denver

I summarized results in a blog post http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2011/08/09/joining-the-mile-high-club/

Colorado has a very user friendly data system that makes it easy for anyone (except the Denver media, apparently) to mess around and find all the stats they need. The system is called SchoolVIEW, and it is very cool, with 3-D bubble representing the data. When I sorted by ethnicity, I was able to burst the bubbles pretty quickly:

https://edx.cde.state.co.us/growth_model/public/index.htm#/year-2011/district-0880/ethnicities/subject-writing

https://edx.cde.state.co.us/growth_model/public/index.htm#/year-2011/district-0880/ethnicities/subject-math

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/documents/csap/csap_summary.html

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18608680?source=rss

Typical growth is between 35% and 65% http://www.schoolview.org/GMFAQ.asp

Scores released for the final year of Colorado Student Assessment Program testing showed student performance was mostly flat. Reading scores declined slightly for all grade levels except for third grade in 2011 testing. Math scores increased slightly. Science scores were almost unchanged. The greatest improvements were logged in writing, where fourth graders improved by 6 percentage points this year over last. Now, 56 percent of fourth graders are proficient or advanced in writing. In reading this year, 73 percent of third graders scored at least proficient compared to 70 percent of students last year. CSAP is designed to measure what percent of students in a grade and district have scored proficient or better in reading, writing, math and science. It also shows a school and district’s growth in proficiency in reading, writing and math and how many students who have not achieved proficiency are on pace to be proficient in three years or when they reach the 10th grade.

 Read more: [|Colorado Student Assessment Program - The Denver Post] []  Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18612745

State test scores released Wednesday showed Denver Public Schools kept up a six-year growth trend in math, science and writing — but not in reading. This year, DPS students taking the Colorado Student Assessment Program had a 39 percent proficiency rate in writing, 41 percent proficiency in math and 28 percent proficiency in science. Reading-proficiency scores dropped by 1 percentage point to 49 percent districtwide. All of the scores remain below average compared with state proficiency levels, but the growth shown in DPS outpaces the state.


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 * Dear Colleagues:

Over the course of this week, I’m going to be sharing with you some encouraging news about the student-achievement trends across our district that you have been leading. I want to thank you for your hard work and dedication. You have much to be proud of in the successes and growth of our students.

As you know, the Colorado Department of Education has released results ofthe 2011 Colorado Student Assessment Program, and for the third consecutive year our students citywide have posted growth scores at or above the state median in all subjects. We saw the greatest growth in writing, jumping four points on the state assessments, and our schools recorded gains in math for the eighth consecutive year. (Click here to watch a 9News story on our CSAP results.) Also, we continue to see significant progress in middle schools across the city, which I’ll share more details about later in the week.

Most important is the strong academic growth gains our students continue to show. According to the metriccaptured in the Colorado Growth Model, Denver Public Schools has over the last two years been one of the top three districts among the 15 metro-area districts for student growth, along with Cherry Creek and Littleton. As you can see by the chart below, in the six years of the Denver Plan, we have dramatically increased the academic growth of our students, going from near last among metro districts to first in terms of year-to-year progress. This year, our median growth scores remained high for the third consecutive year: math, 54; writing, 53; and reading 52.



Since the start of the Denver Plan reforms in 2005, the district has posted proficiency gains that far outpace the state’s. Math proficiency has jumped by 12 points, while the rest of the state has increased 4 points; reading has gone up 9 points in DPS, while it has gone up just 1 point in the rest of the state; the Denver science score has increased by 8 points, while the rest of the state’s has fallen 3 points; and DPS’s writing score has jumped 9 points, while the rest of the state has remained flat.



It is worth comparing the progress during these six years to the six prior years (from 1999-2005) to show how much stronger our progress has been since the start of the Denver Plan.



While we celebrate the gains on state assessments, we know they are only one measure of student growth. State-assessment data does tell us how our students are in doing in the core subjects of reading, writing, math, and science, and it’s a strong, though hardly foolproof, predictor of future academic success.

We need to dig much deeper than standardized tests, however, to get a complete picture of how well we’re serving our students. We need to make sure we’re challenging our students, increasing rigor while also providing the support they need to succeed and be prepared for college and a career. That’s what makes our post-secondary progress as encouraging as the CSAP results. We’ve increased, for example, our graduating class by 30% since the start of the Denver Plan in 2005, and the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses has more than doubled over that time.

We also care deeply about enriching our students’ creativity, problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. That is why there is such an emphasis in our LEAP system on engaging the whole child and leading classrooms that foster these skills. As a parent, I care deeply about my three children’s opportunities in the arts, literature and in creative fields, and I know how much parents throughout Denver value the richness of your classrooms.

The signs of progress are clear, and they extend far beyond the test data released last week. At the same time, it is clear we have much farther to go, and we need to accelerate our Denver Plan reforms to reach our shared goals of erasing the achievement gaps we have and getting all of our students well prepared for success in college and a career.

//Best,// //Tom// ||

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