graduation Guidelines Menu of Options.
When reporting GG information,
districts have the option to report the minimum required information for
graduating students, or additional information on any student who attempted a
GG measure.
The Graduation Guidelines File
The purpose of the Graduation
Guidelines file is to record student outcomes that CDE must use to calculate
and report, per C.R.S. 22-11-204(4), including the percentage of students who
have graduated, having met minimum standards in the state board’s graduation
guidelines menu of options established pursuant to C.R.S. 22-2-106 (1) (a.5).
This file is a required component of
the Student End of Year (SEY) data collection as of the 2020-2021 school year
when GG went into effect.
Reported Graduation Guidelines Records
The Graduation Guidelines data
in this workbook reflects the reported Graduation Guidelines measures within
the given school year independent of students counted as graduates. This means
that the data in the file may include students in grades 9-12 if the district
submitted results for them. Thus, the results are broader than just the 4-year
graduating class of the reporting school year.
This data includes both the minimum
required information districts included for graduating students and any
additional information they chose to report (i.e., measures for students not
yet graduating, multiple records for students, etc.) Total percent (%) of
reported Graduation Guidelines records is based on the quantity of student
records reported in the school year.
Addendum B
27J Schools –
reporting on the Menu of Options – 2022-2025
1.
Menu of Options used by Graduates of the
Class of 2025
This is a summary of the report 27J Schools presented to its Board of Education on Feb. 26, 2026. The full report included data from each high school. (See 27J Schools - Board of Education https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gmxv7zhInJDOz0IhGnrHx0kWtRCJ-6xoST7rUfXhSag/edit?tab=t.0)
Number and percentage
of 27J students who “demonstrated competency”
on these various options
in Colorado’s Graduation Guidelines.
|
Option* |
ENGLISH (Reading & Writing) |
|
|
|
Number |
Percentage (out of 1,777 graduates) |
|
Industry
Certificate |
765 |
43.1% |
|
SAT |
669 |
37.7% |
|
ACT
WorkKeys |
520 |
29.3% |
|
ASVAB |
517 |
29.1% |
|
AP – Eng. |
463 |
26.1% |
|
Concurrent
Enrollment – Eng. |
313 |
17.6% |
|
Capstone |
258 |
14.5% |
|
Total |
3,505 |
|
|
27J’s summary notes: “100% of 27J graduates completed
an approved college and career demonstration. Many completed more than one
demonstration.” |
||
|
Option* |
MATH |
|
|
|
Number |
Percentage |
|
Industry
Certificate |
765 |
43.1% |
|
ACT
WorkKeys |
520 |
29.3% |
|
ASVAB |
517 |
29.1% |
|
SAT |
426 |
24.0% |
|
AP - Math |
253 |
16.3% |
|
Capstones |
258 |
14.5% |
|
Concurrent
Enrollment - Math |
164 |
9.2% |
|
Total |
2,903 – roughly 600 fewer students demonstrated
competency in Math than in English. Compare scores for the SAT, AP, and Concurrent Enrollment. |
|
|
See above for why the total here is much greater than the number of 27J students who graduated in 2025 – 1,777. |
||
* The district does not offer three of the 11 options among the state’s Menu of Options: Accuplacer, International Baccalaureate, and the Collaboratively Developed, Standards-Based Performance Assessment. The ACT option is also not listed above; if students choose, they can use the ACT to demonstrate they have met the Graduation Guidelines.
2. Graduates of 27J Schools – 2022-2025
Data reported over
four years since the new Graduation Guidelines went into effect.
[NOTE: Sincere
thanks to 27J Schools for sharing and discussing these annual reports with me.]
27J Schools has
presented and shared data for each of the first four years with the new
Graduation Guidelines. It created similar reports to the one you see, above, for
2022, 2023, and 2024.
As the district has made some changes in its annual reporting, it tells me that data for 2024 and for 2025 are “not to be directly comparable to previous years.”
Below, my summary of what 27J Schools has
reported on the number and percentage of students using the various options in
the new Graduation Guidelines.
|
|
ENGLISH (Reading and Writing) |
|||
|
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
1 |
SAT – 44.34% |
Indust. Certif. – 51.02% |
Indust. Certif.- 49.81% |
Industry Certificate – 43.1% |
|
2 |
ACT WorkKeys - 40.93% |
ACT WorkKeys – 40.50% |
*SAT – 38.87% |
*SAT – 37.7% |
|
3 |
Indust. Certif.- 36.62% |
SAT – 35.11% |
ACT WorkKeys – 38.09% |
ACT WorkKeys – 29.3% |
|
4 |
AP – 33.36% |
Concur. Enroll. – 27.47% |
AP – 32.97% |
ASVAB - 29.1% |
|
5 |
ASVAB – 23.11% |
AP – 23.55% |
Concur. Enroll. – 25.99% |
AP – 26.1% |
|
6 |
Concur. Enroll. – 22.13% |
ASVAB – 22.07% |
ASVAB – 16.68% |
**Capstone – 14.5% |
|
7 |
**Capstone – 9.68% |
**Capstone – 7.36% |
**Capstone – 7.99% |
Concurrent Enroll. – 17.6% |
|
|
MATH |
|||
|
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
1 |
ACT WorkKeys – 40.93% |
Indust. Certif. – 51.02% |
Indust. Certif. – 49.81% |
Industry Certificate – 43.1% |
|
2 |
Indust. Certif. - 36.62% |
ACT WorkKeys – 40.50% |
ACT WorkKeys – 38.09% |
ACT WorkKeys – 29.3% |
|
3 |
SAT – 30.59% |
ASVAB – 22.07% |
*SAT – 22.58% |
ASVAB – 29.1% |
|
4 |
ASVAB – 23.11% |
SAT – 20.39% |
ASVAB – 16.68% |
*SAT – 24.0% |
|
5 |
Concur. Enroll. – 13.02% |
Concur. Enroll. – 16.96% |
Concur. Enroll. – 15.75% |
AP – 16.3% |
|
6 |
AP – 10.01% |
AP – 16.12% |
AP – 11.33% |
Capstone - 14.5% |
|
7 |
Capstone – 9.68% |
Capstone – 7.36% |
Capstone – 7.99% |
Concurrent Enroll. – 9.2%
|
*SAT scores in 2024 and 2025. 27J Schools sent me this comment (February 2026):
“… regarding the SAT, it
is important to note that due to changes in the assessment format and the
introduction of new item types in 2024, these results serve as a new baseline.
Because of these structural shifts, the 2024 data is not directly comparable to
previous years.”
** Capstones in 27J - From 2022
- 2024 27J Schools recorded fewer than 10% of students used District
Capstones. 27J Schools does not allow its district-managed schools to use
this option. The district’s leadership determined it did not believe that
Capstone projects would demonstrate college readiness.[vi]
But this option is permitted in its charter schools. It is also used for a
small number of Special Needs students.
The percentage using District Capstones increased in 2025. The district
explains:
“Most of these numbers are from charter school students, which we have limited oversight over. We did have some small numbers of students from each of our high schools use this demonstration as well, and this number reflects students who transferred from outside of 27J schools who brought this demonstration with them.”
(COMMENT: Given 27J’s concerns
about District Capstones, it would be helpful to learn how many districts have
made a similar decision, and why. See Roaring Fork’s position as reported in AV
#295.[vii])
The four-year picture – an
overview
Accepting the caveat that 27J’s data are not comparable from year to year,
four observations.
1. From the Menu of Options, the Industry Certificate has been used by the largest percent of 27J students to “demonstrate readiness for college and career.”
2. Overall, after the Industry Certificate, the ACT WorkKeys has been the most frequently used option by 27J students, especially to meet expectations in Math.
3. Over these four years the SAT has been among the top two options to
meet expectations in Reading and Writing; nearly 40% of students have met
expectations on the SAT-English assessment.
4. The SAT, closely followed by ASVAB, have been the 3rd
and 4th most frequently used options to meet expectations in Math.
Addendum C
An effort to learn what
data CDE could provide
(Also reveals when such a pursuit
can test the patience of a state agency.
In the end, CDE provided what it could.)
In January 2025 Colorado Public Radio reported on the 2024 graduation rates. CPR’s Jenny Brundin spoke with Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova, who referred to the “top three ways…” Colorado students were earning their high school degree. Brundin wrote:
"As alternatives to using SAT scores for high school graduation, students can use industry certifications, a test that helps determine a student’s eligibility for a career in the military, a capstone project, or International Baccalaureate exam scores, among others."
"The top three ways Coloraod students are demonstrating that they are ready for graduation are via the SAT, enrolling in college classes, and a final capstone project."
"'It's (a capstone project) aligned to the skills that are required both for academic purposes but also for work-based purposes,' said Córdova."
(“More Colorado high school students are graduating, and fewer are dropping out,” by Jenny Brundin. Colorado Public Radio, Jan. 22, 2025.) https://www.cpr.org/2025/01/22/more-colorado-high-school-students-are-graduating-and-fewer-are-dropping-out/
Following up – communication with CDE
(winter 2025 to spring 2026)
I wrote Danielle Ongart, Assistant
Commissioner at CDE, to see if this “top three” list meant there was now data
available to support this assertion. Was there a new report, I wondered. “If this data has
not been released,” I wrote, “can you now make it available?”
The initial response came from Jeremy Meyer,
Director of Communications, on Jan. 29, 2025:
CDE does collect the measurements from districts but there are a lot of
caveats around that data:
- Districts may report measures in multiple ways.
Some choose to report only those who complete, others will report those
who attempt to complete, and others say only those who met the benchmark.
- We do not calculate the statistics based on the
specific measure that was used for a student at the point they graduated
because it would require placing a priority on a specific measure.
- We ensure that every graduating student has met
math and English in some manner. Some will have multiple reported pathways
where they meet the graduation guidelines requirement, and some will have
only the minimum requirement of a single pathway.
These are the
rankings based upon 2023-2024 reported GG measures:
Guidelines Ranked by the Quantity of Reported Records (Highest to Lowest,
all grades)
|
SAT |
|
District Capstone |
|
Concurrent Enrollment |
|
ACT WorkKeys |
|
Advanced Placement |
|
Accuplacer (all subtest) |
|
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) |
|
Industry Certificate |
|
ACT |
|
International Baccalaureate (IB) |
|
Collaboratively Developed, Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
Guidelines Ranked by the Quantity of Districts reporting the Pathway (Highest
to Lowest, at least one reported record in the district)
|
SAT |
|
District Capstone |
|
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) |
|
Concurrent Enrollment |
|
Accuplacer (all subtest) |
|
ACT WorkKeys |
|
Industry Certificate |
|
Advanced Placement |
|
ACT |
|
International Baccalaureate (IB) |
|
Collaboratively Developed, Standards-Based Performance Assessment |
I then wrote to Danielle Ongart. I commented that the information Jeremy
Meyer had sent “speaks of rankings, but it has no
data, no numbers to support CDE's ranking. I am still looking for
this data.”
I referred
to the quote from CPR: "The top three ways
Colorado students are demonstrating ..."
I wrote: “I don't see how
CDE can report a top three, or rank the 11 options, without data.”
Our Graduation Guidelines Menu of Options data collection includes the information we need to determine if students meet minimum graduation guidelines but does not include complete student-level graduation data. Given that the data does not provide a full picture (i.e.: it would not “stand alone”), we have not historically released it.
I replied (and copied to the
Commissioner, Meyer, and others at CDE) on Feb. 6, 2025:
This exchange ended there.
**
In April 2026 I made a second request for this information. I referred
to what had been sent in 2025.
“I am seeking data on the number and/or
percent of high school graduates meeting our Graduation Guidelines, with a
breakdown on which of the 11 options they met to satisfy the state’s
expectations.
“An exchange with the Commissioner and with
Danielle Ongart and Jeremy Meyer in Jan/Feb 2025 provided some helpful
information but no data.
“As the Graduation Guidelines have been in
place for four years, I trust data has been gathered and can be made available
to the public.”
[I noted that one district (27J)
has provided this data for several years and included it in my email.]
In May 2026 CDE responded with the data summarized in Addendum A.
Endnotes
[i] Colorado Department of Education, Menu of Options, https://ed.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/graduationguidelines/grad-menu
[ii] From: “Colorado State Board of Education Ongoing Responsibilities,” Colorado High School Graduation Guidelines Adopted by the State Board of Education, May 2013, page 7. https://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/graduation-guidelines
[iii] AV#263 - Colorado’s new
graduation guidelines – early warning signs that they fall short, Part 1, Sept 2023
AV #264 - Colorado’s new graduation
guidelines – early warning signs that they fall short, Part 2, Oct. 2023
AV#294 – Since the Colorado State Board of Education is responsible for our
Graduation Guidelines, it is high time for a review, Dec. 2025
AV#295 - Towards a review of
Colorado’s Graduation Guidelines in 2026 – three concerns, Jan. 2026
AV#303 – When we lower the bar to graduation, guess what? Graduation
rates rise, July 2026
[iv]
From an ACT WorkKeys Practice Test. Sample questions at the Bronze level:
Math
Level 3 (Bronze level)
1) Camp Copeland ordered 20 cases of eggs. There are one dozen (12) eggs in each case. How many eggs were ordered all together?
a. 240
b. 120
c. 180
d. 200
e. 32
2) Nora spent 2 hours and 30 minutes on the train. How many total minutes did she spend on the train?
a. 160
b. 230
c. 138
d. 60
e. 150Contact Us
3) Ellie is in the process of selling 33 collectible dolls. The first week she sells 12 dolls. The second week she sells another 7 dolls. How many dolls remain?
a. 21
b. 13
c. 14
d. 28
e. 24
(WorkKeys Practice Test – Applied Math Level 3 - https://workkeyspracticetest.com/quizzes/applied-math-level-3/)
[v] Graduation
Guidelines, Menu of Options and College-Ready Demonstrations, CDE, https://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/graduationguidelinesmenuofoptionspdf
[vi]
From AV #295 (Jan. 2025):
A school leader in District
27J explained their reluctance: “The Capstones I’ve seen only
required a signature from a department chair, who reviews the classes the
student had taken and passed in high school, and said that was enough to ‘earn’
the student a passing mark.” This long-time educator asked the question for me:
“Are the students prepared for college? No.” And added: “I want some proof.”
[vii]
From AV #295 (Jan. 2025)
Roaring Fork expects students to produce a Capstone project, and yet, as the district’s former Superintendent Rob Stein wrote me, it is “not a measure of graduation readiness.” Instead, it is a course requirement. He expanded: “Our capstone was a way for students to demonstrate that they could identify a question or goal of their own choosing, pursue it with some discipline, and present their learning to an appropriate audience. So it was a demonstration of the kind of college readiness that schools mostly avoid: figuring out what you're interested in and going for it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment