Chalkbeat

As Colorado’s district-run schools shrink and charters grow, their demographics are converging

2025-04-01T19:57:06+00:00

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The number of students in Colorado public schools is declining. But enrollment in Colorado’s publicly funded, privately run charter schools is heading in the opposite direction.

Charter schools enroll approximately 136,220 students this year, up nearly 13% from 120,740 students in 2017, according to numbers from the Colorado Department of Education. In that same period, district-run schools had a 5.6% decline in enrollment. And altogether, the state’s total public school enrollment shrank 3%. The number of charter schools is up too, from 250 schools in 2017 to 262 this year.

The vast majority of Colorado’s approximately 880,000 public school students — 85% — still attend public schools run by school districts. But the trend of rising charter school enrollment, even as total enrollment drops, shows that more families are interested in and ultimately choosing charter schools, which sometimes have unique models or programming.

As charter school enrollment increases nationwide, tensions can rise between district-run schools and their teachers unions on one side, and charter schools and their parents on the other over student enrollment and the funding that comes with it. Critics have wondered if allowing new charter schools, especially in communities with declining overall enrollment, could lead more district-run schools to shrink dramatically or close.

In some cases, school districts are feeling the pressure to diversify their own options, reimagining schools, or creating new magnet schools, or themed programming, though often with fewer resources to do so.

Colorado was one of the first states to pass a law allowing charter schools. School choice, or the ability for students to apply to attend any public school in the state, has also been protected by state law for decades. And while a ballot measure that would have enshrined a child’s right to school choice in the state constitution failed in November, its supporters may bring it back.

Charter school fans say families are looking for more choices and different models of learning that can keep children engaged. In some cases, families are following programming that has been cut from district-run schools.

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People want “more options out of public education. It’s a fact that was exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Dan Schaller, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. “That is ultimately what charter schools represent.”

But to critics, charter school growth represents a threat to district-run schools. That threat is especially big because charter schools can raise money from wealthy donors to help market their schools and recruit students, opponents say.

“I just think there’s a false narrative that our public schools are failing,” said Judy Solano, chair of Advocates for Public Education Policy, a Colorado advocacy group. “But it’s a matter of unequal resources and marketing. Many of our larger chain charters are funded by very large wealthy families.”

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would add new financial reporting requirements about district-run and charter schools’ private funding, money they spend on marketing, and their teacher salaries.

Some have also criticized charter schools for not always serving populations of higher needs students such as students with disabilities like district-run public schools do. A state rule change in 2022 makes it more clear that charter schools can’t ask about disabilities in enrollment applications.

But as more students enroll in Colorado charter schools, their student demographics are moving closer to matching those of district-run schools, data shows.

Charter schools now serve the same percentage of English learners as district-run schools. In addition, more than 50% of students in both types of schools identify as students of color. Charter schools reached that percentage last year, while district-run schools reached it this year.

But district-operated schools are still more likely to enroll students with disabilities than charters. And charters remain less likely to enroll children from low-income families, although that gap is closing.

Some charter schools cater to unique interests

There are many reasons why a new charter school might open and why students might choose it. Sometimes, as in Park County, it’s a matter of variety and geography.

The South Park County Re-2 school district only has one elementary school and one that combines middle and high school grades. There are also two charter schools. But for people in some parts of the district, such as Fairplay, those choices are about an hour’s drive away.

It was top of mind when Laurel Dumas left her job as principal of a district-run school and decided to create a new micro charter school focused on outdoor learning. High Rockies Community School will open next fall.

“A lot of people live here to be outdoors and enjoy skiing and doing outdoor activities, and people wanted the same for their kids,” Dumas said.

The High Rockies program calls for multi-age classrooms, students collaborating on projects, and learning from the community. Each day will start with outdoor activities.

“It looks like recess at first, but then you see the kids are playing whatever they’re learning,” Dumas said. “If they’re learning about the beaver ecosystem, suddenly there’s 15 beavers running around.”

The school is currently testing out some of its programming through a homeschool enrichment program. High Rockies already has 31 students enrolled for next year and has started a waitlist.

Dumas said that the school’s unique model is attracting teachers to the area. Schaller, in turn, also pointed to other charter school models in Colorado that focus on topics like aerospace and agriculture.

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“In my experience being a principal in a rural area, we were lucky if we got enough applicants for the positions we had,” Dumas said. But now, she said, “we’re able to find people who fit the model” because “we’re working on something we really believe in.”

High Rockies Community School was not authorized by the South Park County school district like the other two existing charters in the area, but by a state agency called the Charter School Institute, or CSI. While most charter schools are authorized by the school district in which they’re located, CSI can authorize charters when districts are unsure how to support a charter, or uninterested in doing so.

Dumas said she wanted the support of CSI, which has more experience to support her small school.

CSI has also expanded and now authorizes more schools. Its 46 charter schools enrolled more than 21,000 students this year, an increase of over 20% from 2017.

Some worry charters can lead to school closures

As charter enrollment rises and total student population falls, school districts that authorize charter schools can face especially tough decisions.

Of Colorado districts that authorized charter schools in both 2017 and 2024, 76% saw enrollment decrease in their district-run schools in that time period. Only 63% of districts that don’t authorize charters saw enrollment decrease.

Some parents and district officials have questioned whether it’s wise to authorize new charter schools when enrollment is declining.

School board members in Jeffco Public Schools lamented in 2016 that they were not able to reject the application for a new charter school, Great Work Montessori, due to concerns that the school would not enroll enough students to be financially viable.

Great Work Montessori opened in 2017. But it closed in 2023 due to low enrollment and the district’s concerns about its performance.

Months earlier, the board had voted to close 16 district-run schools for low enrollment, including a couple just miles from the charter school.

Charter school enrollment in Jeffco has declined since 2017, but not as much as enrollment in district-run schools. In the 2017-18 school year, Jeffco charter schools enrolled 9,763 students. That enrollment is down to 9,236 in the current school year.

In the same period, enrollment in district-run schools has declined more than 13%, down to 66,259. Last year, the district closed another school but worked with a charter school to have it take over serving the community.

Denver Public Schools is also closing district-run schools for low enrollment. Charter schools in Denver have been affected by declining student counts, too.

Earlier this year, Denver’s GALS all-girls charter school — which focuses on physical education — announced it would close its high school grades, after enrollment in them fell to just 58 students.

At least 14 other Denver charter schools have closed in the past seven years, most because of declining enrollment. Without “sufficient demand,” said Schaller of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, “the finances are not going to be there either.”

In Douglas County, enrollment is growing in some parts of the district but falling in others. That has sparked debate about how to serve students in the parts of the district that are growing.

As in other districts, the number of Douglas County families choosing charters is rising. Enrollment in Douglas County charter schools is 16,445 students, about 1,200 students more than in 2017. Over the same period, overall enrollment in district-run schools has fallen by about 6,900 students to 45,406.

Now, there’s concern that the growing Sterling Ranch neighborhood won’t be able to support both a charter and a district-run school. A new district-run school is expected to open in that area in the fall of 2027. But some residents are concerned that the John Adams Academy charter school may open there first.

Douglas County parent Suzanne Collins said she’s not against charter schools. Her daughter actually attends one, because it was where Collins could find full day preschool in 2019. But she worries that the projections for the number of students in Sterling Ranch, where she lives, won’t be enough to allow the two schools to be sustainable.

“I believe charter schools and neighborhood schools can both thrive when they’re part of a thoughtful, coordinated district plan that ensures high-quality education for all students,” Collins said. “In this case, I’m concerned that the JAA proposal could undermine our long-awaited neighborhood school before it even opens.”

Sixth graders listen to a math lesson at Vega Collegiate Academy in Aurora during a September 2018 class.

Charters, district schools can coexist well, some say

Not all parents or school districts see charter schools as adversaries.

Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Michael Giles said that charter schools are part of the district’s “portfolio of learning opportunities.”

Total enrollment in Aurora Public Schools has been going up since the 2021-22 school year and the number of students is close to what it was pre-pandemic. But even before that, when the district was losing students, charter schools were expanding in the area.

While charter school growth wasn’t enough to offset overall district enrollment declines, Giles said that from his district’s standpoint, “it’s always great when we can keep our kids in our community.”

In the fall of 2017, Aurora charter schools served 5,073 students. That figure rose to 6,530 students in the fall of 2023, before declining for the first time in eight years because a charter school closed.

As charter schools grew in Aurora, the district decided to diversify its own options.

The strategic facilities plan the district voted on in 2019 called for expanding thematic magnet programs to provide in-house school choices. That part of the plan came in response to communities asking for more choice.

One of the envisioned schools is opening next fall, a health and sciences high school near the Anschutz medical campus. It will be the district’s sixth magnet school. The district is working on a new facilities plan, but it’s unclear how it will handle magnets.

Vega Collegiate Academy is one of the Aurora charter schools that has grown rapidly. The school this year serves 583 students, up from 310 in the fall of 2020 and 96 in 2017, its first year.

Executive Director Kate Mullins said that growth stems from her staff’s work during the COVID shutdowns, when they made weekly deliveries to families and were able to retain most students.

Then two years ago, when there was concern that enrollment was going to decline, she spent $50,000 paying staff to go out canvassing. Staff, along with some volunteers, ended up recruiting 140 students from the neighborhood that summer.

Many of the families they encountered were new immigrants who responded to Vega’s free busing to the school, free school supplies, before- and after-school care, a four-day school week with optional Saturday school, and shorter summer breaks.

“For our families, that provides a lot of consistency,” Mullins said.

The school didn’t have to spend much of its $50,000 marketing budget last year, because many of those migrant families spread the word to other newly arriving families, she said.

“The kids are there,” Mullins said. “They just have to believe you’re the right place for them.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Kae Petrin is a data & graphics reporter who covers data related to K-12 education, voting rights, and public health for Civic News Company. Contact them at kpetrin@chalkbeat.org.

Legisladores están considerando cambios al sistema de calificación de escuelas de Colorado

2025-03-20T22:35:16+00:00

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Los legisladores de Colorado están proponiendo cambios significativos en el sistema de rendición de cuentas de las escuelas del estado. Muchas de las recomendaciones provienen de un grupo de trabajo que trabajó durante más de un año en sugerencias para mejorar el sistema.

Sin embargo, algunos de los cambios propuestos van más allá de las recomendaciones del grupo de trabajo. Uno de ellos otorgaría más opciones a la Junta Estatal de Educación al decidir qué hacer con las escuelas y distritos que no han mostrado mejoras académicas en más de cinco años.

El proyecto de ley que propone estos cambios, Proyecto de Ley de la Cámara 1278, tuvo su primera audiencia en el Comité de Educación de la Cámara la semana pasada. Sin embargo, el comité decidió posponer la votación, ya que se espera que gran parte del lenguaje del proyecto de ley cambie.

Esto se debe, en parte, a que la estimación fiscal inicial del proyecto calcula que los cambios propuestos costarían al estado casi 18 millones de dólares en tres años, en un momento en el que los legisladores están tratando de recortar aproximadamente 1,000 millones de dólares del presupuesto estatal de este año.

Pero también es porque diversos grupos aún están presionando para que se realicen modificaciones.

Actualmente, el sistema de rendición de cuentas de las escuelas del estado, en uso desde 2009, se basa principalmente en los resultados de las pruebas estandarizadas para calificar el desempeño de las escuelas y distritos. A las escuelas secundarias también se les califica en función de sus tasas de graduación y de cuántos estudiantes continúan con estudios postsecundarios.

Las escuelas pueden recibir una de cuatro calificaciones, mientras que los distritos pueden recibir una de cinco. La ley requiere que la Junta Estatal de Educación intervenga cuando un distrito o escuela ha recibido cinco años consecutivos de bajas calificaciones. Sin embargo, la Junta Estatal tiene opciones limitadas, como: cerrar una escuela, convertir una escuela autónoma o comunitaria otorgar estatus de innovación, que permite a una escuela o grupo de escuelas obtener exenciones de leyes estatales o contratos sindicales y probar nuevos enfoques. El estado también puede ordenar a una escuela o distrito que entregue la gestión a un grupo externo, o puede despojar a los distritos o escuelas de su acreditación.

Un nuevo lenguaje que está siendo redactado en una enmienda de 12 páginas permitiría a los distritos que han llegado a este límite de cinco años “tomar otras acciones comparables o que tengan un impacto más significativo… según lo propuesto por el distrito escolar”.

“Las acciones incluyen, pero no se limitan a, contratar a un socio de gestión externa, utilizar contratistas o recursos proporcionados por el departamento, involucrar a distritos escolares para trabajar juntos en el monitoreo del progreso y brindar asistencia, o rediseñar completamente la escuela”, establece el borrador de la enmienda.

El grupo de trabajo estuvo unánime en sus 30 recomendaciones, la mayoría de las cuales están reflejadas en el proyecto de ley propuesto. Sin embargo, el informe del grupo de trabajo, publicado en noviembre, no mencionó cambiar las acciones que el estado puede tomar cuando una escuela o distrito alcanza cinco años de bajas calificaciones, también conocido como “el final del reloj”.

La representante Meghan Lukens, una de las patrocinadoras del proyecto y demócrata de Steamboat Springs, además de maestra, dijo que el grupo de trabajo tenía el objetivo de dar más flexibilidad a las escuelas y distritos. Otros líderes involucrados en la redacción del proyecto de ley argumentan que la enmienda está relacionada con una de las recomendaciones del grupo de trabajo para “apoyar a las escuelas y distritos que buscan soluciones audaces para mejorar”. Sin embargo, el informe del grupo de trabajo explica esta recomendación como una sugerencia para que el estado proporcione más financiamiento para esfuerzos de mejora en los distritos.

Entre quienes testificaron en la audiencia de la semana pasada, algunos se opusieron al proyecto, argumentando que el sistema de rendición de cuentas sigue siendo injusto y que las escuelas siguen sin recibir fondos suficientes. No obstante, la mayoría de los líderes educativos que testificaron se mostraron a favor de los cambios, aunque algunos pidieron modificaciones adicionales.

“El borrador actual tiene un gran potencial, pero su expansión y énfasis en las pruebas estandarizadas es simplemente insensible,” dijo Kara Smallwood, patóloga del habla y una de varias educadoras que testificaron en nombre de la Asociación de Educación de Colorado (CEA, por sus siglas en inglés). “Si bien la intención es buena, pedimos a las compañías de pruebas, legisladores y padres que nos escuchen cuando decimos que duplicar las pruebas estandarizadas no mejora la experiencia de los estudiantes en la escuela ni su preparación para el futuro.”

El presidente de la CEA, Kevin Vick, dijo a los legisladores que el sindicato apoya modificar el proyecto de ley para garantizar que el estado no incremente las pruebas estandarizadas y que la retención de maestros sea una prioridad.

El abogado del distrito Adams 14, Joe Salazar, exlegislador, dijo al comité de educación de la Cámara de Representantes que su distrito ha sido tratado como un experimento dentro del sistema de rendición de cuentas.

Adams 14 es el único distrito en el estado que ha recibido bajas calificaciones durante más de una década, lo que ha activado las sanciones más severas del sistema.

La administración anterior del distrito desafió las órdenes estatales y logró que el estado retirara una solicitud para reorganizar el distrito, lo que podría haber significado su disolución o la fusión con distritos vecinos. Los distritos vecinos se unieron a Adams 14 para rechazar la orden estatal.

Ahora, los líderes del distrito dicen que están logrando mayores avances trabajando en colaboración con el estado, en lugar de enfrentarse a él, aunque las calificaciones aún no han mejorado.

“Lo que hemos soportado desde 2018 ha sido punitivo y contraproducente,” dijo Jason Malmberg, presidente del sindicato de maestros de Adams 14. “Ha creado caos en un sistema ya vulnerable.”

Malmberg elogió la enmienda L6, que agrega nuevas opciones para distritos al final del reloj, diciendo que representa “un paso importante hacia adelante” en el sistema de rendición de cuentas.

Otros cambios propuestos en el Proyecto de Ley 1278

Traducción de pruebas estandarizadas a otros idiomas o adopción de pruebas en otros idiomas para estudiantes que aún no dominan el inglés. Este componente del proyecto de ley es el más costoso, con un costo estimado de hasta 4 millones de dólares en el primer año. Se está redactando una enmienda para reducir este requisito y abaratar costos.
Mayor énfasis en la participación en pruebas estatales, aclarando cómo las escuelas y distritos pueden fomentar la participación de los estudiantes y requiriendo que la información enviada a los hogares incluya declaraciones del estado sobre la importancia de tomar las pruebas.
Estudio sobre la eficacia de los socios de gestión externa, para evaluar su impacto y determinar qué necesitan para ser efectivos.
Creación de un “super subgrupo” que agrupe a estudiantes con discapacidades, aprendices de inglés y estudiantes de bajos ingresos para que las escuelas sean evaluadas por ellos solo una vez.
Planes de mejora en el “final del reloj” que incluyan estrategias financieras.
Nuevos requisitos para obtener la calificación de “distinción”, asegurando que ningún subgrupo de estudiantes tenga el nivel más bajo de desempeño en ninguna categoría.

Traducido por Rossana Longo-Better, Colorado Community Media

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Comuníquese con Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers are drafting a bill to change the state’s school ratings system

2025-03-19T02:18:19+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers are proposing big changes to the state’s school accountability system. Many of the recommendations come from a task force that worked for over a year on suggestions for how to improve the system.

But some of the proposed changes go further than the task force recommendations. One would give the State Board of Education more options when deciding what to do with schools and districts that have failed to show academic improvement for more than five years.

A bill proposing the changes, House Bill 1278, had its first hearing in the House Education Committee last week. But the committee held off on voting, because so much of the bill’s language is expected to change.

In part that’s because the bill’s initial fiscal note estimates the proposed changes would cost the state almost $18 million over three years, at a time when lawmakers are struggling to cut about $1 billion from this year’s state’s budget.

But it’s also because various groups are still pushing for changes.

Currently, the state’s school accountability system, in use since 2009, mostly uses standardized test scores to rate schools and districts. High schools are also rated on their graduation rates and on how many students move on to postsecondary options.

Schools can earn one of four ratings, while districts can earn one of five. The law requires the State Board of Education to step in when a district or school has reached five years of low ratings, but the State Board is limited to ordering changes that include: closing a school, turning a school into a charter school or community school, or granting innovation status, which allows a school or group of schools to get waivers from state laws or union contracts and try new approaches. The state can also order a school or district to turn over management to an external group, or can strip districts or schools of accreditation.

New language being drafted in a 12-page amendment would allow districts that have reached this five-year point to instead “take other actions that are comparable or that have a more significant effect…as proposed by the school district.”

“Actions include, but are not limited to, contracting with an external management partner, using contractors or resources provided by the department, engaging school districts to work together to monitor progress and provide assistance, or comprehensive school redesign,” the amendment draft states.

The task force was unanimous in its 30 recommendations, which are mostly all reflected in the proposed bill. But the task force report, published in November, didn’t mention changing the allowable state actions for when a school or district has reached five years of low ratings, also known as the end of “the clock.”

Here’s how a task force suggests changing the way schools and districts are rated in Colorado

Rep. Meghan Lukens, one of the bill sponsors who is a Democrat from Steamboat Springs and also a teacher, said that the task force did have a goal of giving schools and districts more flexibility. Other leaders involved in drafting the bill say the amendment is related to one of the task force recommendations to “support schools and districts pursuing bold solutions to turnaround.” But the report from the task force explains that recommendation as suggesting the state provide more funding for more district improvement efforts.

Among those who spoke at the hearing last week, a few were opposed to the bill, stating that the accountability system is still inequitable and that schools are still underfunded, while most education leaders who spoke were in favor of the changes. Some asked for a few more.

“The current draft shows significant promise but its expansion of and emphasis on standardized testing is simply tone deaf,” said Kara Smallwood, a speech language pathologist who was one of several educators to speak on behalf of the Colorado Education Association. “While well intentioned, we urge testing companies, legislators, and parents to hear us when we say that doubling down on standardized testing does not improve students’ experience in school nor their preparedness for the future.”

CEA President Kevin Vick told lawmakers that the union supports amending the bill to ensure that the state doesn’t double down on testing, and that teacher retention is a focus.

Vick also said they are working with bill sponsors on amendments so the system “prioritizes community-led approaches over more punitive state-led actions such as mass firings, use of external managers or other things that devalue the efforts of the people in our respective districts on the clock.”

Adams 14 lawyer and former lawmaker Joe Salazar told the House education committee last week that the Adams 14 district has felt like the state’s guinea pig for the accountability system.

Adams 14 is the only district in the state that has earned low ratings for more than a decade, triggering all of the system’s most severe consequences.

The latest district administration pushed back against state orders and managed to get the state to back off a request that the district reorganize, which could have meant dissolving the district or merging parts of it with neighboring districts. The neighboring districts united with Adams 14 in rejecting the state order.

Now, district leaders say they are making better progress working with the state in a collaborative relationship, as opposed to an adversarial one, but state ratings have yet to improve.

“What we have endured since 2018 has been punitive and counterproductive,” Jason Malmberg, Adams 14 teacher union president, told the committee. “It created chaos in an already vulnerable system.”

Malmberg spoke of the amendment, titled L6, adding new options for schools and districts at the end of the clock, saying that it takes “an important step forward,” by shifting the focus of the accountability system.

“I urge you to learn from the mistakes of the past,” Malmberg said.

The current draft of the bill also proposes, as recommended by the task force, translating standardized tests into other languages, or adopting tests in other languages, for students who are still not fluent in English.

This component of the bill is the most expensive, estimated at possibly $4 million in the first year alone.

An amendment is being drafted to narrow the requirement and lower the cost.

Another part of the bill requires the state to do more to encourage participation in state tests, by clarifying how schools and districts can encourage students to take the test, and by requiring that information sent home include statements from the state about the importance of taking the test.

Colorado’s annual performance ratings show more schools, districts earning better marks

Here are some of the other changes proposed by HB 1278:

Requiring a study on the effectiveness of external management partners, which are consultants the state has required districts to hire to help improve achievement, and the return on investment they offer to districts. The study would also need to look at what is necessary for the consultants to be successful, and the department of education would need to create a list of groups qualified to work as external managers.
Students who fall into subgroups such as students with disabilities, English learners, or those who qualify for free and reduced price lunch should be combined into one “super subgroup,” so schools are only evaluated for them once.
Requiring the department of education to look for early indicators of distress to provide support earlier to schools and districts before they have five years of low ratings.
Requiring that improvement plans toward the end of the clock include financial plans.
The State Board would have to adopt new requirements for what school districts must do to earn a distinction rating, the highest performance rating available, including that none of the disaggregated student groups can have the lowest “does not meet” result in any performance category.
Requiring that if a district earns an insufficient rating due to low participation for three years in a row, it must submit a corrective action plan to the state.
Requires various studies for future changes to the accountability system including adjusting weights of the different factors evaluated, changing the labels for each rating, and increasing equity.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Students should feel safe in schools: State Board passes resolution wading into immigration debate

2025-03-12T22:01:55+00:00

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Colorado State Board of Education members on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution signaling their support for students to feel safe in schools.

The board rarely votes on resolutions making a statement but the chair wanted to give members a chance to speak out. The resolution comes as school districts around the country are grappling with how to respond to the Trump administration crackdown on immigration and its impact on students.

First discussed in February, the resolution was amended multiple times by both Democratic and Republican board members in an attempt to find language that everyone agreed on.

As the board debated the language of the resolution, members argued about getting into political statements and the merits of immigration policies or actions. At one point, two Republican board members discussed the usage of illegal immigrant as opposed to the term illegal alien in a piece of language that failed.

The final approved resolution states that the board is “committed to supporting public schools to ensure that all students feel safe and supported in schools” and is “aware that Colorado schools serve diverse communities who may feel worried or uncertain about the safety of their students.”

“We should be advocating across the political spectrum to ensure that our schools are safe places where learning is not disrupted,” the resolution states.

State Board Chair Rebecca McClellan, who represents Aurora, one of the targets of federal immigration raids last month, introduced the resolution, saying she wanted to give the board an opportunity to speak in a unified voice “to affirm the right of every Colorado student to receive a free public education.”

The resolution also made a point of tying that affirmation to the state’s recent goals of improving attendance and reducing the number of students who are chronically absent as a way to help student achievement rise.

Some district leaders, including in Denver and Jeffco, have discussed attendance rates dropping in certain schools as they see some immigrant families afraid to leave their homes because of fears of encountering immigration enforcement agents. Local school districts have also passed resolutions in support of immigrant students, often with more direct language, but also with more authority to enact local policies on how schools will respond if immigration agents show up at a school.

The state board does not have much authority over such decisions, and so its resolution is more of a symbolic gesture.

McClellan thanked the board for having a professional discussion despite disagreements.

One amendment that was successful was introduced by Republican State Board member Kristi Burton Brown, who wanted to add a line that also signaled support for law enforcement.

“We support the actions of law enforcement to remove violent criminals from Colorado and, in so doing, making our school children safer when they walk to school and back home,” the final language of that amendment reads.

“The arrests we have seen happen in Colorado are of violent criminals, the arrests we have seen across the nation are of violent criminals who are endangering our children on their way to and from school,” Burton Brown said. “Violent criminals should be taken off of our streets if they are here illegally and so I think that my suggested amendment is coming from a bipartisan standpoint that’s saying if we want our kids to be safe in school we should want them to also be safe on their way to and from school.”

Some board members opposed the language saying that violent criminals exist in any group, and some of the immigration enforcement actions have instead been blanket door-to-door raids. Nationally, the raids have swept up many people with no criminal record.

The amendment passed with three board members opposed, but was not an obstacle for board members approving the final resolution.

State Board member Kathy Plomer, who represents areas of Thornton that were also targeted last month when federal immigration raids were conducted in Denver and Aurora, also introduced an amendment that would have acknowledged the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a decades-long policy that treated schools as sensitive or protected locations where immigration enforcement could only take place if there was an immediate danger to the public.

Aurora teachers provide a glimpse into their classrooms on the day of immigration raids

Her amendment would have read: “We’re aware that Colorado schools serve diverse communities who feel worried or uncertain about the safety of their students based on the removal of schools as protected spaces and recent neighborhood immigration enforcement activities.”

But Republican board members said they would not support the resolution with that language because it felt overly political.

State Board member Burton Brown said she felt the removal of any protected spaces where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was blocked from entering to remove “someone including those who are violent criminals” was a good thing that made students safer.

State Board member Steve Durham said that if the board was going to open the door to be political by introducing such resolutions, he had in mind several more political resolutions he could introduce soon.

Plomer said her amendment was intended to add clarity so school districts knew that the State Board understood what had changed to make them deal with this issue now.

But, in the end, she said having a bipartisan statement was more important and revoked the amendment.

“I don’t want to just create chaos that’s not doing anything, and getting in the way of something that I hope could be productive, and a statement from this board, that we want kids to come to school and feel safe,” Plomer said.

State Board member Yazmin Navarro, also a Republican, thanked Plomer.

“I think it’s amazing that you want to work with everyone on the board and that you’re willing to do that. That’s hard,” Navarro said. “It goes back to the idea that everyone’s sentiment has been across the board that we’re all here for students.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado teachers need help teaching English learners to read. The state wants more training.

2025-03-12T02:59:14+00:00

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While Colorado is seeing some improvement in reading instruction, some students continue to struggle.

As a result, the Colorado Department of Education is seeking $3.3 million in the 2025-26 education budget to create new training for teachers to teach English learners to read. It would be used to help teachers differentiate instruction for those students.

State officials say it’s a common request they’ve heard from the field.

English learners advocates have raised concerns for years about how literacy instruction policies affect students who are simultaneously learning English as a new language. Recently, academic achievement data has raised more concerns about how English learner students are performing. And, a recent national study published last month found that many teachers are unhappy with guidance on how to teach reading to English learners.

“Teachers want to more deeply understand how to support this group of students and we want to provide them with that training,” said Joanna Bruno, CDE chief academic officer.

It’s not about teaching something different from what science of reading research tells teachers is effective, Bruno said. The science of reading is a large body of research on how children learn to read that emphasizes teaching phonics, or the relationships between letters and sounds.

Rather, Bruno said it’s about providing additional support so that students get more practice with the language to develop their vocabulary, learn the meaning of the words they are decoding, and also get more opportunities to write, and hear the pronunciation of words and sentences.

“It needs to be an active classroom,” Bruno said.

In the current school year, about 12% of Colorado’s public school students, or more than 105,000 students, are identified as either having limited or no English proficiency, an increase from previous years.

Report says teachers face challenges in the classroom

Similar teacher needs are represented in the new nationwide survey of 77 teachers published last month by the National Committee for Effective Literacy. Co-authors Kathy Escamilla and Kim Strong, both researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, said they wanted to get an idea by asking teachers how science of reading polices and statutes were being implemented in classrooms with English learners.

Researchers found that, in many places, phonics literacy requirements are encroaching or replacing the required time for English language development, and that materials are not culturally inclusive or relevant.

But, Claude Goldenberg, another English learner researcher who wasn’t involved in the study, said that the published report was concerning, unclear, and that it appeared biased, in part because teachers were recruited for interviews at the conferences hosted by the same English learner advocacy groups that criticize new phonics-based reading instruction policies.

Goldenberg said he agrees that reading policies are inadequate in addressing the needs of English learners, but that the report doesn’t allow for a clear takeaway on the problem at the root of teacher experiences.

“The issues they identify, is that the fault of the science of reading, or the science, the knowledge, what we know? Or is it the fault of superficial and inadequate understanding of that knowledge base and how it’s being implemented?” Goldenberg said. “We don’t know what to do with it.”

Escamilla said the report isn’t meant to be critical of the science.

Instead she believes there is likely a gap between theory and practice. She said advocates in Colorado have asked lawmakers to reconsider reworking the state’s statute directing reading instruction.

She said if lawmakers can agree, “this isn’t what we had in mind, the kids aren’t getting what they need, they’re spending too much time doing this and not enough time doing that,” then, “help us craft a statewide policy that is more friendly and more equitable to what kids need.”

The state has responded to feedback

Bruno said the department hears similar feedback from Colorado teachers. She said the department is trying to help districts understand that literacy instruction should not replace English language development time for students learning English as a new language or other academic courses.

In Colorado, English learner researchers, including some involved in the recent survey report, called on state officials to make changes in 2020, worrying that as the state drilled down on science of reading that it would mean a phonics-only focus that would harm English learners.

Since then, the department responded by creating specific guidance for school districts about how to implement literacy instruction for students learning English as a new language, created a rubric to evaluate Spanish-language literacy materials, and hired a liaison to help the department’s different offices work together to think more about multilingual learners.

The department also created a series of professional development courses to help teachers understand more about biliteracy, and started a new State of the State report that looks at how English learners are performing, as a way to more closely monitor and find best practices.

“It’s baby steps,” Escamilla said. “We fought hard in Colorado, but well, the outcomes speak for themselves. We have some real things we need to work on with regard to how we’re looking at outcomes for kids who are learning English as an additional language.”

Education department budget request documents cite the most recent external evaluation of the program from October 2024, which found bright spots in how the READ Act is working, including that the number of students newly identified as having a significant reading deficiency has decreased to 4.7% of students. The READ Act is a Colorado law, first passed in 2012 updated since, that makes certain requirements of school districts related to reading instruction.

However, English learners continue to be over-represented among students with a significant reading deficiency, according to the budget request. And, students who have a significant reading deficiency identified between kindergarten and third grade, have “extraordinarily low” rates of proficiency on literacy tests.

Those numbers suggest, “a need to emphasize increased training on strategies to support ELLs alongside their English speaking peers,” the budget request stated.

At a hearing last week to discuss the budget request, State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, a Republican representing Weld and Larimer counties, questioned when to decide that funding reading programs isn’t working.

Amanda Bickel, the budget analyst speaking to the joint budget committee, responded that staff would like to see if more training might have an impact on outcomes before they decide that millions spent on reading initiatives aren’t working.

“You have put in a lot of effort so far,” said Bickel, chief legislative analyst.

The legislative staff recommended that the line item be approved if money remained after using COVID relief funds this year.

The committee approved the recommendation for the $3.3 million request, contingent on money remaining, by a 3 to 2 vote.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Bill to beef up Colorado funding for universal school meals passes first vote

2025-03-07T03:25:11+00:00

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A bill that would ask voters to approve new funding for universal school meals passed its first vote from Colorado lawmakers Thursday, following testimony from people like Martha Espinoza.

Espinoza, a mom and home early child care provider in Greeley, told lawmakers at the capitol before the vote that free school meals for all students has been important for families she knows.

There are parents who have to wake up before dawn and spend an hour getting to work by 4 a.m. and then work 12-hour shifts every day. For them, preparing meals that stay fresh during the day for their children is complicated, she said.

“This proposal would help parents have the security that their children are fed in a healthy way while they’re learning,” Espinoza said.

She was one of about 30 people who supported the bill in public testimony. Many said that the Healthy School Meals for All program providing universal meals removes the stigma for students, because accepting the meals does not mean they come from low-income families. Educators said that students miss less school and learn better when they’re not hungry. Many who testified spoke to lawmakers in Spanish. Some held back tears as they talked. Two speakers did testify against the bill, citing costs and food waste.

In 2022, Colorado voters approved a ballot proposal to make breakfast and lunch free for all students regardless of family income. The program was funded by lowering a tax credit for taxpayers making more than $300,000 a year, meaning they pay more in taxes.

But many more students than the state projected are eating the subsidized school meals. That means the cost has also gone up and has led legislators to look for more funding.

HB 1274 — sponsored by two Democrats, Rep. Lorena García and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet — would put two questions to voters this November.

The first would ask voters if the state can keep all of the revenue it collected for the program in its first full year being in effect. That’s because the state ended up collecting more than expected. Under Colorado’s TABOR law, the state must ask permission to keep the extra money, about $12.4 million, or issue refunds to taxpayers.

The second ballot question proposed in the bill would ask voters to approve new revenue to pay for the school meals by further lowering a tax credit for those same taxpayers making more than $300,000. The bill would aim to collect about $95 million in additional revenue to go towards the Healthy School Meals for All program.

Last year, the program had a $56 million shortfall that lawmakers filled from other funding sources.

Lawmakers on the House education committee advanced the bill forward in a 7-5 vote.

Even if the bill makes it all the way through the legislature and the questions make it to voters in November, and the voters approve the questions, the state wouldn’t collect the new funding until 2026. That means the state still needs to find the funds to support the program in the current year.

A report published by the Joint Budget Committee staff this week estimates that the current school year’s cost for Healthy School Meals For All is about $138 million. The state had calculated that about $115 million would come from the program’s funding of taxes on those who make more than $300,000, but new estimates show that the program may only generate about $103 million for this school year.

That would mean the state needs $35.2 million from its education fund to cover the shortfall. Some funding from that account, about $22 million, was already set to help cover the meals program, but this week’s projections show more will be needed.

One speaker, Dan Sharp, a school nutrition director in Mesa County, said in his district participation in school meals has gone up by 40% since the start of the program. The district now serves 12,000 school meals daily, he said.

Prior to the state program making meals free for all students, he said there were students who were eligible for free meals but didn’t participate because of the stigma, and would go hungry.

“We can do a lot more,” he said. Fully funding the program will be a good thing for districts, he added.

Children ‘connected to where their food comes from’

Many of those who testified also spoke in support of Colorado farmers and ranchers.

The original program as voters approved it in 2022 included grant programs that would help school districts purchase local food for the meals, and other grants to help train staff or provide stipends for food service staff.

Those grant programs were supposed to be phased in after the first year, but have been on hold because of the lack of enough funding in the program.

Key Colorado lawmakers want to keep free school meals for all students despite budget shortfall

If voters approved the two ballot questions included in the bill, there may be enough funding to roll out those grant programs.

Luke Larson, owner of a ranch and cattle operation in Fowler in southwest Colorado, sells beef under the Centennial Cuts brand name.

He said he’s benefited from a pilot program that existed before the 2022 initiative and which helped school districts purchase food from local ranchers and farmers. That pilot was due to expand under the grants that have been established by Healthy School Meals for All grants but haven’t been funded yet.

“Our family’s beef is currently being served three miles from our ranch in the Fowler schools, and 20 miles from us in the Crowley schools,” Larson said. “Children in these districts are not only receiving great tasting nutritious food but they’re importantly being connected to where their food comes from, and how it’s produced. This connection to how healthy food is produced will last a lifetime.”

Not everyone has the same priorities. One of the lawmakers who opposed the bill, GOP Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, cited state budget problems this year. She also worried about food waste.

“Not all families need free meals,” Garcia Sander said. “I don’t believe the majority of Colorado’s taxpayers will have the appetite for this this year.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

The $1 billion in bond projects for Aurora schools will kick off soon, managed with outside help

2025-03-06T17:41:16+00:00

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The Aurora school district is working to get projects funded through a $1 billion bond program started by this summer. One of its first steps: Hiring an outside contractor to oversee all the work.

In December, the district signed a contract with Jacobs Project Management for $17 million over the next five years, coming out of the bond. Voters approved the bond — the largest school bond in state history — in 2024.

One of the first things the Jacobs staff is working on with Aurora is the schedule of work for all the bond projects. It is nearly complete, and community members can expect to see work starting soon, said Brett Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer.

Johnson said the district made the decision to outsource the management of the work because of how many large projects will be involved.

Asking the Aurora staff already tasked with managing an assortment of projects to take on an additional billion dollars worth of projects would be a lot, Johnson said.

“Our interest and decision to engage with an owners rep for this is representative of the fact that we also just approved the largest bond package in the history of Colorado schools,” Johnson said.

Among the things the $1 billion bond program will cover is a new high school, a significant rebuild of Gateway High School, rebuilding Laredo Elementary, and construction of two new pre-K-8 buildings.

“What we’re really leaning on them for is to make sure we’re on time and on budget, and having a centralized set of eyes to monitor projects in real time,” Johnson said of the management company.

The contract for Jacobs wasn’t approved individually by the board because it was included as part of the package of bond work the board already approved. Similarly, already approved bond projects won’t need board approval for each contract. But part of Jacobs’ work will also be to review the district’s process for requesting bids and awarding contracts and to recommend any needed changes.

The Aurora school district has closed eight schools in the last five years due to declining enrollment, but always said the district faced the issue of declining student populations in the west, near Denver, while new development meant growing student counts in the east.

The district has already opened a new school in the last few years for new developments toward the northeast part of the district, but the need is expected to keep growing.

Although some of the metro area school districts continue to lose students, the Aurora school district started turning that trend around with enrollment growing for several years. This year, 39,813 students are enrolled in Aurora schools, up from a low of 37,907 in the fall of 2020.

Companies often help school districts with bond projects

Hiring a company to help manage bond projects isn’t unique.

For example, this year, the neighboring Adams 12 school district is also contracting with a firm, Anser Advisory, now under Accenture, for $2.5 million to help manage two of the district’s bond projects: the rebuilding of Thornton High School and the expansion of FutureForward at Bollman, the district’s career and technical education campus. Together, the two projects represent about $260 million, or 31%, of the total $830 million bond.

School districts that apply for state support for building repairs or projects through the BEST grant program are also “strongly encouraged” to hire a project management firm for new schools or major renovations, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Education said. It’s fairly common among smaller or rural districts that might not have a lot of staff members available to work on large new projects requiring a lot of attention.

In Aurora, the plan is for the management company to work collaboratively with the district’s internal team that is dedicated to construction projects, Johnson said.

And as in other years, the district will still have oversight from the community through a Citizens Bond Oversight Committee that already started meeting this year.

But having a team of people dedicated just to work on these projects means everything should be monitored more closely, Johnson said.

The school district’s director of construction, Caleb Tobin, submitted his resignation last month and will leave the district soon.

Emails obtained by Chalkbeat show the director has been asking the district to approve new staff to help with the bond since at least October.

In an email written in December and then followed up again in January, Tobin urged the district for more staff, saying there is more work to be done now. He cited non-bond projects, such as those affiliated with the Mill Levy and new facilities being added to the school district

“We have significant needs that, in my opinion, should not be filled by hiring additional expensive contract staff,” he wrote. “We can and should be building our team up for a future APS that has significantly more facilities and projects, and we should do so in a way that is financially and operationally prudent, which in my opinion means hiring long-term APS staff.”

Even if the new positions had to be hired slowly over time, Tobin wrote, it would be positive for the current staff and the whole district.

At least one project manager was approved to start mid-year. District leaders told Tobin to make any other position needs a part of the department’s budget request for the next school year.

The district set up a website with a map detailing all the bond projects and their status.

Read a copy of the contract.

This story has been updated with a link to the map of Aurora Public Schools bond projects.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado voters may get another say in funding free school meals for all

2025-02-25T17:39:19+00:00

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Less than three years after Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to provide all students with free school meals, state lawmakers are considering asking voters for more money to keep the popular program afloat.

A bill introduced this week in the state legislature proposes putting two measures on the ballot in November that would allow the state to collect and keep more tax revenue to cover a funding shortfall for the meals program.

Colorado voters in 2022 supported a move to make breakfast and lunch free for all students regardless of family income. The program was funded by lowering a tax credit for taxpayers making more than $300,000 a year, which has meant they pay more in taxes.

But that funding hasn’t been enough. More children have been eating school meals than budget analysts expected — and more students than expected don’t qualify for federal subsidies.

In the first year the program kicked in, it fell short by $56 million. Lawmakers covered the gap. This year, the program is expected to fall short again — by $27 million, according to figures from a year ago.

Key Colorado lawmakers want to keep free school meals for all students despite budget shortfall

The solution proposed in House Bill 1274, introduced this week, would ask voters in November’s election two questions.

First, voters would be asked to approve letting the state keep the more than $26 million that the program has collected over what it expected — instead of having to issue that money back in refunds to those taxpayers who make more than $300,000.

Because of Colorado’s TABOR amendment, the state is not allowed to keep revenue that exceeds what they tell voters will be collected without explicitly asking for permission. Without that permission, the state has to return money it already collected.

Second, voters would be asked to lower the deductions that taxpayers earning more than $300,000 or more can get to $1,000, so that the state can collect more money. The bill estimates this would generate an additional $95 million each year for the school meals program.

In December, a group tasked with coming up with possible solutions to the funding shortfall presented 27 options. But about a third of those options would limit which students get the free meals, something key lawmakers have said they don’t want to do.

Two lawmakers sponsored the bill: Rep. Lorena García and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, both Democrats from districts covering parts of Adams county. A spokesperson for Hunger Free Colorado, a nonprofit that advocated for the original program, said leaders with the group have been involved in helping draft the bill.

According to the bill text, the free school meals are “reducing stigma, improving student physical and mental health and well-being, boosting academic success, and saving families money.”

The way the state’s free school meals program was set up, school districts had to choose, or opt-in, to participate and receive state funds. All but one school district has been participating. Statewide, student participation in school meals went up about 30% after all students could get free meals.

When the program was initially proposed, advocates said that many Colorado families who didn’t qualify for free- or reduced-price meals based on the federal guidelines were still struggling financially because of the state’s high cost of living.

And although school meals are now free for any student, schools still ask families to fill out federal eligibility forms. The forms help track the levels of poverty among students, but the state also uses them to receive federal reimbursements for students who qualify for one, before then covering the rest of the cost of the meals.

School districts report that although it takes effort from school leaders to remind parents to fill out the forms, the number of parents filling out forms has not dropped. Statewide this year, 44.9% of students qualified for subsidized meals, down from 45.8% last year.

In the current school year, a family of four would need to make less than $40,560 a year for the children to qualify for free meals, by federal standards.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that all but one school district in Colorado are participating in the Healthy Meals for All program. A previous version said all school districts were participating.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jefferson Jr./Sr. High es la próxima escuela de Jeffco que podría enfrentar el cierre o rediseño

2025-02-18T21:39:52+00:00

Read in English.

El distrito escolar de Jeffco está considerando cerrar una escuela que ofrece los grados 7 a 12 y convertirla en una escuela secundaria especializada donde los estudiantes estudiarían para trayectorias profesionales específicas.

El distrito no llama a los cambios propuestos en la escuela secundaria Jefferson Jr./Sr. en Edgewater un cierre escolar. Más bien, lo llama una transición, a pesar de que el edificio probablemente no atendería a ningún estudiante durante al menos un año y podría atender a menos grados cuando vuelva a abrir.

A diferencia del pasado, los líderes del distrito dicen que tienen tiempo para trabajar en el plan y quieren la opinión de la comunidad. Aún no se ha tomado ninguna decisión final.

“Si descubrimos que hay apoyo para este plan, algo que podemos construir con la comunidad por lo que haya un entusiasmo genuino y un impulso”, entonces el distrito podría presentar una recomendación final a la junta en junio o agosto, dijo Claire Takhar, directora ejecutiva de iniciativas estratégicas de Jeffco. El cierre no ocurriría hasta el año escolar 2026-27.

El borrador del plan es el resultado de un estudio de límites escolares que el distrito encargó el año pasado, este encontró que la zona de la población estudiantil de Jefferson atendía a la menor cantidad de estudiantes del distrito y se esperaba que viera más disminuciones en la inscripción.

En este momento, la escuela secundaria Jefferson Jr./Sr. High sirve a 629 estudiantes, un poco más que el recuento oficial del año pasado de 594 estudiantes. Un poco más del 78% de los estudiantes de la escuela califican para comidas subsidiadas, una medida de pobreza. El estudio de límites estimó que para el año escolar 2027-28, Jefferson Jr./Sr. High solo atendería a aproximadamente 372 estudiantes.

Desde entonces, el distrito ha ajustado esos números y le dijo a la junta escolar la semana pasada que espera que la escuela atienda a 447 estudiantes en cuatro años, todavía muy por debajo de la capacidad de la escuela.

El estudio también analizó la posibilidad de reorganizar los límites escolares para equilibrar la inscripción. Pero descubrió que debido a la opción de elección de escuela, que permite a tantos estudiantes elegir una escuela fuera de su vecindario, los cambios de límites tienen poco efecto en equilibrar la inscripción.

En el año escolar 2023-24, el estudio encontró que el 40% de todos los estudiantes de Jeffco estaban eligiendo una escuela fuera de su límite designado.

En cuanto a la opción a la elección de otras escuelas, el distrito descubrió que el 47 % de las familias están eligiendo otras escuelas intermedias o secundarias, en lugar de Jefferson Jr./Sr. High.

“Es poco probable que simplemente mover los límites, sin cerrar una escuela y eliminar esa opción, fuerce un cambio en el comportamiento de inscripción de nuestras familias”, afirmó el informe.

“Desafortunadamente estamos viendo una víctima del privilegio de elección de las escuelas en las familias”, dijo Erin Kenworthy, miembro de la junta de Jeffco. “Mi preocupación en particular es que estamos viendo otra escuela del Título I que esencialmente está siendo abandonada debido a la elección de la comunidad. Es una realidad realmente dura”.

El personal del distrito dijo que la demografía juega un papel importante en la disminución de la inscripción en el vecindario.

“Edgewater en sí como ciudad está cambiando muy rápidamente”, dijo Lisa Relou, jefa de personal del distrito. “La gentrificación está sucediendo a un ritmo muy rápido”.

Relou también señaló que justo al otro lado de Edgewater, el distrito escolar de Denver había recomendado cerrar la cercana escuela primaria Colfax por la baja inscripción. Esa escuela se ha salvado por ahora.

El estudio también encontró que el distrito está atendiendo a aproximadamente el 91% de los niños del condado, lo que significa que las disminuciones en la inscripción no se pueden atribuir simplemente a que los estudiantes elijan opciones fuera del distrito, como escuelas privadas o educación en el hogar.

Incluso la creación de una programación especializada “no necesariamente atrae nuevas familias a Jeffco; en cambio, estos programas simplemente alentaron un mayor movimiento dentro del propio distrito”, afirmó el estudio.

Aún así, el personal del distrito habló de hacer exactamente eso con la escuela secundaria Jefferson Jr./Sr. High. El plan preliminar cerraría la escuela para el año escolar 2026-27 y potencialmente la reabriría un año después como una nueva escuela opcional para estudiantes de secundaria.

El plan sacaría a los estudiantes de sexto grado de las escuelas primarias de la zona, de modo que para 2026-27, las escuelas primarias Lumberg y Edgewater solo atenderían desde preescolar hasta quinto grado. Para los grados secundarios, el vecindario se fusionaria con el área de inscripcion de Wheat Ridge, por lo que los estudiantes pasarían a la escuela secundaria Everitt y luego a la escuela secundaria Wheat Ridge.

Durante los próximos meses, el distrito está planeando organizar “sesiones de co-diseño” con la comunidad para explorar el plan en más detalle, con un enfoque en el tipo de escuela en la que se convertiría Jefferson Jr./Sr. High. La primera reunión fue el 11 de febrero. La próxima reunión es el 3 de marzo.

Las dos opciones iniciales incluyen un enfoque en la educación profesional, pero una permitiría a los estudiantes asistir a la escuela recientemente diseñada a un tiempo parcial, similar al modelo Warren Tech del distrito. La segunda opción sería una escuela enfocada en la carrera profesional a un tiempo completo.

Un miembro de la junta calificó la propuesta como “ambigua/confusa”.

La miembro Danielle Varda dijo “suena mucho como cerrar una escuela, consolidarla y averiguar qué hacer con el edificio, solo que dicho de diferentes maneras. Creo que la gente podría sentir lo mismo”.

La superintendente Tracy Dorland dijo que debido a que el distrito está permitiendo que la comunidad lo ayude a planificar, los líderes aún no tienen respuestas a todas las preguntas que plantean las familias y los miembros de la comunidad.

“Siento que no ha habido una experiencia, especialmente en esta comunidad, pero creo que en muchas de nuestras comunidades, donde el liderazgo del distrito se sienta a la mesa y dice: ‘Hablemos de esto, no tenemos todas las respuestas’, y la gente realmente nos cree y entiende que la otra cara de la moneda de que el distrito no tenga todas las respuestas es la ambigüedad y la necesidad de que el liderazgo del distrito aporte soluciones e ideas”, dijo Dorland.

El distrito escolar de Jeffco, que este año sirve a 75.495 estudiantes, el segundo distrito más grande del estado, ya ha cerrado 21 escuelas desde 2021 debido a grandes caídas en la inscripción.

En el momento de esos cierres de escuelas, el distrito se comprometió a no cerrar ninguna escuela secundaria y emitió una suspensión temporal sobre dichos cierres, pero esa suspensión temporal ha terminado.

Traducido por Rocky Mountain Language Co-op

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Comuníquese con Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco school board latest to pass resolution affirming support for immigrant students, families

2025-02-15T00:31:08+00:00

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In response to community pressure and questions, the Jeffco school board approved a resolution late Thursday night in support of immigrant students.

Some community members have been afraid that immigration agents could come to a school since the Trump administration rescinded a policy that treated schools, churches, and hospitals as “sensitive” locations largely safe from ICE.

Since then, school districts across the country have been establishing or updating guidelines about what to do if ICE agents arrived at schools.

Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland on Thursday reiterated that she believed it would be unlikely for ICE agents to show up at a school unannounced, but that the guidance from the district was created just in case.

“This resolution will not make everyone happy,” said board member Paula Reed. “There will be people who do not want us to assertively affirm protection for our most vulnerable students, and others who believe this does not do nearly enough. To be honest, personally, I wish we could do more. It was hard to draft something without referencing laws that may or may not still be in place tomorrow.”

The resolution, among other things, directs the district to help families create a plan to ensure emergency contacts are up to date, to update resources posted online and translate them into multiple languages, and to provide flexible options for families who are keeping children home from school out of fear.

The resolution states that “federal immigration law enforcement activities, on or around district property and transportation routes, whether by surveillance, interview, demand for information, arrest, detention, or any other means, harmfully disrupt the learning environment to which all students, regardless of immigration status, are entitled and significantly interferes with the ability of all students, including U.S. citizen students and students who hold other legal grounds for presence in the U.S., to access a free public K-12 education.”

Jeffco first posted a statement and guidance about ICE in schools on its website on Jan. 28, sending communications to all staff.

But Zander Kaschub, the president of JESPA, the union for Jeffco’s support staff including bus drivers, kitchen staff, and paraprofessionals, was among those who criticized the district for not doing more.

These employees are made up of immigrants, and work closely with immigrant students and families, and should be “recognized as key stakeholders and included in discussions on policy implementation,” Kaschub told the school board on Thursday. “Our voices are essential.”

Kaschub said staff members still have a lot of questions and have not received training. Principals also have been interpreting guidance in different ways, he said.

“This approach has created inconsistencies, confusion, and ultimately unsafe conditions for students and staff,” he said.

Denver Public Schools sues feds to stop immigration enforcement at schools, ‘sensitive locations’

Kaschub added that the resolution left critical gaps and asked the board and the district to commit to training staff and ensuring there’s a method to hold principals accountable for enforcing policies.

A district spokesperson Friday said staff training has been ongoing, and it is continuing for bus drivers and more principal secretaries in the next week.

Annie Contractor, a parent and organizer with Engage Jeffco, also spoke to the board Thursday, asking them to pass the resolution and improve communications with staff and families.

“Some schools are sending out robust communications and some aren’t sending any communications at all,” Contractor said. “We ask the district to implement comprehensive policies that safeguard every student’s right to learn in a secure, stable environment.

“When any group is targeted, whether immigrant families, LGBTQ+ youth, or others, all students suffer from the resulting disruption, intimidation, and trauma of an insecure learning environment,” Contractor said. “Today’s targets may change tomorrow and we know that we are stronger when we stand together.”

The board made one change to the resolution — but it won’t affect the guidance

When the board voted Thursday night, they had a discussion to make just one change to the draft language they had already prepared, but a district spokesperson Friday said that language in the resolution won’t change the district’s policy or practice.

The draft resolution presented to the board Thursday said that the district guidance for principals was to allow ICE agents into a school, just as they would allow in anyone else, and then once the agents are identified, begin a process to verify that they have the proper warrants.

But board members said they thought they had understood their district’s existing guidance to mean that ICE agents would not be allowed into a building until after a warrant signed by a judge could be verified.

Dorland explained that there are many different situations, and “we don’t want to ever put our principals in a situation where they’re escalating a situation.”

Julie Tolleson, the district’s attorney, also explained that the district has a person ready to drive out to schools to “get eyes” on the presented warrants and documents in such a case, and that there was some concern about the disruption that might occur if agents were kept outside and the school was put on secure perimeter, where classes continue inside but the school is locked.

But a majority of the board members Thursday said they were uncomfortable with allowing agents into schools first because of the position it could put principals in — particularly if agents aren’t cooperative, don’t listen to staff, or if the agents don’t have proper warrants and then principals have to ask them to leave.

“I am concerned people executing these warrants will not be polite, " said Mary Parker, the board’s president.

The board amended the order of the instructions — to put verifying warrants before the guidance about escorting agents in — and then approved the resolution unanimously.

But on Friday, district leaders said that the amended resolution the board approved Thursday night will not change the district’s guidance. Jeffco principals will still be instructed to allow immigration agents into a school as they would with anyone else, and to verify their documentation once they are inside.

Schools have secure vestibules just inside, the spokesperson said.

Board member Erin Kenworthy on Friday said that the board’s intention was to change the district’s guidance for principals, but said she also recognized that the board technically approved a resolution, not a new policy. She said perhaps the board will need to revisit the issue later.

A recent Chalkbeat survey of 20 Colorado districts revealed 16 had issued written guidance to their staff about what to do if ICE arrived, and some had also communicated that with families. One district, St. Vrain, had not issued any written communications to staff, and three, Sheridan, Bennett, and Deer Trail, did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests.

Many school districts, including Aurora and Denver, created guidance that tells principals to collect identification and warrants from ICE officials and contact district legal teams who would then verify the validity of the warrant and instruct school leaders further.

But guidance across systems varied slightly in terms of whether ICE agents would first be allowed inside the school during this process, or kept outside.

DSST charter network leaders established guidelines that schools would be placed on hold so no one is allowed in the hallways while the process of verifying a warrant takes place.

Denver’s guidance directs staff not to let agents into a school, but instead have them wait outside while contacting legal teams.

In Aurora’s guidance, district leaders also suggested that agents should wait outside, but allows principals to escort immigration agents into a quiet place in the front office, if they are being cooperative.

Read Jeffco’s resolution:

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Aurora teachers provide a glimpse into their classrooms on the day of immigration raids

2025-02-10T23:08:29+00:00

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Attendance had already been low for about a week at Laredo Elementary School in Aurora when federal immigration agents showed up at an apartment building down the street before school started Wednesday, according to teachers.

The first hour of classes that day was punctuated by the sound of a plane circling above and dark SUVs driving up and down the street, a teacher said. At one point, one of the SUVs parked next to the school’s crosswalk.

While some students in Nate Madson Dion’s fifth grade class were absent, most made it to class, where he said “they have people they trust, and they feel safe. But all that concern is still lurking.”

A third grader emailed her teacher to explain that she wasn’t at school because she hadn’t been able to leave her home because of the raids. “Hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow,” she wrote, according to Madson Dion.

The Aurora school district had attendance of 89.44% on Wednesday and was at 92.25% the following day. According to Colorado Public Radio, attendance in the district had dipped to 79% on Jan. 30, the day the raids had been rumored to start.

In Denver schools, the district’s most recent lowest attendance date was Feb. 3 during a national movement for a Day Without Immigrants, but it had bounced back to about 86.9% on Feb. 5.

Madson Dion overheard his students having conversations about the raids last Thursday. A student who had been at the apartment building was telling the kids about it. He said seven people were taken from his building and some doors were knocked down.

Madson Dion said he stuck to most of his lessons for the day. He doesn’t guide any conversations about what’s happening outside, but lets students talk when they initiate conversations. He chimes in when he has information that could be helpful to students, he said.

“It’s super important for me to allow it to happen, while also not pressing it,” Madson Dion said. When a student was wondering what would happen if immigration agents knocked on his door, Madson Dion chimed in and told students, “Just don’t answer the door.”

Students already knew that, he said.

“Fifth graders know about warrants. Fifth graders shouldn’t have to know about warrants,” he said. “We have kids who are resilient in ways I wish they didn’t have to be.”

‘Angry and not afraid’: Denver students walk out to protest Trump policies on same day as ICE raids

At nearby Hinkley High School, math teacher Beth Himes said her students had experienced many of the same things. Some had seen raids taking place and residents of apartment buildings hiding on rooftops.

“Students on their way to school had filmed people on top of a roof as they drove past the apartment complexes, and that was going around the school,” Himes said. “Students were all abuzz, they were very nervous, they were worried. Not necessarily for themselves, but for parents, other family, friends, neighbors.”

Her classroom has large windows through which students could see the immigration enforcement vehicles driving past.

The night of the raids was parent-teacher conference night at Hinkley.

Himes usually has between 12 and 14 parent meetings in a night. Last Wednesday, Himes only had six parent meetings. One parent had emailed her to ask for the information through email, and cited the raids for feeling unsafe to go meet Hines in person.

Most classes at Hinkley have gone on as normal, and while attendance is down, it hasn’t been significantly lower on any particular day, Himes said. Similar to at Laredo, she said she believes Hinkley students feel as safe as they can while they are at school. But getting to and from school can feel dangerous for them or their families.

“I think their anxiety goes up when they leave,” Himes said.

At Laredo, when an immigration SUV parked in the crosswalk in front of the school, some families felt uncomfortable crossing the street in front of that agent, so the families waited inside the school until they felt safe to leave again.

Teacher says it matters when leaders talk about immigration

In the nearby Adams 12 school district, the superintendent told his school board on Wednesday night that immigration concerns are taking a lot of time to address.

Superintendent Chris Gdowski said the district believed the parent of one Adams 12 student had been detained in Wednesday’s raids and that the child was in the temporary care of a neighbor.

Attendance had been down by as much as 5% at some Adams 12 schools, and the district was trying to problem-solve with families to find ways to get students back in classes, or find ways to keep them learning while at home, Gdowski said

“It’s become a fairly significant part of many of our jobs on the security side in coordinating with our principals about what to do if this happens, and then there’s also fairly consistent communication needs that we have,” he said.

At a meeting the day after the raids, the Jeffco school board discussed the fears that seem to be keeping some children home from school. Although Jeffco didn’t discuss large attendance rate drops, staff told the board they will present recommendations for the superintendent in the next couple of weeks on how to help students who don’t feel safe coming into classes physically.

The board workshopped the language for a resolution it will vote on this Thursday to show support for immigrant and LGBTQ students who may be feeling unsafe. But board members struggled with some of the language, because they wondered what they could guarantee doing for students, especially as things keep changing.

Board member Paula Reed, was hesitant about saying the district won’t collect or share immigration information from students or families, because she said it’s possible the district could be forced to do so in the near future. Board members also wondered if they could control what happens outside their school buildings, and whether they should state that immigration actions that happen near schools are disruptive to students.

Aurora passed a resolution Tuesday that is nearly identical to one the board approved in 2017 written with parent and student groups. It states that as one of the most diverse districts in the state, Aurora is dedicated to supporting and serving all students. The resolution includes updated demographic information showing that the district’s students now speak more than 160 different languages and that more than 42% of all students are learning English as a new language.

The resolution adds a requirement that Aurora schools update student emergency contact information twice a year instead of once per year and encourages families to include a non-family contact in case family members can’t pick up students.

Himes said the Aurora resolution matters because it supports school staff’s desire to keep students safe and to communicate that desire to the families and students themselves.

“It’s just been very well-communicated,” Himes said. “That’s the key.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco may close another school, but it wants the community to help design the replacement

2025-02-06T17:51:23+00:00

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The Jeffco school district is considering closing a school that serves grades 7-12 and turning it into a specialized high school where students would study for particular career paths.

The draft plan for Jefferson Jr./Sr. High School in Edgewater was discussed by the Jeffco school board on Wednesday after it was first presented to the community last month.

The district isn’t calling the proposed changes a school closure. Rather, it’s calling it a transition, even though the building would likely not serve any students for at least a year and could serve fewer grades when it reopens. Unlike in the past, district leaders say they have time to work on the plan and want the community’s input. No final decision has been made.

“If we find that there’s support for this plan, that we can build something with community that there’s genuine excitement about and momentum for,” then the district might present a final recommendation to the board in June or August, said Claire Takhar, Jeffco’s executive director of strategic initiatives. A closure wouldn’t happen until the 2026-27 school year.

The draft plan is the result of a school boundary study the district commissioned last year that looked at the long-term viability of the district’s current school feeder patterns. The study found that the Jefferson articulation area served the fewest students in the district and was expected to continue to see enrollment declines. If enrollment this fall showed evidence that the estimates were on track, the district needed to come up with a plan, district leaders said.

Right now, Jefferson Jr./Sr. High is serving 629 students, slightly up from last year’s official count of 594 students. A little more than 78% of the school’s students qualify for subsidized meals, a measure of poverty.

The district’s boundary study made a few short-term recommendations for boundary changes in the district, and some long-term recommendations that could result in more school consolidations in the future.

For now, Jeffco leaders said they are not considering changes to any other schools.

Compared to the other short-term recommendations, the boundary study didn’t suggest a particular change to the Jefferson articulation area, but did conclude that the boundary was unsustainable due to expected declining enrollment. The study estimated that by the 2027-28 school year, Jefferson Jr./Sr. High would only serve approximately 372 students.

The district has since adjusted those numbers and on Wednesday told the school board that it expects the school to serve 447 students in four years, still well below the school’s capacity.

The study also looked at the possibility of rearranging school boundaries to even out enrollment. But it found that because of school choice, which allows so many students to pick a school outside their neighborhood, boundary changes have little effect on balancing enrollment.

In the 2023-24 school year, the study found 40% of all Jeffco students were choosing a school outside their designated boundary.

In the boundary of Jefferson Jr./Sr. High, the district found that 47% of families are choosing other middle or high schools.

“Simply moving boundary lines without closing a school and eliminating that option is unlikely to force a change in enrollment behavior of our families,” the report stated.

“We’re looking at an unfortunate victim of the privilege of choice for families,” said Jeffco board member Erin Kenworthy. “My concern in particular is we’re seeing another Title I school essentially being abandoned due to community choice. It’s a really hard reality.”

District staff pointed out that demographics also play a large role in the neighborhood’s enrollment decline.

“Edgewater itself as a city is changing really rapidly,” said Lisa Relou, the district’s chief of staff. “Gentrification is happening at a rapid pace.”

Relou also pointed out that just on the other side of Edgewater, the Denver school district had recommended closing nearby Colfax Elementary for low enrollment. That school has been spared for now.

The study also found that the district is serving about 91% of the children in the county, meaning that enrollment declines can’t just be attributed to students choosing options outside of the district such as private schools or homeschooling.

Even creating specialized programming “does not necessarily draw in new families to Jeffco; instead, these programs simply encouraged more movement within the district itself,” the study stated.

Still, on Wednesday, district staff talked about doing just that with Jefferson Jr./Sr. High. The draft plan from the district would close the school for the 2026-27 school year, and potentially reopen it a year later as a new option school for high school students.

The plan also would move sixth grade students out of elementary schools in the area so that by 2026-27, Lumberg and Edgewater elementary schools would only serve preschool through fifth grade. For secondary grades, the neighborhood would merge with the Wheat Ridge articulation area, so students would feed into Everitt Middle School and then into Wheat Ridge High School.

Over the next couple of months, the district is planning to host “co-design sessions” with the community to explore the plan in more detail, with a focus on what kind of school Jefferson Jr./Sr. High would turn into.

Two initial options include a focus on career education, but one would allow students to attend the newly designed school part-time, similar to the district’s Warren Tech model. The second option would be a full-time career-focused school.

One board member characterized the proposal as “ambiguous.”

Member Danielle Varda said “it sounds a lot like closing a school, consolidating and figuring out what to do with the building, just said in different ways. I think people might feel the same way.”

Superintendent Tracy Dorland said that because the district is allowing the community to help it plan, leaders don’t yet have answers to all the questions being posed by families and community members.

“I feel like there hasn’t been an experience, especially in this community, but I think in many of our communities, where district leadership is sitting down at the table saying, ‘Let’s talk about this, we don’t have all the answers,’ and people actually believing us, and understanding that the other side of the coin of the district not having all the answers is ambiguity and a need from district leadership for people to bring solutions and ideas,” Dorland said. “It’s really uncharted territory.”

The Jeffco school district, which this year is serving 75,495 students, the second largest district in the state, has already closed 21 schools since 2021 due to large drops in enrollment.

At the time of those school closures, the district committed to not closing any high schools and issued a moratorium on such closures, but that moratorium has ended.

According to the boundary study, Jeffco still has 18 schools that are under 60% capacity. The study projected that number to grow to 28 schools by 2027-28. At the same time, seven schools are over 100% capacity. In 2027-28, the study projected six schools to be over capacity.

District leaders said that while the decision to close or transition Jefferson Jr./Sr. High hasn’t been made, the fear is that if the school’s enrollment problem isn’t addressed, in a few years, the district will have to close it when enrollment becomes unsustainable.

The first community co-design meeting is scheduled for Feb. 11.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of school board member Erin Kenworthy.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

NAEP test results: Colorado’s scores are mostly stable, as gap between low and high performers widens

2025-01-29T22:57:52+00:00

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This story has been updated with comment from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

Colorado students continue to perform better than students in many other states and showed slight improvements on national math and reading tests, but they’re still scoring below pre-pandemic levels.

The national test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as NAEP, was given to fourth and eighth graders in the spring of 2024, and results were released Wednesday. The test is administered about every two years.

Test administrators determined that none of Colorado’s average score results represented a significant change from average scores in 2022. But a slightly higher percentage of Colorado students performed at basic and proficient levels in 2024 compared with 2022.

Part of the explanation for that is another trend NAEP identified this year nationwide: Students who are high performing continue to improve, while students who are typically low performing have continued to struggle. Average scores mask those widening gaps.

Compared with 2019, before the pandemic, Colorado students are making progress toward recovery in math at fourth and eighth grade, but in reading only at the eighth grade level.

Reading scores are a concern nationwide

In fourth grade reading scores, Colorado students have fallen further behind, following a national trend. In 2024, 36% of fourth graders tested proficient in reading, down from 38% in 2022.

Despite that drop, the state’s average reading score for fourth graders, 221, is still significantly higher than the national average of 214, and places Colorado near the top of all states.

The state’s performance on eighth grade reading scores held steady, breaking with the national trend of large declines. In 2024, 35% of Colorado students tested were proficient, up from 34% in 2022. The state change was not identified as statistically significant.

Nationally, reading scores had been declining since before the pandemic, so officials cautioned against blaming only the pandemic-era disruptions.

Colorado’s own data from CMAS tests also showed a drop in 2024 in fourth grade reading performance. The rate of students meeting expectations on those state tests dropped by 1.8 percentage points from the previous year, the largest drop of any grade level.

Colorado’s math test results were more encouraging

Colorado’s results for fourth graders taking NAEP math tests showed a significant increase in the percentage of students reaching proficiency. In 2024, 42% of those students reached proficiency, up from 36% in 2022.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday said during a virtual panel that the data “shows that it’s really all hands on deck.”

Polis, who is also the president of the National Governors Association, spoke about his initiative to get both Republican and Democrat governors working together to think about education solutions. He said governors are in a good position to deliver on education as it’s the largest chunk out of state budgets.

“This moment I hope is a catalyst for innovation, doing things differently, expanding or replicating what works and having the moral fortitude to change what isn’t working,” he said. “From quality early childhood education, evidence-based tutoring, and after-school opportunities, innovative school models, everything should be on the table to make sure that every student, and that means every student no matter where they live or who they are, can succeed.”

Colorado has invested in math recovery since the pandemic, including making online programs and tutoring available for students statewide.

Colorado’s CMAS test results in math for 2024 were also more encouraging than literacy results. Students in elementary grades in 2024 posted higher rates of meeting and exceeding expectations than students did in 2019, before the pandemic.

On NAEP, where proficiency has a different definition, Colorado students are still not doing better than in 2019, however.

NAEP releases data for large urban districts, including Denver

Denver students had some reading scores that were better than scores in other cities for which the program compiled data, but in most categories, their improvement over 2022 wasn’t statistically significant.

Denver Public Schools students ranked near the top of the 25 cities in average scores for eighth grade reading. Denver’s average of 258 was up from 255 in 2022 and 257 in 2019. In 2024, 31% of eighth graders in Denver were proficient in reading, up from 28% in 2022.

The only improvement that was identified as significant in DPS was the increase in the proficiency rate for fourth grade math. In 2024, 36% of students tested proficient on that test, compared with 28% in 2022.

The NAEP standard for proficiency represents “competency over challenging subject matter, a standard that exceeds most states’ standards for proficient,” according to the federal agency that compiles the data.

In fourth grade reading, for instance, the administration states that students who test at the basic level, but below proficiency, may still have some reading ability to “provide some support for ideas related to the plot or characters.” Testing in the proficient category, above basic, might require a student to be able to “make complex inferences about the characters’ actions, motivations, or feelings, using relevant evidence within or across literary texts.”

Officials from the board who oversee the testing say it’s students who score below basic who may be struggling to read and warrant concern.

Among Colorado fourth graders, 35% tested below basic in reading in 2024, a higher percentage than anytime in the last two decades. In Denver, 42% tested below basic.

Among Colorado eighth graders, 26% tested below basic in reading, off from 27% in 2022. In Denver, this group accounted for 35%.

Nationally, the trends show that in many cases, the percentage of students in below-basic levels grew as students who typically perform at high levels did well, and groups of students who usually struggle are doing worse.

Hispanic students and those learning English as a new language struggle

In both Colorado and in Denver, Hispanic students and those identified as English learners continued to struggle and have the widest gaps compared with their counterparts.

In Denver, the gap grew on the eighth grade math test to a 56-point difference in average scores, compared with a 42-point difference in 2017. In 2024, only 9% of Hispanic students in Denver schools were proficient in eighth grade math.

English language learners in Denver had more significant decreases in scores from 2019 than English learners statewide, or across the country.

For instance, in eighth grade math, students identified as English learners had an average score of 225 in DPS, compared with a statewide average of 226, and national average of 237. But the DPS average score was down 20 points from 2019.

For students who aren’t identified as English language learners, Colorado had an average score of 283 on eighth grade math tests, and Denver’s average was 278.

Colorado officials have already noted the concern that English learners seem to be struggling to recover academically compared with other students.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Esto es lo que los líderes escolares quieren que las familias sepan sobre cómo actuarían ante ICE

2025-01-24T18:03:26+00:00

Read in English.

Conforme se corrió la voz el martes de que las escuelas ya no son zonas libres de acciones de control de inmigración, líderes escolares en el área metropolitana de Denver acababan de compartir planes de cómo responder si agentes de inmigración se aparecían en sus escuelas.

DSST, la red local de escuelas charter con escuelas en Denver y Aurora, compartió su plan con familias la semana pasada.

Durante las últimas semanas, los distritos escolares de Denver y Aurora han estado compartiendo información con y capacitando a su personal sobre cómo responder.

“Estamos tratando de crear una comunidad inclusiva”, dijo Danielle Felder, directora de asuntos externos para la red de DSST. “Queríamos ofrecer tanta [seguridad y apoyo] como fuera posible”.

Los protocolos de los distritos y las escuelas charter sobre lo que deben hacer son similares.

Los líderes de cada edificio deben reunir información de los agentes de inmigración, incluyendo pedirles que muestren una orden judicial, antes de llamar a los equipos legales o de seguridad del distrito, o ambos.

Los planes de Aurora y Denver sugieren que los agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) deben esperar afuera de la escuela. O, “si parece que el agente está cooperando, puedes pedirle que espere en una área apropiada en la oficina de recepción”, los protocolos de Aurora mencionan.

Si ICE tiene un orden judicial válida, el plan de DSST dice que los pasillos de la escuela se vaciarán y el edificio se pondrá en pausa, es decir, todos permanecerán en sus salones de clases hasta que ICE haya salido del edificio. Se contactará de inmediato a los padres de cualquier estudiante afectado.

“No animaremos a que las familias de estatus mixto o parientes indocumentados vengan a la escuela o interfieran de otra forma”, el plan dice.

Los planes de DSST y Denver le recuerdan al que anime a los padres para que actualicen la información de los contactos de emergencia y sugieran que estos contactos incluyan a una persona que no sea un pariente directo.

La información de las escuelas para el personal y las familias incluyen listas de recursos y enlaces a otras organizaciones comunitarias, incluyendo folletos de “Conoce tus derechos” e información sobre cómo crear un plan de preparación familiar.

La información para líderes escolares de Denver, Aurora y DSST reitera que las escuelas no pueden y no deben preguntar sobre el estatus migratorio de un estudiante ni de una familia. Aurora le pide al personal que tampoco adivine qué familias necesitan recursos.

La información de Denver también les pide a las escuelas que animen a las familias para que completen un formulario donde elijan que no las incluyan en el directorio escolar. Según la declaración de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, las agencias gubernamentales pueden pedirle a un escuela su directorio escolar sin tener una orden judicial u otra justificación legal.

Felder dijo que DSST también quería que su plan apoye al personal, el cual incluye a Dreamers y personas que están en el país con visas.

A diferencia de la situación durante la presidencia anterior de Trump, Felder dijo que los líderes escolares se sienten más preparados esta vez.

Trump da luz verde a la detención de inmigrantes en las escuelas o sus alrededores

Después de que Trump inició su mandato en 2017, el consejo escolar de Aurora votó para tomar una resolución ese mayo. Organizaciones comunitarias trabajaron con padres y estudiantes para escribirla y le pidieron al consejo que la aprobara.

Esa resolución incluyó una solicitud de que el distrito tradujera un memorándum de febrero de 2017 que describía cómo respondería si agentes de ICE se aparecían en una escuela o solicitaban información. El memorándum actual con fecha del 5 de diciembre de 2024 es una versión actualizada de lo establecido en 2017.

La resolución de 2017 también solicitó que el distrito asegurara que hubiera un protocolo para apoyar a los estudiantes si un padre o tutor no se llegaba a buscarlos después de la escuela por cualquier razón, y pide que el distrito se asegure de que la información de contacto de las familias se actualice cada año.

La resolución tuvo como objetivo ser una declaración de apoyo para la diversa comunidad que vive en Aurora.

En el año escolar actual, más del 86 por ciento de los estudiantes en el distrito de Aurora se identifica como un estudiante de color, un aumento en comparación con el 82 por ciento en la resolución de 2017. El distrito además ofrece servicios a más de 40 por ciento de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma, un aumento comparado con el 36 por ciento en 2017.

Aurora se ha mencionado como un posible objetivo de una de las primeras acciones de control de inmigración debido a la atención que ha recibido en la prensa nacional en conexión con integrantes de pandillas venezolanas.

Este año, el consejo escolar de Aurora se ha quedado callado. Ni el consejo escolar de Denver ni el de Aurora ha votado sobre ninguna resolución nueva para apoyar a los estudiantes inmigrantes ni a otros estudiantes marginados que quizás tengan inquietudes debido a cambios de políticas por la nueva presidencia.

Una sesión en la Asociación de Colorado de Consejos Escolares realizada el mes pasado motivó a líderes escolares para que también pensaran sobre cómo se pueden preparar para atender a estudiantes y familias si una gran redada migratoria se realiza en la comunidad. Las escuelas han compartido poco sobre planes en caso de que eso ocurra.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Comuníquese con Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Districts share plans in case immigration officials show up at schools

2025-01-22T00:45:31+00:00

Leer en español.

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As reports spread Tuesday that schools are no longer off-limits for immigration enforcement action, school leaders in the Denver metro area had just shared plans for how to respond if immigration agents show up at schools.

DSST, the local charter school network with schools in Denver and Aurora, shared its plan with families last week.

Over the last several weeks, the Denver and Aurora school districts have been sharing information with and training staff on how to respond.

“We’re trying to create an inclusive community,” said Danielle Felder, chief external affairs officer for the DSST network. “We wanted to offer as much reassurance as we can.”

The districts and charter network’s protocols for what to do are similar.

Building leaders are to gather information from agents including asking for a warrant before calling the district’s legal or security teams, or both.

Aurora and Denver’s plans suggest that ICE should wait outside the school. Or, “if it appears the officer is being cooperative, you can ask them to wait in an appropriate area of the front office,” Aurora’s guidance states.

If ICE has a valid judicial warrant, DSST’s plan states that the school hallways will be cleared and the building will be placed on hold, meaning everyone will stay in classrooms until ICE has left the building. Parents of any affected students will be contacted immediately.

“We will not encourage mixed status families or undocumented relatives to come to the school or otherwise interfere,” the plan says.

DSST’s and Denver’s plans remind staff that parents should be encouraged to update their emergency contact information and suggest that emergency contacts include one person who is not an immediate family member.

The school communications to staff and families include resource lists and links to other community organizations, including “Know your rights” booklets and information on how to create a family preparedness plan.

The communications to school leaders from Denver, Aurora, and DSST reiterate that schools cannot and should not be asking about a student or family’s immigration status. Aurora asks staff not to make guesses about which families need resources, either.

Denver’s communication also asks schools to encourage families to opt out of the school’s directory by filling out a form. According to the DPS statement, government agencies can ask for a school’s directory without a warrant or other legal justification.

Felder said that DSST also wanted its plan to reassure its staff, which includes Dreamers and people in the country on visas.

Unlike during the first Trump administration, Felder said school leaders feel more prepared this time.

After Trump took office in 2017, the Aurora school board voted on a resolution that May. Community organizations worked with parents and students to write it and asked the board to adopt it.

That resolution included a request that the district translate a February 2017 memo that outlined how to respond if ICE agents showed up at a school or requested information. The current memo dated Dec. 5, 2024 is an updated version of the 2017 guidance.

The 2017 resolution also asked the district to ensure there is a protocol for supporting students if a parent or caregiver does not show up to pick them up from school for whatever reason and calls on the district to make sure that family contact information is updated every year.

The resolution was meant as a declaration of support for the diverse community in Aurora.

In the current school year, more than 86% of Aurora district students identify as students of color, up from 82% cited in the 2017 resolution, and the district serves more than 40% students learning English as a new language, up from 36% in 2017.

Aurora has been cited as a possible target for early immigration enforcement because of national media attention on crime tied to Venezuelan gang members.

This year, the Aurora school board has been silent. Neither the Denver or Aurora school board has voted on any new resolutions in support of immigrant students or other marginalized students who may have concerns about policy changes during the new presidential administration.

A session at the Colorado Association of School Boards last month prompted school leaders to also think about how they may prepare to serve students and families if a large immigration raid is conducted in the community. Schools have shared little about plans for those scenarios.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s student enrollment declines again, but more metro area districts saw growth

2025-01-15T16:00:32+00:00

Enrollment in Colorado public schools declined more slowly than in past years, while several districts in the Denver metro area saw gains.

The October 2024 enrollment count, which the state uses to determine how much money each school district receives, showed Colorado public schools with 881,065 students, down 0.1% from 881,464 a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Education.

In a sign of longer-term trends, early grades have far smaller numbers of students than the high school grades, the data showed. For example, Colorado has 74,727 students in 12th grade preparing to graduate this spring, and 69,455 students in the class behind them. Meanwhile, this year’s kindergarten class has just 58,604 students.

Preschools run by school districts have 31,861 students this year, down almost 200 students from last year.

The state demographer expects the statewide decline to continue through about 2028, due partly to declines in both birth rates and migration to the state.

Some metro area districts that had been experiencing declining enrollment recorded an increase. Of 15 districts in the Denver metro area, seven had an increase in enrollment, compared with just three that did last year. The new gainers were Cherry Creek, Mapleton, Westminster, and Englewood.

Even so, only one metro area district — the 27J school district based in Brighton — now has more students than it did in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

Statewide, of 186 districts and BOCES, just 63 had an increase in enrollment from the previous year, while 119 had a decrease, and four had flat enrollment. In 2023-24, 67 districts had an increase over their previous year’s enrollment.

Under the state’s education funding system, fewer students means fewer dollars, but to give districts more predictability and avoid big changes from year to year, Colorado uses averages of districts’ four most recent years of enrollment.

Gov. Jared Polis is proposing to end that averaging and use the single year’s October count instead to calculate funding levels, a change that many district leaders oppose.

Last year, some districts complained that the October numbers deciding their funding didn’t reflect the many new migrant students with higher needs who enrolled in their districts later in the year. Colorado lawmakers made a one-time adjustment to give some districts additional funding for those new students.

This year, districts aren’t seeing the same midyear influx of migrant students.

Chuck Carpenter, chief financial officer for Denver Public Schools, told the school board at a recent meeting that last year’s influx after October was unusual but that keeping those new migrant students this school year allowed DPS to surpass its enrollment projections.

“We are not seeing continued inflows of students,” Carpenter said. “And we think we are in a normal trend with enrollment right now and going into next year.”

Official October enrollment numbers from the state don’t track how many of the students are new to the country.

But overall, the state saw a rise in the number of students who are labeled as English learners, or “multilingual learners” as the state now calls them. These are students who are learning English as a new language, and not all are migrants.

The enrollment data shows the state’s student population becoming more racially diverse, with the number of students identified as Hispanic growing the most.

Other groups of students that saw an increase in counts this year include students who are identified as homeless. This year, there are 14,498 students identified as homeless, 366 more than last year. These students are spread across the state. Last year, four districts each had more than 1,000 students identified as homeless, which was new, whereas this year, it’s back to only one: Adams 12.

Also, more students enrolled in online or homeschooling programs compared with last year.

Statewide, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals under federal guidelines decreased by more than 2%, or 8,000 students, to 394,765.

In some districts, officials saw large declines in at-risk student populations this year, largely based on that free and reduced-price measure, as a result of changes to Medicaid. Qualifying for Medicaid allows students to be automatically counted as at-risk, but many students have now lost that eligibility.

In Colorado, currently all students receive a free school meal regardless of family income, but families are still encouraged to fill out forms to determine their eligibility under federal guidelines, because it helps the state get more federal money to pay for those free meals, and because it’s used as a measure of poverty.

District leaders have said they’ve seen families continue to fill out the forms, though some school leaders have had to do more than before to prompt families.

Look up enrollment changes at your district in the table below:

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Adams 14 tuvo éxito en impugnar algunas calificaciones, pero no en la calificación general baja del distrito

2025-01-09T19:16:44+00:00

Read in English.

El distrito escolar Adams 14 no tendrá una calificación de desempeño mejorada este año, a pesar de las numerosas quejas del distrito sobre el sistema estatal.

El miércoles, la Junta Estatal de Educación de Colorado votó para aprobar las decisiones finales sobre las apelaciones de escuelas y distritos que no estuvieron de acuerdo con su calificación anual de desempeño publicada por primera vez en septiembre.

Este año, el estado recibió solicitudes para reconsiderar 15 calificaciones de distritos y 79 de escuelas, en comparación con 10 distritos y 81 apelaciones de calificaciones escolares del año pasado. De estas solicitudes, el estado aprobó 85 cambios de calificación, incluyendo 22 solicitudes para escuelas de Denver. Entre las apelaciones denegadas se encontraba la solicitud de Adams 14 para modificar la calificación de su distrito.

Adams 14, el distrito con el mayor número de calificaciones bajas a nivel estatal, se encuentra en su undécimo año con calificaciones bajas. La calificación del distrito para 2024, de “mejora prioritaria”, es la segunda más baja para los distritos y está identificada por el color naranja. Es la misma calificación que el distrito recibió en 2023.

El estado está obligado a intervenir y ordenar un plan de acción cuando una escuela o distrito acumula cinco años consecutivos de calificaciones bajas.

Una vez bajo planes ordenados por el estado, una escuela o distrito debe obtener al menos una calificación de “mejora”, identificada por el color amarillo, un nivel por encima de “mejora prioritaria”, durante al menos dos años consecutivos, para que se suspenda la intervención estatal.

A pesar de numerosos planes de mejora y órdenes estatales para Adams 14, el distrito no ha logrado obtener una calificación de mejora ni una sola vez en más de una década.

En los últimos meses, los líderes del distrito han solicitado al estado que reconsidere la calificación del distrito, así como la forma en que evalúa el desempeño de las escuelas, teniendo en cuenta factores ambientales y el impacto que la contaminación tiene sobre los niños. El distrito también pidió al estado que reconsiderara el uso de los datos de SAT y PSAT en las calificaciones de este año, debido a las grandes brechas de desempeño y el reconocimiento de que las caídas en los puntajes de secundaria fueron, al menos en parte, consecuencia de los cambios en el formato de las pruebas.

Y en la solicitud oficial de reconsideración que revisó el estado, el distrito pidió que se excluyeran los datos de su escuela secundaria alternativa de la calificación del distrito.

Los funcionarios estatales explicaron que los estatutos y las reglas preestablecidas dictan las condiciones necesarias para cambiar la calificación de un distrito. En casos donde una escuela alternativa obtiene la calificación más alta posible – la de desempeño – y al excluir esos datos se eleva la calificación del distrito lo suficiente como para ascender un nivel, el estado permite esa exclusión. Para Adams 14, ninguna de esas condiciones se cumplió.

En una carta redactada por los abogados del estado para responder a Adams 14, los funcionarios negaron que algunos de los desafíos raciales y ambientales enfrentados por la comunidad hayan influido en la calificación del distrito.

“El departamento reconoce y no desestima los desafíos que enfrenta la comunidad de Commerce City – los impactos de contaminación, la pobreza, la inseguridad alimentaria y la violencia en una comunidad con un porcentaje muy alto de estudiantes multilingües y altas tasas de ausentismo. El departamento realmente desea seguir siendo un socio en el abordaje de estos problemas en beneficio de los estudiantes de Adams 14″, establece la carta. “Al mismo tiempo, el sistema de rendición de cuentas no está diseñado actualmente para ajustar las calificaciones finales en función de dichos desafíos”.

Para sus escuelas, Adams 14 tuvo éxito al apelar siete calificaciones.

Entre ellas, las dos escuelas secundarias del distrito ahora tendrán la etiqueta de “datos insuficientes” para una calificación, debido a la baja participación en las pruebas. Las otras cinco apelaciones exitosas fueron para escuelas primarias, donde el distrito presentó datos adicionales de pruebas locales.

Con todas las calificaciones finalizadas, este año Adams 14 tuvo dos escuelas con calificaciones mejoradas y otras dos con calificaciones más bajas, en comparación con el año pasado.

A pesar de haber logrado cambiar su calificación de “recuperación” a “mejora prioritaria”, la escuela primaria Alsup continuará avanzando en su tercer año dentro del proceso estatal hacia la intervención.

Traducido por Jackie Ramirez

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Colorado top education leaders take a closer look at state of multilingual learners

2025-01-08T23:55:59+00:00

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The number of Colorado students who are learning English as a new language is expected to continue to increase – and State Board members are taking a closer look at their performance.

The Colorado Department of Education on Wednesday presented a State of the State on multilingual learners — the term the state uses to identify students who need services as they learn English as a new language, formerly referred to as English language learners. The presentation signals a greater interest from the State Board in how those students are doing.

In the 2023-24 school year, Colorado identified 114,482 multilingual learners, up from 109,780 in 2022-23, but still lower than 122,976 identified in 2019-20. Those latest numbers mean about 13.4% of all Colorado students are learning English as a new language, similar to 13.9% in 2019-20.

One difference in the population, however, is that a larger portion of those students are considered not-English proficient, meaning they are at the lowest level of fluency, just starting to learn English. In 2023-24, there were 38,036 students identified as not-English proficient, up from 29,147 in 2019.

The update reiterated some previous data that shows that this group of students has struggled to recover academically from disruptions at the beginning of the pandemic compared to other students.

It also showed that statewide, fewer students are reaching English proficiency test levels that allow them to be considered to exit the need for federally-required support services.

But it also showed that students who do reach English proficiency and exit services typically score similarly to native English speakers, although a gap remains on the SAT test high school students take.

When state board members asked about the challenges districts face in educating these students, Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said one of the largest is in finding enough highly qualified staff members who are trained or bilingual for certain models.

State Board members suggested that one of the ways to look at the effectiveness of school programs to educate English learners would be to look at how students move through language proficiency levels.

Students who are learning English as a new language take a test each year that determines their language abilities in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students are placed in levels one through six depending on how much English they understand.

Staff for the Colorado Department of Education said Wednesday they believe it takes students about five to eight years to reach fluency in English at a level adequate for academic learning. They said the department is taking a closer look at tracking students who get stuck and might take longer than that to learn the language.

The department is also attempting to highlight more good work schools are doing with English learners. Officials started Wednesday by highlighting the Denver Language School, a charter school that focuses on an immersion model and has about 12% of its students identified as English learners. The school has high ratings and has been improving, officials said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Un superintendente vio como una redada de inmigración “desgarradora” alteró sus escuelas y comunidades. Este es su consejo.

2024-12-23T19:20:00+00:00

Read in English.

Faltaban apenas dos semanas para el final del semestre y el comienzo de las vacaciones en 2006, cuando el superintendente Steve Joel recibió una llamada telefónica del jefe de la policía local. Que agentes federales de inmigración estaban haciendo redadas en su comunidad.

En ese momento, Joel supo que habría estudiantes que no tendrían a sus padres para ir a casa ese día. Para las 8:30 de la mañana, “estábamos en una desesperación absoluta”, recordó Joel.

Joel recuerda que el día de la redada se sintió como las 24 horas más largas de su carrera, y le preocupa que líderes escolares en Colorado pasen por una situación similar muy pronto.

Joel compartió esta experiencia en la reciente conferencia de la Asociación de Consejos Escolares de Colorado en Colorado Springs.

Docenas de funcionarios en educación asistieron a la sesión para escuchar a Joel hablar acerca de qué esperar y cómo los distritos escolares pueden prepararse para las posibles deportaciones masivas que se avecinan y que el presidente electo Donald Trump ha prometido, y que podrían separar a los niños de sus padres, y crear una serie de problemas para las escuelas.

La semana pasada, NBC informó que la administración entrante de Trump tiene planes de eliminar la habitual práctica de no realizar controles de inmigración en las escuelas, hospitales e iglesias. Un poderoso grupo conservador vinculado a Trump también ha compartido un proyecto para apelar una decisión de la Corte Suprema que protege el derecho de los niños indocumentados de asistir a las escuelas públicas.

La redada de inmigración en 2006 tuvo lugar en una planta procesadora de alimentos cuando Joel era superintendente del distrito escolar de Grand Island en Nebraska. Joel compartió que alrededor de 1.400 de los 10.000 estudiantes del distrito escolar tenían padres que trabajaban en la planta. Algunos de esos padres tenían estatus legal, pero sin pruebas, algunos fueron detenidos y arrestados de todos modos.

“Estén preparados”, insistió Joel a los funcionarios en educación. “Su comunidad, sus padres, sus líderes, su estado, se lo agradecerán”.

Hasta ahora, la mayoría de los líderes escolares de Colorado han guardado silencio sobre los posibles planes que puedan estar redactando para lidiar con las deportaciones masivas que afectarían a sus comunidades.

Líderes en la escuelas Adams 14 están realizando seminarios para que las familias “conozcan sus derechos” y están capacitando al personal de las oficinas en la escuelas para que dirijan a las autoridades federales a los equipos legales del distrito o los directores de seguridad.

A continuación, se incluyen algunos de los consejos que Joel aprendió en base a su experiencia:

Tenga un mensaje listo para las familias

A medida que las familias en nuestra comunidad se enteraron de las redadas de inmigración, el distrito escolar comenzó a recibir llamadas sin parar, dijo Joel.

Los familiares llamaban para preguntar qué debían hacer.

“Fue desgarrador”, dijo Joel. También se refirió a que los líderes escolares deberían tener respuestas listas para compartir con las familias.

Para alrededor del mediodía, su distrito escolar había creado un plan para establecer un centro de acogida en una de las escuelas del distrito para cualquier niño cuyos padres habían sido detenidos y necesitaban un lugar donde quedarse. El distrito realizó una conferencia de prensa para informar a la comunidad sobre el plan y dónde podían acudir las personas para reunirse con los estudiantes afectados.

Joel también compartió que cuando se corrió la voz, los estudiantes de secundaria salieron de sus clases, y fueron a las escuelas primarias a buscar a sus hermanos y luego a esconderse.

“No estábamos preparados para eso”, dijo Joel.

Como parte de su mensaje ese día, Joel se enfocó en asegurarle a la comunidad de que las escuelas eran un lugar seguro para ellos. El distrito de aproximadamente 10.000 estudiantes se redujo por 2.500. Algunos regresaron lentamente en las semanas posteriores a la redada, pero alrededor de 500 estudiantes nunca más regresaron.

Una cosa de las que dijo y que se arrepintió en decir, fue decir que las autoridades de inmigración no podrían ingresar a la propiedad escolar. En ese momento, él se sintió motivado a detenerlos él mismo si fuera necesario.

Poco después de que se emitiera ese comunicado, recibió una llamada del líder de la operación de control de inmigración.

Recuerda Joel diciéndole “Quiero que sepa que está equivocado…que si queremos entrar en sus escuelas, podemos hacerlo ya que tenemos la jurisdicción. Pero le prometo que no lo haremos.”

Los funcionarios en educación no tienen una respuesta clara si las escuelas tienen la autoridad para impedir que los funcionarios de inmigración entren en las escuelas hoy en día.

Joe Salazar, un abogado de Adams 14 que asistió a la charla de Joel, le dijo al grupo que, en su opinión — basado en un dictamen de una corte estatal este verano — las órdenes de inmigración no se consideran órdenes judiciales en Colorado y que las escuelas tienen derecho a impedir el acceso a los funcionarios.

En respuesta a los reportes de que Trump permitiría la implementación de la ley de inmigración en las escuelas, las Escuelas Públicas de Denver publicaron una declaración en la que señalan que, según la política actual del distrito, “no se permitirán actividades de control de las leyes federales de inmigración en nuestras escuelas, en las rutas de transporte, en las propiedades del DPS o durante las actividades escolares”.

DPS dijo que está comprometido a proporcionar entornos escolares seguros para todos los estudiantes, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Pero el distrito también recomienda a las familias a tener actualizada su información de contacto de emergencia e identificar quién está autorizado para recoger a sus hijos si los padres no pueden hacerlo.

Tener una forma de verificar quiénes son las personas autorizadas

Cuando el distrito se estaba preparando para reunir a los estudiantes con familiares que pudieran acogerlos, Joel dijo que fue necesario implementar una forma de verificar que las personas que decían ser familiares realmente lo fueran.

Comentó que hicieron que estudiantes y sus maestros confirmaran la relación que tenían con el miembro de la familia a los que fueron entregados.

Además, en una veintena de casos maestros se ofrecieron como voluntarios para acoger a un estudiante que no tenía un pariente confirmado con quien quedarse una o dos noches. Pero, el distrito trató de limitar esos casos debido a las preocupaciones del equipo legal del distrito sobre las responsabilidades.

Tener una lista de estudiantes que podrían verse afectados

Joel sugirió que los distritos escolares creen una lista de estudiantes que podrían verse afectados en el caso de redadas masivas de inmigración.

Pero hacerlo no es necesariamente sencillo. Alex Marrero, superintendente de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, le preguntó a Joel cómo deberían hacerlo los distritos, dado que no recopilan información sobre inmigración de los estudiantes o las familias. (El Departamento de Educación de los EE. UU. ha dicho que las escuelas no pueden recopilar información sobre el estatus migratorio de los estudiantes y las familias para impedirles servicios, ya que por ley deben servir a los alumnos independientemente de su situación de inmigración. Joel no sugirió recopilar esta información.)

Joel respondió que su distrito recogió información sobre los empleadores de los padres. Así que la mañana de la redada, el distrito pudo identificar rápidamente a los estudiantes cuyos padres trabajaban en el lugar de trabajo que había sido afectado. No todos los familiares de los estudiantes eran indocumentados o estaban detenidos, pero esta herramienta le dio al distrito una posible lista de estudiantes afectados.

Joel sugirió a los distritos en pensar en los empleadores más grandes de su comunidad y que emplean a inmigrantes. Incluso podrían abrir una línea de comunicación con esos empleadores antes de cualquier posible redada.

Un portavoz del distrito de Denver dijo que DPS tampoco recopila información sobre el lugar de trabajo de los padres.

Si las escuelas de Grand Island no hubieran tenido eso, Joel dijo que probablemente habría pedido al personal escolar que identificara a los estudiantes que podrían haber sido afectados.

Tener una forma de recaudar dinero para los estudiantes

Sabiendo que el distrito podría necesitar ayudar a albergar, transportar o alimentar a algunos estudiantes, Joel dijo que su distrito decidió recaudar dinero y alienta a los distritos a tener un sistema preparado para recibir donaciones.

“Los fondos llegaron como nunca hubiera esperado”, dijo Joel.

Joel recuerda que uno de los primeros cheques que recibió vino de una fuente inesperada.

Joel tenía un vecino que era un amigo que estaba muy involucrado en el Partido Republicano local. Cada vez que los impuestos a la propiedad del hombre subían en cualquier cantidad, interrogaba a Joel sobre si ese dinero se destinaba a la educación de niños indocumentados, dijo Joel.

Pero la mañana de la redada, el hombre se presentó en la oficina de Joel con un “gran cheque”.

“Yo también soy padre y odio lo que esto les está haciendo a las familias”, recordó Joel lo que dijo el hombre.

El dinero que recaudó el distrito ayudó a los estudiantes y las familias durante semanas.

Joel dijo que unos días después de la redada, un director lo llamó para pedirle ayuda para hablar con una estudiante.

La estudiante era una joven que estaba embarazada y estaba a dos semanas de graduarse. Sus padres habían sido detenidos y cuando la niña se enteró de dónde estaban, estaba ansiosa por reunirse con ellos.

El director le suplicaba que se quedara en la escuela y terminara su diploma primero.

Finalmente, Joel y el director lograron convencer a la niña de que se quedara, con la promesa de ayudarle a quedarse en el apartamento donde vivía con sus padres. El distrito pagó la comida, los servicios públicos y otras facturas hasta el final del semestre para que la niña pudiera obtener su diploma.

Al hacer visitas domiciliarias en busca de niños en los días posteriores a la redada, el personal escolar muchas veces encontró a niños hablando a través de una ventana para decir que tenían instrucciones de no abrir la puerta. Por lo tanto, los directores y los trabajadores sociales llevaron a esas familias comida, tareas escolares y otras necesidades, ya que estaban tratando de recuperar su confianza y lograr que regresaran a las escuelas.

Trabaje con grupos comunitarios, líderes religiosos y otros

Joel también resaltó que los distritos escolares deben pedir ayuda a otros líderes de la comunidad. El día de la redada convocó a una reunión con líderes comunitarios y a pesar del poco tiempo de aviso, dijo que en una hora tuvo una gran participación.

“Hubo mucho miedo y bastante rabia”, dijo. “Estaban dolidos, enfadados. Nada de eso iba realmente dirigido a nosotros, pero así se sentía”.

Ayudaría si los distritos escolares comienzan a tener conversaciones con esas organizaciones y esos líderes en anticipación de cualquier redada.

Entre otros consejos, que Joel dio a los líderes escolares fue que los distritos deben estar preparados de que el día de una redada será un día conmovedor para el personal de las escuelas y que no todos los funcionarios del personal podrán ayudar a los estudiantes y las familias. También dijo que habrán amenazas de personas que no están de acuerdo con el enfoque del distrito escolar para ayudar a las familias.

Dijo que lo más importante es recordar que hay que centrarse en los niños y defenderlos.

“La posición que adoptamos fue” “Si no puedes defender a los niños, ¿qué estás haciendo en el consejo escolar?”, dijo Joel.

Traducido por Rocky Mountain Language Co-op

Colorado school leaders worried about immigration raids hear from one who experienced it

2024-12-17T20:29:32+00:00

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It was just two weeks from the end of the semester and the start of holiday break in 2006, when Superintendent Steve Joel got a phone call from the police chief. Federal immigration agents were raiding his community.

Immediately, Joel said he knew there would be students who would not have parents to go home to that day. By 8:30 a.m., “we were in absolute despair,” Joel recalled.

Joel now looks back on the day of the raid as the longest 24 hours of his career, and worries school leaders in Colorado will face a similar situation soon.

Joel shared his memories of that experience at the recent Colorado Association of School Boards conference in Colorado Springs.

Dozens of education officials attended the session to hear from Joel about what to expect and how they might prepare for the possible upcoming mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump that could split kids from parents and create a host of problems for schools.

Last week, NBC reported the incoming Trump administration has plans to remove the long-standing practice of not conducting immigration enforcement at schools, hospitals, and churches. An influential conservative group with ties to Trump has also shared a blueprint to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that protects undocumented children’s right to go to public schools.

The 2006 immigration raid took place at a food processing plant when Joel was superintendent of Nebraska’s Grand Island school district. About 1,400 of the school district’s 10,000 students had parents working at the plant, he said. Some of those parents had legal status, but without proof on them, some were detained and rounded up anyway.

“Be prepared,” he urged school officials. “Your community, your parents, your leaders, your state, they’ll appreciate you for it.”

So far, most Colorado school leaders have been quiet about any possible plans they may be drafting to deal with mass deportations affecting their community.

Adams 14 school leaders are holding “know your rights” seminars for families, and training front office staff to direct federal authorities to the district’s legal team or director of security.

Here’s some of the advice Joel had based on his experience:

Have a message ready for families

As families in the community learned about the immigration raids, the school district began fielding nonstop calls, Joel said.

Relatives were calling, asking what they should do.

“It was gut wrenching,” he said. Joel said school leaders should have responses ready to share with families.

By around midday his district had created a plan to set up a triage at one of the district’s schools for any children whose parents had been detained and needed a place to stay. The district held a press conference to let the community know the plan and where people could come to reunite with affected students.

Joel also said that as word got out, they saw high school students walk out of class, go to the elementary schools to pick up their siblings, and then go into hiding.

“We weren’t quite ready for that,” Joel said.

As part of his message that day, Joel said he was attempting to assure the community that schools were safe. The district of about 10,000 students was down by 2,500 students the next day. Some slowly returned in the weeks following the raid, but about 500 students didn’t come back.

He said one thing he regretted was saying that immigration authorities would not be allowed on school property. In that moment, he was motivated to stop them himself if needed, he said.

Soon after that comment aired, he received a call from the leader of the immigration enforcement operation.

“He said, ‘I want you to know you’re wrong, we have jurisdiction. If we want to go into your schools we can. But I promise you, we won’t,’” Joel recalled.

Education officials don’t have a clear answer to the question of whether schools have the authority to stop immigration officials from entering schools today.

Joe Salazar, an attorney for Adams 14 who attended Joel’s talk, told the group that in his view — based on a state court ruling from this summer — immigration warrants aren’t considered warrants in Colorado and that schools do have the right to turn officials away.

In response to reports that Trump would permit immigration enforcement in schools, Denver Public Schools published a statement noting that according to current district policy, “federal immigration law enforcement activities would not be permitted at our schools, on transportation routes, on DPS property, or during school activities.”

DPS said it is committed to providing safe learning environments for all students regardless of their immigration status.

But the district also is encouraging families to have their emergency contact information updated and to identify who is authorized to pick up their children if parents can’t.

Have a way to verify who people are

When the district was preparing to reunite students with relatives who could take them in, Joel said security reminded him that they needed a way to verify that the people claiming to be relatives really were.

He said they had students and teachers confirm the relation to the family member they were released to.

In about a dozen cases, Joel said, teachers who had volunteered took in a student who did not have a confirmed relative to stay with for a night or two. But, he said, the district tried to limit those cases because of the district legal team’s concerns about liabilities.

Have a list of students who might be affected

Joel suggested that school districts create a list of students who could be affected in the case of mass immigration raids.

But doing so isn’t necessarily straightforward. Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, asked Joel how districts should do that, given that they don’t collect immigration information about students or families. (The U.S. Department of Education has said schools may not collect information about students’ and families’ immigration status in order to deny them services, because by law they have to serve students regardless of their status. Joel did not suggest collecting that.)

Joel responded that his district did collect information about parent employers. So on the morning of the raid, the district was able to quickly identify students who had parents working at the worksite that had been impacted. Not all students’ families were undocumented or detained, but it gave the district a list of students to check in with.

Joel suggested districts can think about the larger employers in their community who might employ immigrant parents. They can even open a line of communication with those employers ahead of any possible raids.

A spokesperson for the Denver district said that DPS doesn’t collect information about parents’ place of employment either.

If Grand Island schools had lacked that, Joel said he would have probably asked staff to identify the students they thought were impacted.

Have a way to raise money for students

Knowing the district may need to help house, transport, or feed some children, Joel said his district decided to raise money, and he encourages districts to have a system prepared to take in donations.

“The funds flowed in like I would have never expected,” Joel said.

Joel recalls that one of the first checks he received came from an unexpected source.

Joel had a neighbor who was a friend who was heavily involved in the local Republican Party, Joel said. Every time the man’s property taxes went up by any amount, he grilled Joel about whether that money was going to educating undocumented children, Joel said.

But on the morning of the raid, the man showed up to Joel’s office with a “big check.”

“‘I’m a daddy too and I hate what this is doing to families,’” Joel recalled the man telling him.

The money the district collected helped students and families for weeks.

Joel said that a few days after the raid, a principal called him for help to talk to a student.

The student was a young girl who was pregnant and was two weeks away from graduating. Both of her parents had been detained, and once the girl found out where her parents were, she was anxious to join them.

The principal was pleading with her to stay in school and finish her diploma first.

Finally, Joel and the principal were able to talk the girl into staying, with the promise of helping her stay in the apartment she had been sharing with her parents. The district paid for food, utilities, and other bills through the end of the semester so the girl could get her diploma.

When doing home visits looking for children in the days after the raid, school staff sometimes found children speaking through a window to say they were under instructions not to open the door. So, principals and social workers also brought those families food, school work, or other necessities as they were trying to earn back their trust and get them back in schools.

Work with community groups, faith leaders, and others

Joel also emphasized that school districts should call on other leaders in the community to help. On the day of the raid, when he reached out to groups, he called a meeting. Despite the short notice, he said within an hour he had a great turnout.

“There’s going to be a lot of fear and quite a bit of anger,” he said. “They were hurting, mad.

None of it was really directed at us, but it sure felt that way.”

It can help if school districts start having conversations with those organizations and leaders before any raids.

Among other pieces of advice, Joel told school leaders that they should be prepared for a day of a raid to be an emotional day for staff, and to know that not all staff will be able to handle working on helping students and families. There will also be threats from people who don’t agree with the school district’s approach to helping families, he said.

He said the biggest thing is remembering to keep it about the children and advocating for them.

“If you can’t advocate for kids, what are you doing on the board?” Joel said. “That’s sort of the position we took.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora adoptan un plan de estudios para aprender inglés en high school

2024-12-13T01:31:50+00:00

Read in English.

En Aurora, los estudiantes de high school que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma pasan 45 minutos al día en una clase especialmente diseñada para ayudarlos con sus habilidades en el lenguaje.

Pero sus maestros habían tenido que diseñar ellos mismos las lecciones, las cuales son clave para ayudar a los estudiantes a entender el resto de sus clases con compañeros cuya lengua materna es el inglés.

Después de un programa piloto que empezó el año escolar pasado, las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora están pidiéndole al consejo escolar que apruebe este mes un plan de estudios para esas clases.

Casi el 40 por ciento de los casi 40,000 estudiantes en las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora están aprendiendo inglés.

Alice Wilcox, una de las consultoras de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa que trabajan con maestros líderes en el desarrollo del idioma inglés, dijo que los maestros han estado pidiendo un plan de estudios. “Querían tiempo para enfocarse en estrategias de enseñanza”, Wilcox dijo. “Toma mucho esfuerzo examinar los estándares, crear evaluaciones, y luego crear unidades. Esto levanta la carga de los maestros”.

Alrededor del estado, estudiantes de high school en Colorado tuvieron grandes reducciones en pruebas estatales tomadas en la primavera de 2024, pero los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés tuvieron disminuciones desproporcionadamente grandes.

Por ejemplo, el porcentaje de estudiantes de 9º grado en o por encima del estándar de preparación universitaria para matemáticas en el estado disminuyó al 40 por ciento, en comparación con el 47 por ciento en 2023. El estado modificó temporalmente los requisitos de graduación para responder a resultados más bajos en todos los niveles de high school.

En Aurora, el distrito señaló los datos específicos a su distrito que demuestran brechas en crecimiento entre los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y los estudiantes que no están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma. Los estudiantes de 10º grado en Aurora y que están aprendiendo inglés obtuvieron una calificación promedio en lectura de 320 en la prueba PSAT, una reducción en comparación con 358 en 2022. Mientras tanto, los estudiantes de 10º grado que ya hablan inglés obtuvieron una calificación promedio en lectura de 442 este años, un aumento en comparación con 435 en 2022.

Otros datos de Aurora muestran que los estudiantes de high school que están tomando la prueba ACCESS, la cual evalúa el dominio del inglés de todos los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, han demostrado una reducción en sus resultados de crecimiento. Los estudiantes multilingües también tienen menos probabilidad de estar en camino a graduarse.

Líderes del distrito dijeron que los datos muestran que sus estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés necesitan más apoyo en high school. Aurora empezó a adoptar materiales de un plan de estudios para clases de desarrollo del idioma inglés en 2019, empezando en el nivel primario, y en 2020 adoptó materiales para escuelas de educación media.

En esas escuelas primarias y de educación media, los estudiantes dominan el inglés por encima del promedio, y en las escuelas primarias, sus aptitudes siguen aumentando.

Líderes del distrito dijeron que esperan que, al proporcionarles a los maestros de high school un plan de estudios, eso ayude a que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés mejoren su adquisición del idioma y tengan más éxito en otras clases y pruebas.

El distrito empezó un programa piloto el año pasado para evaluar materiales de high school, pero lo extendió a este año para reunir más datos. Este otoño, las siete high schools integrales del distrito aceptaron participar y probar los materiales.

Al consejo le están pidiendo que apruebe los materiales de Vista Higher Learning para high school. Los materiales incluyen un programa llamado Get Ready! (“¡Prepárate!”) para estudiantes recién llegados que están empezando a aprender el idioma, y Engage (“Participa”), otra serie de materiales para estudiantes más avanzados.

El distrito encuestó a los maestros y estudiantes que probaron los materiales durante los últimos meses. Según datos del distrito, el 85 por ciento de los 746 estudiantes que respondieron dijeron que los materiales los apoyaron en sus otras clases.

Los materiales para estudiantes recién llegados recibieron el respaldo del 91 por ciento de los maestros, mientras que el 67 por ciento de los maestros estuvieron a favor de adoptar el plan de estudios Engage.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que a algunos maestros les preocupa que los materiales de Engage sean demasiado avanzados y obliguen a los estudiantes a dar un gran salto en su transición de las lecciones para recién llegados. Pero los líderes también dijeron que la editorial estaba trabajando con el distrito para realizar algunas modificaciones y diseñar cursos de capacitación para que los maestros apoyen a los estudiantes en esa transición.

Missy Winternitz, otra de las consultoras de high school en el distrito, dijo que a los maestros les gustó que los materiales del plan de estudios incluyan contenido que corresponda con otras materias que los estudiantes están aprendiendo. También ayudó a los maestros para que planearan y colaboraran entre ellos.

Y los líderes dijeron que, al visitar los salones de clase durante el programa piloto, notaron que los estudiantes estaban participando y practicando sus habilidades de escritura, las cuales a veces se ignoran como parte del aprendizaje de un idioma, dijeron. Prácticas para hablar, escuchar y leer también están incorporadas.

El plan de estudios para recién llegados empieza con un lenguaje inicial que los estudiantes necesitan enseguida, e incluye un montón de práctica para hablar.

Conforme los maestros siguen recibiendo grandes cantidades de estudiantes recién llegados al país, Renna Martinez, una consultora de recién llegados en el distrito, dijo que los maestros que estaban probando los materiales encontraron que son útiles hasta cuando los estudiantes empiezan a medio año escolar.

“No importa cuándo entre un estudiante durante este año, el plan de estudios realmente proporciona un buen punto de entrada para iniciar o continuar su adquisición del inglés”, Martinez dijo.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que también es importante que los estudiantes se sientan apreciados y representados en el plan de estudios. Más del 56 por ciento de los estudiantes que respondieron a la encuesta dijeron que las lecciones incluyeron experiencias de su cultura.

“Queremos que nuestros estudiantes se sientan realmente orgullosos de ser bilingües y de tener un origen abundante y diverso”, dijo Annalee McBee, la directora de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa en el distrito. “Estamos en una mejor situación en este mundo porque tenemos una forma diversa de pensar”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Adams 14 successful in challenging some ratings, but not the overall low district rating

2024-12-12T00:55:41+00:00

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The Adams 14 school district will not have an improved performance rating this year, despite many district complaints about the state’s system.

On Wednesday, the Colorado State Board of Education voted to approve the final decisions on appeals from schools and districts that didn’t agree with their annual performance rating, first released in September.

The state this year received requests to reconsider 15 district ratings and 79 school ratings, compared to 10 district and 81 school ratings appeals last year. Of those requests, the state approved 85 ratings changes, including 22 requests for Denver schools. Among the appeals denied was Adams 14’s request to change its district rating.

Adams 14, the district with the longest number of low state ratings, is on year 11 of low ratings. The district’s rating for 2024 of priority improvement is the second-lowest rating for districts and is identified by orange. It’s the same rating the district received in 2023.

The state is required to step in and order intervention when a school, or district, has five years of low ratings.

Once under state-ordered plans, a school or district must have at least a rating of improvement, identified by yellow, one rung above priority improvement, for at least two years in a row, for the state intervention to stop.

Despite many improvement plans and state orders for Adams 14, the district has not managed to earn an improvement rating a single time in more than a decade.

Here’s how a task force suggests changing the way schools and districts are rated in Colorado

In the last few months, district leaders have asked the state to reconsider the district’s rating, and the state’s way of evaluating any school’s performance based on environmental factors and the impact pollution has on children. The district also wanted the state to reconsider using SAT and PSAT data in the ratings this year, given large performance gaps, and an acknowledgement that drops in high school scores were at least in part due to changes to the test format.

And in the official Request to Reconsider application the state looked at, the district wanted the state to exclude its alternative high school’s data from its district rating.

State officials explained that statute and predetermined rules dictate the conditions needed to change a district’s rating. In a case where an alternative school earns the highest rating possible – of performance – and when removing that data raises a district’s rating enough to move up a level, the state allows that exclusion. For Adams 14, neither of those conditions were met.

In a letter drafted by state lawyers to respond to Adams 14, officials denied that some of the racial and environmental challenges faced by the community factored into the district’s rating.

“The department recognizes and does not discount the challenges facing the Commerce City community – the impacts of pollution, poverty, food insecurity, and violence in a community with a very high percentage of multilingual learners and high rates of absenteeism. The department very much wants to continue to be a partner in addressing these issues for the benefit of the students of Adams 14,” the letter states. “At the same time, the accountability system is not currently designed to adjust final ratings based on such challenges.”

For its schools, however, Adams 14 was successful in appealing seven ratings.

Among those, the district’s two middle schools will now have a label of insufficient data for a rating, based on low test participation. The other five successful appeals were for elementary schools where the district submitted additional local test data.

With all the ratings finalized, Adams 14 this year had two schools with improved ratings and two others with lower ratings, compared to last year.

Alsup Elementary, despite its successful appeal from turnaround to priority improvement, will move forward, now on year three, on the state’s timeline toward intervention.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

In Aurora high schools, students learning English as a new language might get new materials

2024-12-11T19:24:21+00:00

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In Aurora, high school students who are learning English as a new language spend 45 minutes per day in a class specifically designed to help them improve their language skills.

But their teachers have been on their own to design the lessons that are key to helping students understand the rest of their classes with native English speakers.

After a pilot program that began last school year, Aurora Public Schools is asking the school board to approve a curriculum this month for those classes.

Almost 40% of the almost 40,000 students in Aurora Public Schools are English learners.

Alice Wilcox, one of the culturally and linguistically diverse education consultants who work with English language development teacher leaders, said teachers had been requesting a curriculum. “They wanted time to focus on instructional strategies,” Wilcox said. “It takes a lot of effort to look at the standards, create assessments and then create units. This takes the lift off of teachers.”

Statewide, Colorado high school students saw large decreases in scores from state tests taken in the spring of 2024, but students learning English had disproportionately larger decreases.

For instance, the percentage of ninth graders at or above the state’s college readiness benchmark in math fell to 40% from 47% in 2023. The state temporarily adjusted graduation requirements to account for the lower scores across high school levels.

In Aurora, the district pointed to their district-specific data showing widening gaps for English learners compared to students not learning English as a new language. Tenth graders in Aurora who are English learners had an average reading score of 320 on the PSAT test, down from 358 in 2022, while 10th graders who aren’t English learners had an average reading score of 442 this year, up from 435 in 2022.

Other Aurora data shows that high school students taking the ACCESS test, which measures English proficiency for all English learners, have shown declining growth scores. Multilingual learners are also less likely to be on track to graduate.

District leaders said the data show their English learners need more support at the high school level. Aurora started adopting curriculum materials for English language development classes in 2019, starting at the elementary level, and in 2020 adopted materials for middle schools.

In those elementary and middle schools, growth in English proficiency is above average, and at the elementary schools, proficiency is still increasing.

District leaders said they expect that providing curriculum for high school teachers should help English learners improve their language acquisition and be more successful in other classes and on tests.

The district started a pilot last year to evaluate high school materials but extended it this year to gather more data. This fall, all seven of the district’s comprehensive high schools opted in and tried the materials.

The board is being asked to approve the materials for high school from Vista Higher Learning. The materials include a program called Get Ready! for newcomers who are just starting to learn the language, and Engage, another set of materials for students who are farther along.

The district surveyed the teachers and students who tested the materials for the last few months. According to district data, 85% of 746 students who responded said the materials supported them in their other classes.

The materials for newcomers had support from 91% of teachers, while 67% of teachers were in favor of adopting the Engage curriculum.

District leaders said some teachers worried that the Engage materials were too advanced and required a big jump for students transitioning from the newcomer lessons. But leaders also said the publisher was working with the district on making some adjustments and designing training for teachers to support students in making those jumps.

Missy Winternitz, another of the district’s high school consultants, said teachers liked that the curriculum materials include content that applies to other subjects students are learning. It also helped teachers plan and collaborate with each other.

And leaders said they noticed when visiting classrooms during the pilot that students were engaged and practicing writing skills, which they said sometimes are overlooked as part of learning a language. Speaking, listening, and reading practice are also incorporated.

The curriculum for newcomers starts off with introductory language that students need right away and includes a lot of speaking practice.

As teachers continue to see large numbers of new-to-country students, Renna Martinez, a district newcomer consultant, said that teachers piloting the materials found them to be helpful even when students start mid-year.

“No matter when a student enters within this year, the curriculum really provides a good entry point to start or continue their English acquisition,” Martinez said.

District leaders said it’s also important that students feel valued and represented in the curriculum. More than 56% of the students who responded to the survey said the lessons included experiences from their culture.

“We want our students to feel really proud about being bilingual and having a rich diverse background,” said Annalee McBee, the district’s director of culturally and linguistically diverse education. “We’re a better place in this world because we have diverse thinking.”

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Aurora elementary and middle school students using new English language development curriculum made above average growth in English proficiency. A previous version of the story said their English proficiency was above average.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco, Adams 12 among districts that could see fewer Title I schools after Medicaid cuts

2024-12-11T05:40:52+00:00

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This fall, fewer students at some Colorado schools are being counted as at-risk because pandemic-era rules for Medicaid left many families suddenly unenrolled by spring 2024.

Students enrolled in Medicaid are automatically counted as at-risk students in calculations about funding. A drop in the number of at-risk students can cause some schools to lose federal Title I funding used to help those students, who generally have higher educational or social-emotional needs.

The Jeffco district, the second largest in Colorado, told its school board last month that 6,000 of the district’s approximately 75,600 students were unenrolled from Medicaid.

At some schools, the decrease in at-risk students may be enough to drop a school below the required threshold to receive Title I money. Currently in Jeffco, that threshold is 55%, but may change for next year.

Title I funding varies between schools and districts, but in Jeffco, on average schools get about $900 extra for each at-risk student. The money is used to hire additional staff and provide extra resources.

Some families are worried that their children’s schools could lose that funding. Edgewater Elementary School parent Angela Cryan took her concerns to the Jeffco school board last month.

“We are so concerned, and the families that are here tonight with me are so concerned, about losing the funding that is critical even for one year,” Cryan told school board members and the superintendent. “Whatever that amount is, it is too much to lose for our students.”

Superintendent Tracy Dorland told Cryan not to fear. Dorland said Edgewater Elementary would still qualify for Title I funds next school year.

District officials have refused to share school-level data, saying that everything is still being reviewed for accuracy. Official enrollment demographic data is usually published by the state in January.

For students who were unenrolled or those who aren’t eligible for Medicaid, including students from families that may not have legal status, parents can still fill out free and reduced-price lunch forms and, if eligible, be counted in at-risk figures that way.

The district has shared the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The figures are usually similar to at-risk numbers. At-risk counts include all students who are eligible to receive subsidized meals, but also other students including those who receive Medicaid. Overall, the district projects the percentage of students eligible for subsidized meals will be 31% this school year, down from 34% last school year.

The trend of having fewer students eligible for subsidized meals, and fewer at-risk students, is not unexpected, Jeffco leaders told the school board.

“That’s actually about what we thought was going to happen over time,” said Brenna Copeland, chief financial officer for Jeffco Public Schools. “The reality is the counts district-wide are going down, and that’s going to impact, over time, our Title I district-wide.”

Kym LeBlanc-Esparza, deputy superintendent in Jeffco, said the district has not set the percentage threshold that determines which schools will get Title I funding next year.

“We’re still going back and forth, making sure we have exactly what those numbers are,” she said.

Title I trends were worrying districts before the pandemic

Before the pandemic, districts were having to adjust the bar for which schools receive Title I status. Despite declining enrollment and overall stable numbers of students from low-income families, the distribution of those students was not even within districts. Students from high-poverty households tended to be concentrated in select schools. That meant that more schools were more likely to hit the thresholds of 65, 70, or 75% of students in poverty, for example, to qualify for the funding.

More schools qualifying for Title I status in a district can be a problem, because it doesn’t necessarily mean the district is receiving more federal funding for those schools. The federal government has a different calculation based on census data for determining how much funding to send districts.

That data doesn’t take into account school choice laws that allow Colorado students to attend schools outside their neighborhoods, changing the demographic makeup of students at schools when compared to their community.

Districts also have flexibility to determine which schools will receive the money. They specify the percentage of at-risk students schools must have to be considered Title I.

In Jeffco, that bar is currently set at 55%, and this year, 31 schools are receiving Title I funding.

Pandemic-related demographic changes and the state’s 2023 decision to use Medicaid eligibility to determine the number of at-risk students in a school initially made the numbers rise, but those numbers could decrease now in districts like Jeffco and Adams 12.

Jeffco leaders wouldn’t say how many schools could lose the funding if the current threshold of 55% was used for next year. Officials are deciding whether or not to change it.

If the decision causes some schools to lose eligibility, the district can do a phase out so that schools don’t immediately lose the funding when their demographics change, LeBlanc-Esparza said.

In Adams 12, Gina Lanier, the district’s chief financial officer, said the district is seeing a drop of about 3,900 students who qualify as at-risk based on Medicaid eligibility. Last year, about 50% of the district’s nearly 35,000 students qualified for subsidized meals, meaning they were counted as at-risk students.

Overall, Lanier predicts the number of students who qualify for free meals in Adams 12 will have dropped this school year by more than 6%.

Lanier said if Adams 12 keeps the thresholds it currently has for Title I eligibility, five schools will no longer qualify for the funding next school year.

As budget planning gets underway, Lanier said the district will discuss whether to change those thresholds or create a plan to support schools that would lose funding so that it’s phased out instead of immediately going to zero.

In the Aurora school district, leaders have pushed the threshold for how many at-risk students a school must have to receive Title I to the federal government’s maximum allowed limit of 75%. The district had 14 new schools qualify last year and is now at 31.

But Aurora, and other metro area school districts, said they’re not expecting declines in the number of schools qualifying for Title I status.

How one Jeffco school uses Title I funding

Although Title I money is important, it’s not the only source of extra funding for schools with lots of at-risk students. Many districts also direct state and local dollars to these schools.

In Jeffco, for example, the district money given to schools for at-risk students is significantly more than what the schools get for having Title I status. The money is given on a per-student basis regardless of whether a school meets a threshold, which can make the total funding amount less likely to change by large amounts from one year to the next.

Principal Megan Martinez of Deane Elementary in Jeffco said her school in Lakewood has had Title I status for several years, and that the funding is helpful in supporting the needs of her students.

Enrollment at Deane this fall is up compared to what was expected, and Martinez is seeing a major increase in the number of students who are learning English as a new language. Many of the new students are newcomers and English learners.

The percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals appears to be holding steady. Last year, about 82% of Deane’s nearly 300 students qualified for subsidized meals. Martinez said the school helps families fill out the free lunch applications and explains other available benefits.

At Deane, Martinez said she uses the Title I funding primarily to hire teachers to keep class sizes small, or to avoid having to do combined-grade classrooms. The funding also pays for a restorative practice liaison, two interventionists helping teachers work on reading and math instruction, and supplements the school’s mental health resources.

This year, that means that in addition to the full-time social worker paid for by the district based on the number of students who have special needs, Deane’s Title I funds pay for an additional social worker to come in at least two days per week.

“They might support with setting lessons around behavior expectations, they might pull a friendship group or lunch bunch or another targeted group working on relationship skills, or do crisis response,” Martinez said. “We wouldn’t be able to do that without Title funding.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Los puntajes de las pruebas en las escuelas preparatorias de Colorado cayeron, pero los estudiantes que aprenden inglés como nuevo idioma tuvieron caídas más grandes

2024-12-05T23:57:29+00:00

Read in English.

Los estudiantes de inglés en Colorado experimentaron las mayores caídas en los puntajes del PSAT y SAT la primavera pasada, incluso más grandes que las caídas de puntajes experimentadas por todos los estudiantes de la preparatoria en el estado.

Las caídas generales han llevado a discusiones entre los funcionarios del estado sobre sí ajustar los requisitos de graduación de la preparatoria y si los puntajes de la primavera pasada pueden compararse con los puntajes de años anteriores. Ahora, una superintendente de Colorado está planeando preocupaciones sobre si los puntajes del PSAT y SAT en los distritos escolares que sirven a un gran número de estudiantes de inglés deberían incluso usarse para calificar el rendimiento académico de un distrito.

“La tasa de puntos perdidos en los puntajes no es equitativa y no es comparable”, dijo Karla Loría, superintendente de las escuelas Adams 14. “Afecta a los estudiantes multilingües y a los estudiantes con discapacidades a una tasa mayor que a cualquier otro grupo de estudiantes”.

Una de las brechas más grandes en todo el estado, por ejemplo: los estudiantes de 10o grado que no están identificados para recibir servicios de idioma ingles tuvieron una caída promedio de 5 puntos en sus puntajes del PSAT, mientras que los estudiantes de 10o grado que están aprendiendo inglés como nuevo idioma tuvieron una caída promedio de 83 puntos, lo que equivale al 11.6%, o más de 16 veces la de sus compañeros.

Al observar solo los puntajes de matemáticas, los estudiantes de 10o grado que aprenden inglés tuvieron una caída del 13.6% en los puntajes, en comparación con una caída del 1.3% entre los estudiantes de 10o grado que no son aprendices de inglés.

Los estudiantes con discapacidades también experimentaron grandes caídas, aunque no tan grandes como los estudiantes de inglés.

En discusiones previas sobre las caídas generales de 2024, los funcionarios estatales dijeron que es difícil saber cuánto representan una disminución en el rendimiento y cuánto se debe a los cambios en el formato del examen.

El PSAT y SAT digitales que los estudiantes tomaron en la primavera de 2024 fueron adaptativos, lo que significa que las preguntas que los estudiantes veían dependían de cómo respondían a las preguntas anteriores.

Los funcionarios estatales también le dijeron a la Junta Estatal de Educación que es posible que estos resultados más bajos sean una representación más precisa del aprendizaje de los estudiantes que ya se desempeñaban en el rango más bajo de los puntos posibles.

Eso se debe a que, según dicen, antes se les daba a los estudiantes el consejo de adivinar las preguntas que no sabían o cuando se les acababa el tiempo. Y algunas de esas adivinaciones probablemente eran correctas, lo que les ganaba algunos puntos extra. Pero la nueva prueba digital del PSAT y SAT en línea está diseñada para saber cuándo los estudiantes probablemente están adivinando, por lo que, aunque sea correcta, el examen no les otorgará esos puntos.

“Los estudiantes estaban obteniendo crédito por contenido que no sabían”, dijo Christina Wirth-Hawkins, directora de evaluación del Departamento de Educación de Colorado.

Aún así, agregó, el departamento no está diciendo a las escuelas que cambien cómo preparan a los estudiantes para las pruebas, sino que les está diciendo que lo importante es ayudar a los estudiantes a aprender contenido.

Las caídas en las calificaciones de los estudiantes de inglés siguen las preocupaciones planteadas el año pasado

En el Distrito 11 de Colorado Springs, donde aproximadamente el 6% de los 22,700 estudiantes del distrito están identificados como que tienen una habilidad limitada o nula en inglés, los estudiantes de 10o grado que aún no son componentes en inglés experimentaron una caída de 127 puntos en sus calificaciones, en comparación con una caída de 27 puntos para los demás estudiantes.

En Westminster, donde más del 24% de los 7,600 estudiantes del distrito están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma, los estudiantes de 10o grado que están aprendiendo inglés tuvieron una caída promedio de 121 puntos en sus calificaciones, en comparación con una caída de 28 puntos para los que no reciben apoyo en inglés.

En los distritos escolares de Harrison y Fort Morgan, los estudiantes de 10o grado que están aprendiendo inglés experimentaron caídas de 120 puntos en su calificación promedio.

Debido a las grandes brechas, Loría pidió el mes pasado al consejo considerar los exámenes PSAT y SAT que los estudiantes tomaron en la primavera como un examen nuevo y no usarlos en contra de los distritos o escuelas en las evaluaciones por al menos un año.

Le preocupaba que las calificaciones para los distritos que sirven a grandes cantidades de estudiantes en esos subgrupos fueran significativamente más bajas que para otros distritos.

“El impacto es demasiado serio para tomarlo a la ligera”, dijo Loría.

Este otoño ya se han calculado las calificaciones preliminares para las escuelas y los distritos. El estado está revisando las apelaciones antes de que las calificaciones se finalicen. El Departamento de Educación del estado primero realizó un análisis para asegurar que las calificaciones siguieran siendo comparables con el año anterior y fueran justas para ser usadas en las evaluaciones. Basado en el análisis, el estado ajustó los puntajes de corte para las secciones de matemáticas del PSAT y SAT, pero dijo que aún era apropiado usarlas como un factor para evaluar el desempeño de las escuelas y distritos.

El miércoles, después de recibir algunos datos adicionales, la Junta Estatal votó nuevamente para ajustar los puntajes de corte para las calificaciones del próximo año, en particular para los distritos que utilizan un promedio de tres años de los puntajes. Sin embargo, la Junta Estatal no optó por seguir la sugerencia de Loría de excluir los puntajes de consideración.

Un portavoz de College Board, los creadores de los exámenes PSAT y SAT, dijo que en general han encontrado que “los puntajes del SAT de la primavera y el otoño de 2024 son generalmente comparables a los de años anteriores”. Según los informes de datos del sitio web de College Board, los estudiantes cuyo primer idioma no era el inglés experimentaron grandes caídas en los puntajes del PSAT de 10o grado, pero no en los puntajes del SAT de 11o grado.

A nivel nacional, según los datos de College Board, los estudiantes cuyo idioma era algo distinto al inglés experimentaron una caída de 57 puntos en sus puntajes promedio en comparación con el año pasado, mientras que los estudiantes de 10o grado cuyo primer idioma era el inglés tuvieron una caída de 44 puntos.

El voto de la Junta Estatal tiene como objetivo ajustar las expectativas para que las escuelas de Colorado no sean penalizadas por algunas de las caídas en los puntajes, ya que algunas podrían ser debido al cambio en el formato del examen, pero Loría no pensó que fuera suficiente para tener en cuenta las disparidades entre los subgrupos.

Otros distritos no plantearon las mismas preocupaciones.

Estos estudiantes tuvieron más retrasos académicos durante COVID. ¿Cómo están respondiendo las escuelas en Colorado?

Un portavoz de las escuelas del Distrito 11 dijo que el distrito está “abordando factores complejos y contribuyentes en el corazón de nuestros puntajes. No compartimos las mismas preocupaciones que Adams 14 en este momento”.

El año pasado, cuando los funcionarios estatales comenzaron a alertar que los datos mostraban que los estudiantes de inglés podrían haber sido más afectados por las pérdidas de la pandemia y tener más dificultades para recuperarse en comparación con otros grupos de estudiantes, muchos líderes de distritos en Colorado no identificaron el problema, incluso cuando sus datos también coincidían con las preocupaciones del estado. Algunos dijeron que no estaban haciendo nada diferente para ayudar a estos estudiantes.

Adams 14 puede tener una motivación mayor que otros distritos para pedirle al estado que cambie su sistema de calificación para las escuelas y distritos. Ha sido el único distrito que ha seguido recibiendo calificaciones bajas durante más de 10 años y enfrentando sanciones estatales por ellas, incluyendo la pérdida de acreditación en algún momento. Los miembros de la Junta Estatal recientemente han dado un paso atrás y han puesto más confianza en los esfuerzos de mejora del distrito, pero hasta ahora, no han producido una calificación más alta para el distrito.

Los líderes de Adams 14 también pidieron a la junta estatal que considere el impacto de la contaminación ambiental en el desempeño escolar cuando califiquen a las escuelas y distritos.

Las caídas de 2024 significan que algunas brechas se han duplicado

Ya existían brechas entre los estudiantes aprendices de inglés y aquellos que no necesitan servicios de inglés, pero estas han crecido con los resultados de 2024 que se publicaron hace unos meses. En algunos distritos, incluyendo Adams 14, se han duplicado.

En Adams 14, los estudiantes aprendices de inglés de 10.º grado tuvieron una caída de 108 puntos, en comparación con una caída de 30 puntos para otros estudiantes. En Adams 14, en comparación con 2023, la brecha en el rendimiento de los estudiantes aprendices de inglés y los estudiantes que ya hablan inglés en 10.º grado creció de 70 puntos a 148. Esto representa un aumento del 111 % en la brecha.

La brecha entre la puntuación promedio de los estudiantes aprendices de inglés y los estudiantes que no están identificados para servicios de inglés en el Distrito 11 es una de las más grandes del estado, más grande que las brechas estatales y está creciendo rápidamente.

La brecha más grande en ese distrito, por ejemplo, se da entre los estudiantes de 11.º grado que tomaron el SAT. Los aprendices de inglés de 11.º grado tuvieron una puntuación promedio de 625, en comparación con una puntuación promedio de 910 para los estudiantes que no están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma. Esa es una brecha de 285 puntos, frente a una brecha de 225 el año pasado.

De los 25 distritos que tenían datos que no tuvieron que ser suprimidos por razones de privacidad tanto en 2023 como en 2024, solo el distrito escolar de Boulder Valley vio mejorar las puntuaciones promedio de los estudiantes de 10.º grado que no son aún proficientes en inglés.

Al observar las puntuaciones sin desglosar, muchos distritos tuvieron a otros estudiantes que lo hicieron lo suficientemente bien como para promediar una caída más moderada en las poblaciones totales. En promedio, combinando a todos los estudiantes, los estudiantes de 10.º grado en el Distrito 11 solo tuvieron una caída promedio de 31 puntos. En Westminster, la caída general para 10.º grado fue de 49 puntos.

Jorge García, un defensor de los estudiantes multilingües a través de la Asociación Colorado de Educación Bilingüe, dijo que aunque no ha revisado los datos de 2024 detenidamente, los problemas no son nuevos.

Y si el estado está seguro de que este nuevo formato de examen está evaluando con precisión el aprendizaje de todos los estudiantes, dijo que debería haber un plan para ayudar a los estudiantes que aún no son proficientes en inglés.

“Si el sistema educativo y el estado están haciendo peor de lo que pensábamos, entonces, ¿qué están haciendo al respecto?” dijo Garcia. “No me sorprendería que tal vez tengamos algunos líderes a cargo, algunos, que no saben qué hacer. Deberían comenzar a echar un vistazo largo y profundo a cómo están fallando a estos estudiantes para que puedan comenzar a cambiar las cosas. Si siguen ignorándolo, no va a mejorar”.

Traducción por Jackie Ramirez

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Working group recommends prioritizing rural Colorado districts in program meant to ease funding gaps

2024-12-05T22:22:48+00:00

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Rural school districts that don’t generate much money from their community’s property taxes would be prioritized in changes to a state match program, letting those districts raise at least $200,000 when voters approve a new tax.

That’s one of the recommendations approved Wednesday by a working group tasked with proposing changes to Colorado’s state match program for mill levy overrides.

Overrides provide local funding for schools when voters approve taxes on top of regular school funding taxes. Some Colorado districts have voter-approved overrides that give them the maximum allowed of extra funds, 25% or 30% more than their general funding. Other districts have never been able to get voters to approve an additional tax. In some communities, the reason districts don’t ask voters is because the amount generated wouldn’t add much to their budget.

The group described the issue as one of the state’s biggest inequities in school finance, but also the most challenging to tackle. That’s because there are a variety of reasons that communities don’t approve new taxes, and because in places where they do, there are also many reasons overrides don’t generate comparable amounts across different communities.

Lawmakers, with help from finance officials from school districts, created the state’s match program in 2022. But district leaders have complained that the program has not helped much to close the disparities between what district’s can raise in additional local funds.

In 2022-23, the state gave $10 million to 27 districts through the program. More than half of the districts received less than $50,000 from the state. For the 2023-24 school year, lawmakers increased the matching funds to $21.1 million but then ended up distributing a second round of $15.7 million to additional districts after criticism of the program. The solution was a temporary one and so lawmakers created the working group to look more closely at the problem with the funding model.

Under the recommended new distribution model from the working group, which is made up of two lawmakers and seven school district finance leaders, districts classified as rural and small-rural by the state would have a different formula for eligibility and for calculating a match than urban or suburban districts.

Rural districts that are eligible based on existing voter-approved mill levy overrides, and the amount of assessed value in their community, would be topped off by the state to ensure that their override is producing a minimum of $200,000 per year.

The group proposed that the state would first dole out funding to those rural districts — currently, its estimate is that it would cost about $6 million in the first year.

Then the state would distribute the rest of the money that the legislature can appropriate each year to the urban and suburban districts after. For this second tier, the state would calculate eligibility and match amounts using a similar model to the one it already uses, except for one change to the metrics that allows at least one more district, Adams 12, to be eligible for the match.

Unlike for rural and small-rural districts, the proposed calculation for larger districts takes into account a community’s median income.

For the second group of districts, the state estimates the cost would be about $21.5 million, but could be adjusted down based on what’s left over after rural districts are prioritized.

Having a two-tiered approach “really represents a significant approach of maximizing what we can do with scarce amounts of dollars,” said one group member, Brett Johnson, the chief financial officer for the Aurora school district, who helped come up with the idea.

“No matter what manipulation you’re making to the formula, from my perspective, it was rural and small rural that got the short end of the stick,” he added. “They got significantly lower amounts that sometimes didn’t make sense.”

In one previous year, one district got only about $2,000 in total from the state match program.

One group member said she expected having a minimum state match would help more districts use the program to ask voters to approve new mill levy overrides where they haven’t in the past.

But if that holds true, some group members raised concerns that the cost of the program could quickly rise. To be eligible for a match, a community must first have a mill levy override tax. If more districts are able to convince their voters who have never approved a mill levy override tax before, based on the incentive of the state match, more districts will be eligible for state dollars.

The working group also voted to recommend that the state report a breakdown of how much money is being distributed to school districts from the program so that lawmakers may adjust the program’s formula again in the coming years.

The working group will lay out its recommendations in a final report expected to be published in the next couple of weeks.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado high school test scores dropped across the board, but students learning English as a new language had bigger declines

2024-11-15T22:32:03+00:00

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English learners in Colorado saw the largest drops in PSAT and SAT scores this past spring, bigger even than the score declines experienced by all high school students in the state.

The overall declines have led to discussions among state officials about adjusting high school graduation requirements and whether last spring’s scores can be compared to scores from previous years. Now, one Colorado superintendent is raising concerns about whether the PSAT and SAT scores in school districts that serve large numbers of English learners should even be used to rate a district’s academic performance.

“The rate of lost points in the scores is not equitable and it is not comparable,” said Karla Loría, superintendent of Adams 14 schools. “It hurts multilingual students and students with disabilities at a greater rate than any other student groups.”

One of the largest gaps statewide, for instance: 10th graders who aren’t identified to receive English language services had an average 5-point drop in their PSAT scores, while 10th graders who are learning English as a new language had an average drop of 83 points, which is 11.6%, or more than 16 times that of their counterparts.

When looking at just math scores, 10th grade English learners had a 13.6% drop in scores compared to a 1.3% drop among 10th graders who aren’t English learners.

Students with disabilities also saw large drops, though not as large as English learners.

In previous discussions about the overall declines of 2024, state officials said it’s difficult to know how much they represent a drop in performance and how much is due to the changes in the test format.

The digital PSAT and SAT students took in the spring of 2024 was adaptive, meaning that the questions students saw were dependent on how they were answering questions.

State officials also told the State Board of Education that it’s possible these lower results are a more accurate representation of learning for students who already performed at the lower range of the possible points.

That’s because, they say, students used to get advice to guess at questions they didn’t know or when they ran out of time. And some of those guesses were bound to be correct, earning them some extra points. But the new digital PSAT and SAT test online is designed to know when students are likely to be guessing, and so even if the guess is correct, the test won’t give students those points.

“Students were earning credit for content they didn’t know,” said Christina Wirth-Hawkins, chief assessment officer for the Colorado Department of Education.

Still, she said, the department isn’t telling schools to change how they do test prep with students, but rather telling them that the important thing is to help students learn content.

Drops in scores for English learners follows concerns raised last year

In Colorado Springs District 11, where about 6% of the district’s 22,700 students are identified as having limited or no English proficiency, 10th graders who aren’t yet English proficient had a 127-point drop in their scores, compared to a 27-point drop for other students.

In Westminster, where more than 24% of the district’s 7,600 students are learning English as a new language, 10th graders learning English had their average score drop by 121 points, compared to a 28-point drop for those who aren’t receiving English support.

In both the Harrison and Fort Morgan school districts, 10th graders learning English experienced drops of 120 points in their average score.

Because of the large gaps, Loria asked the board last month to consider the PSAT and SAT tests students took in the spring as a new test and not to use them against districts or schools in evaluations for at least one year.

She worried that the ratings for the districts serving large numbers of students in those subgroups would be significantly lower than for other districts.

“The impact is too serious to take it lightly,” Loría said.

This fall, preliminary ratings have already been calculated for schools and districts. The state is reviewing appeals before the ratings are finalized. The state Department of Education had first run an analysis to ensure the scores were still comparable to the previous year and fair to use in the ratings. Based on the analysis, the state tweaked the cut scores for the PSAT and SAT math sections of the test, but said it was still appropriate to use them as a factor for evaluating school and district performance.

On Wednesday, having received some additional data, the State Board voted again to tweak the cut scores for ratings next year, in particular for districts that use a three-year average of the scores. But the State Board did not opt to follow Loria’s suggestion of taking the scores out of consideration.

A spokesperson for College Board, the makers of the PSAT and SAT tests, said they’ve found in general “SAT scores from spring and fall 2024 are generally comparable to previous years.” According to data reports from the College Board website, students whose first language was something other than English had large drops in 10th grade PSAT scores, but not in 11th grade SAT scores.

At that national level, according to College Board data, students whose language was something other than English had a 57-point drop in their average scores compared to last year, while 10th graders whose first language was English had a 44-point drop.

The State Board’s vote is meant to adjust the expectations so that Colorado schools aren’t penalized for some of the score drops, since some could be due to the change in the test format, but Loría didn’t think it went far enough to account for the subgroup disparities.

Other districts did not raise the same concerns.

Test scores say COVID was especially rough on English learners. Not all school districts agree.

A spokesperson for the District 11 schools said the district is “addressing complex and contributing factors at the heart of our scores. We do not share the same concerns as Adams 14 at this time.”

Last year, when state officials first raised an alarm that data showed English learners might have been more impacted by the pandemic losses and having a harder time recovering compared to other student groups, many district leaders in Colorado did not identify the issue, even when their data also matched state concerns. Some said they weren’t doing anything different to help these students.

Adams 14 may have a bigger motivation than other districts to ask the state to change its rating system for schools and districts. It has been the only district to continue to receive low ratings for more than 10 years and face state sanctions for it, including a loss of accreditation at one point. State Board members more recently have backed off and put more trust in the district’s own improvement efforts, but so far, they have not yet produced a higher rating for the district.

Adams 14 leaders earlier this fall also asked the state board to consider environmental polluiton’s impact on school performance when they rate schools and districts.

The 2024 drops mean some gaps have doubled

Gaps already existed among English learners and those who don’t need English services, but they’ve grown with the 2024 results released a few months ago. In some districts, including Adams 14, they’ve doubled.

In Adams 14, English learners in 10th grade had a drop of 108 points, compared to a drop of 30 points for other students. For Adams 14, compared to 2023, the gap in the performance of English learners and students who already speak English in 10th grade grew from 70 points to 148. That’s a 111% increase in the gap.

The gap between the average score for English learners and students not identified for English services in District 11 are some of the largest in the state – larger than statewide gaps and growing fast.

The largest gap in that district, for instance, is among 11th graders who took the SAT. English learners in 11th grade had an average score of 625, compared to an average score of 910 for students not learning English as a new language. That’s a 285-point gap, up from a gap of 225 last year.

Of 25 districts that had data that didn’t have to be suppressed for privacy in both 2023 and 2024, only the Boulder Valley school district had 10th graders who are not yet English proficient improve their average scores.

When looking at scores without disaggregating, many districts had other students do well enough to average out a more moderate drop for their total populations. On average, combining all students, 10th graders in District 11 only had an average score drop of 31. In Westminster, the overall drop for 10th grade was 49 points.

Jorge Garcia, an advocate for multilingual students through the Colorado Association of Bilingual Education, said that although he hasn’t looked at the 2024 data closely, the issues aren’t new.

And if the state is confident that this new test format is accurately testing all students’ learning, he said there should be a plan to help students who are not yet proficient in English.

“If the educational system and the state is doing worse than we thought, then what are they doing about it?” Garcia said. “It would not surprise me that perhaps we have some leaders in charge, some, who don’t know what to do. They should begin to take a long hard look at how they’re failing these students so they can start to turn that around. If they continue to ignore it, it’s not going to get better.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Despite early returns, last ballots counted show voters approve Adams 14 ballot measures

2024-11-14T22:56:22+00:00

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Despite early disappointment, Adams 14 leaders are celebrating as unofficial final election results this week show voters passed both of the district’s tax requests.

The district hadn’t had a local tax measure approved by voters since 2006, when a bond was passed to build the new high school.

Adams County’s last update to election numbers Thursday showed the district’s mill levy request, 4A, winning by 241 votes, and the district’s bond request, 4B, winning by 109 votes. Results will continue to be considered unofficial until after the usual audit process, with certification expected Nov. 26.

District leaders had initially released a statement expressing their disappointment when it appeared last week that both measures would fail, but the district sent out a new statement on Thursday thanking voters.

“The passing of the bond and mill levy demonstrates the increasing support and trust of the Adams 14 community,” said Superintendent Karla Loría in the statement. “This funding will allow us to upgrade our facilities, improve our learning environments, and ensure our teachers and staff receive the compensation they deserve.”

The district wanted the funding from the mill levy override to raise salaries for teachers and school staff but is not planning to raise administrator salaries.

The bond funding will help the district pay for building a new middle school to house seventh and eighth graders from both Kearney Middle School and Adams City High School, which will merge.

Other district schools will also get building repairs for safety and HVAC improvements, as well as new furniture for classrooms.

Loría said the next step is for the committee that worked on the campaign to meet again, this time as the new oversight committee for the spending of the bond, to come up with a timeline and next steps.

The district will also need to meet with the union to negotiate the staff salary increases.

For the middle school merger, the district is still conducting more community outreach. The district, like others in the metro area, has seen a drop in enrollment over the last several years.

Loría expects in the next couple of months to select a transition site where this year’s sixth graders will go in the fall of 2025, while current middle schools start to get phased out.

The district also must select a permanent new site for the joint new building sometime this school year. Once a site is selected, Loría said the district will also have discussions about whether transportation services will need to expand to help students who currently walk to their middle schools.

Loría also wants voters to know she’s working on creating several ways for the community to be able to track how the money gets spent, like a new website, as well as ways for the community to give feedback and “be able to share what they really appreciate and what concerns they may have.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Los votantes de Colorado parecen dispuestos a aprobar aproximadamente la mitad de las medidas de financiación de los distritos escolares este año.

2024-11-14T18:31:32+00:00

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Cuando se trató de dar más financiamiento local a las escuelas, los votantes de Colorado se mostraron reacios a aumentar los impuestos este año.

Normalmente, los años de elecciones presidenciales pueden ser buenos años para que los distritos pidan a los votantes que aumenten los impuestos para las escuelas. Pero este año, según resultados no oficiales publicados el viernes por la mañana, sólo aproximadamente la mitad de las solicitudes, es decir, 22 de 41, tuvieron éxito. Eso es menos que en 2020 cuando alrededor del 90% de las medidas tuvieron éxito y también en 2016 cuando 68% de medidas fueron aprobadas.

Este año, de los 22 que los votantes aprobaron, sólo 11 fueron en realidad aumentos de impuestos.

Muchas de las medidas electorales exitosas de los distritos escolares este año pueden atribuir, al menos en parte, su éxito al hecho de que pudieron decir a los votantes que aprobar la medida no significaría un impuesto a la propiedad nuevo o más alto.

En el distrito escolar Adams 12, al norte de Denver, las dos solicitudes del distrito tuvieron resultados divididos, precisamente por eso.

El distrito pudo pedir a los votantes que contrajeran nueva deuda de bonos, pero podría pagarla con la recaudación de impuestos existente. Los votantes apoyaron ampliamente esa medida. Ayudará a reconstruir la deteriorada escuela Thornton High School, agregará una nueva cocina central y un almacén, además de pagar otros tipos de mantenimiento de las escuelas.

Pero en un intento por lograr una nueva anulación del impuesto al molino que proporcionaría dólares continuos para aumentar los salarios de los maestros, los votantes de Adams 12 rechazaron la medida. Si se aprobara, los propietarios habrían tenido que pagar alrededor de $2.04 por mes por cada $100,000 de valor de la vivienda.

“Sabemos que la carga es mayor”, dijo el superintendente de Adams 12, Chris Gdowski. “Los ingresos son escasos y cada vez entran más. Sabemos que eso fue más allá de lo que nuestras familias pudieron hacer”.

Aún así, el distrito continuará ayudando a la comunidad a comprender los presupuestos escolares, incluidas las posibles pérdidas de ingresos que el distrito podría enfrentar, y luego volverá a realizar encuestas más adelante este año escolar para determinar “si las cosas han cambiado con el impuesto a la propiedad”. Gdowski dijo que el plan probablemente sería volver a preguntar a los votantes en 2025 o 2026.

Denver y Aurora Los distritos escolares tuvieron algunas de las solicitudes de financiamiento más grandes en la boleta electoral y ninguno exigió que esas comunidades pagaran una tasa impositiva más alta. Ambas medidas fueron aprobadas por amplios márgenes.

Todas las medidas que fracasaron habrían significado impuestos a la propiedad más altos para los propietarios de viviendas. Eso incluye medidas para el distrito escolar de Thompson, el condado 70 de Pueblo, varias en el condado de Weld, incluidas Weld Re-8 en Fort Lupton.

En Adams 14, los resultados más recientes de las elecciones, publicados por el condado de Adams durante el fin de semana, mostraron que dos medidas impositivas han tomado la delantera, a pesar de que los primeros resultados indicaban que ambas medidas iban a fracasar.

En el condado de Douglas, donde el distrito había tenido dificultades para aprobar una solicitud de bono durante los últimos dos años, los votantes aprobaron este año un bono que, esta vez, no requería una tasa impositiva más alta. El dinero se destinará a la construcción de nuevas escuelas en zonas en crecimiento del condado.

Estos son los resultados electorales de las preguntas en la boleta de Colorado que afectan a las escuelas

Los pocos distritos que aprobaron una medida fiscal que requería una tasa de impuestos más alta incluyen el distrito escolar de Poudre en el norte de Colorado, Cherry Creek, Platte Valley en el condado de Weld, Harrison en Colorado Springs, Durango y Montezuma, que logró por primera vez en su historia la aprobación de un incremento de impuestos.

En Cherry Creek, se les pidió a los votantes aprobar un bono de $950 millones y un incremento de impuestos para obtener $9 millones, lo que en conjunto costaría a los propietarios $3 por mes por cada $100,000.

El incremento de impustos de Harrison para obtener también $9 millones les costará a esos propietarios $5,31 por mes por cada $100.000 del valor de la vivienda, y eso sin un bono.

La superintendente de Harrison, Wendy Birhanzel, dijo que sabe que en su comunidad, que tiene muchas familias de bajos ingresos, hacer la solicitud fue un desafío. Piensa que ayudó el hecho de que la última vez que los votantes aprobaron un aumento de impuestos para un bono, el distrito lo usó para mejorar todos los edificios.

“Demostramos a nuestra comunidad que cuando tenemos un plan, lo seguiremos”, dijo Birhanzel.

El incremento de impuestos serviría para aumentar los salarios de los maestros. Pero los votantes en Harrison también podrían haber estado mostrando apoyo a otro programa que sería financiado con los nuevos fondos: la continuación de un programa de becas para todos los graduados del distrito.

La beca comenzó hace tres años. Con la financiación aprobada, se otorgará a los estudiantes independientemente de otros fondos que reciban para la universidad, lo que significa que pueden obtener la beca del distrito para cubrir la matrícula y aún recibir otras becas o fondos federales para ayudar con otros gastos. Las familias pueden haber visto el programa como un retorno directo de la inversión, dijo.

“Realmente crea equidad para nuestros niños”, dijo Birhanzel. “Nuestras familias realmente respaldan esto”.

Holyoke, en la esquina noreste del estado, pudo aprobar una medida que requería un nuevo impuesto para los bonos que sólo entraría en vigor si el estado obtenía una subvención para ayudar a construir una nueva escuela primaria. El año pasado el distrito no recibió la subvención, pero planea intentarlo nuevamente este año. Distritos escolares que ganan las MEJORES subvenciones (BEST por sus siglas en ingles) del estado para ayudar con proyectos de capital deben tener algunos fondos de contrapartida para pagar el costo, y la aprobación de los votantes de Holyoke asegurará que el distrito los tenga esta vez.

El superintendente Kyle Stumpf dijo que fue una “solicitud extremadamente difícil” para su comunidad. Hasta el jueves, la medida estaba ganando con solo 70 votos.

“Nuestra comunidad de agricultores y ganaderos apoya muy bien a nuestro distrito y siempre nos ha apoyado, pero este año ha sido extremadamente difícil”, dijo Stumpf.

Cree que la diferencia fue que los padres de los niños de primaria que asisten al edificio de la escuela, que fue construido en 1954, han visto que los problemas de mantenimiento empeoran.

Ha habido roturas en la tubería principal de agua, una de las tomas eléctricas originales de 1954 se incendió y, el día de las elecciones esta semana, la escuela primaria tuvo que ser evacuada por una fuga de gas. Los funcionarios encontraron no una, sino tres fugas de gas en la sala de calderas de la escuela.

Además, dijo, el edificio de la escuela no tiene mucha capacidad para trabajar con la tecnología que los estudiantes usan ahora o para acomodar ambientes de aprendizaje más pequeños donde los maestros pueden trabajar con estudiantes que necesitan apoyo diferente, incluidos los estudiantes de inglés.

“El edificio ha cumplido su propósito, pero no fue diseñado para el tipo de educación de hoy”, dijo Stumpf.

Dijo que el distrito es “muy afortunado” de que parece que una mayoría de votantes aprobó la medida. Dijo que espera que sea una inversión que sirva a la comunidad durante mucho tiempo.

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Comuníquese con Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Here’s how a task force suggests changing the way schools and districts are rated in Colorado

2024-11-14T00:58:21+00:00

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Colorado should start considering the career and college prep that students take, stop counting at-risk students more than once, and expand testing in other languages for annual school and district ratings.

Those are among the 30 recommendations made by the 1241 task force, a group created by lawmakers in 2023 to examine the state’s accountability system.

The recommendations were presented to the State Board of Education on Wednesday. Some of the recommendations will require a board vote to implement, while others would require legislative action.

State Board members Wednesday asked some questions about the recommendations, but were asked by the Education Commissioner, Susana Cordova, to hold most of their thoughts for a discussion at their December meeting. Most board members said the recommendations seemed like good changes, although at times, they wondered if some would require a lot more research to implement.

For example, one recommendation is that the state should work to expand testing options in other languages. State Board members questioned if testing students in their native language makes sense when they aren’t being taught in that language or if their year’s learning is better assessed in English, the language of their instruction.

The state’s school accountability system, in use since 2009, mostly uses standardized test scores to rate schools and districts. High schools are also rated on their graduation rates and on how many students move on to postsecondary options.

Schools can earn one of four ratings, while districts can earn one of five. State law dictates that schools or districts that earn one of the bottom two ratings for five years in a row must be placed on a plan for improvement under state orders. The state is also limited in what improvements it can order, but can escalate to closing a school, turning it into a charter school, or ordering a district to reorganize.

Last year, Adams 14, which has had the lowest ratings for more than 10 years, was ordered to reorganize. That could have meant dissolving or merging parts of the district with neighboring districts, but after strong pushback from the community, the state backed off its orders.

The majority of schools and districts first identified for support based on low ratings do manage to improve before needing state intervention.

An audit completed in December 2022 found that the state’s system is reasonable, but also that schools serving more students of color and students in poverty on average do worse on state tests.

Some questions critics of the system hoped to answer, such as whether the system itself is helping or harming student learning or is biased against more disadvantaged students, were not addressed.

School district leaders pushed legislators to create the 1241 task force to consider broader changes to the system.

The task force of 26 school and district leaders, parents, advocates, and other educators have met for more than a year to consider the recommendations.

The report, however, states that the group “strongly believes the accountability system alone cannot advance academic opportunities or prevent academic inequities.”

Still, some of the recommendations are designed to limit inequities around schools that serve more disadvantaged students or schools with such small numbers of students that their ratings can be volatile from year to year.

Report explains findings, recommendations, areas to study

In addition to recommendations, the group’s report also points to several areas of the system that require more study for possible changes.

For instance, the group suggests that the state’s review panel (a group that goes into schools and districts to make recommendations when the State Board must order an improvement plan) should perhaps be asked to evaluate factors beyond academics. That would include looking at a school or district’s budget, governance, and facilities and then recommending how the district might focus on improving those areas, including being able to recommend a change in leadership.

Here are some of the task force’s recommendations:

Students who fall into subgroups such as students with disabilities, English learners, or those who qualify for free and reduced price lunch should be combined into one “super subgroup,” so schools are only evaluated for them once.
The state should consider lowering the number of students needed in a group for the state to report data, as opposed to suppressing it for privacy purposes. Currently that number is 16. The recommendation doesn’t state a better lower number but asks the state to study what would be appropriate.
Students with disabilities should continue to be counted in that group for two years after no longer needing services, aligning with how students learning English are followed after services are no longer provided.
The state should revisit the weights it gives to each piece considered in these ratings every five years, with help of experts, to try to move away from having strong correlations to student demographics.
Individual student results should be made available to families as soon as possible, even before a public release of data. The state should also try to speed up the time it takes educators to get results.
The rating labels schools and districts earn should be changed to be easier for the public to understand, but that should be done after research and gathering public feedback.
Schools should have more state support when they reach two years of low ratings, or being “on the clock,” to provide more early interventions before they are subject to state mandates in year five.
The state should “design budgetary expectations” for school turnaround and plan to sustain bold plans for improvement once funding is exhausted.
Schools and districts that have low test participation and can’t be rated getting only “Insufficient data: Low Participation” labels, should create a corrective action plan submitted to the state.
The legislature should require schools and districts under state-ordered improvement plans to meet with, learn from, and share their progress with each other.
The State Board of Education should delegate authority to allow state officials to approve small changes to state ordered improvement plans allowing flexibility when conditions change.

Read the full report and all of the recommendations:

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Adams 14 tax request election results: Late results show 4A and 4B pulling ahead

2024-11-11T17:01:21+00:00

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Final unofficial election results show Adams 14 voters ultimately passed both measures. Read a more updated story here.

The latest election results posted by Adams County over the weekend showed that two tax measures for the Adams 14 school district have pulled ahead, despite earlier results showing both measures failing.

The votes for and against 4A and 4B had narrowed Friday to nearly a dead heat when more than 30,000 ballots were left to be counted, according to unofficial election results and Adams County officials.

A $10 million mill levy override to raise teacher pay was failing by a single vote. And a $113.9 million bond question to build a new school was failing by 124 votes.

By Saturday night’s last update, the mill levy override was ahead by 225 votes and the bond was ahead by 90.

On Wednesday, when the vote spread was wider, the district had released a statement saying leaders were disappointed in the outcome but found solace because the measures were only about 300 votes short of passing.

“While we were hopeful for the passage of these measures to support facility improvements and teacher salaries, we respect the outcome and will continue to seek ways to address the district’s critical needs,” said Superintendent Karla Loria in the released statement. “The fact that we were just shy of 300 votes on both measures shows that the community is beginning to rebuild trust in the District. This is a clear sign that we’re moving in the right direction and working toward uniting our community for the benefit of our students.”

The district has previously struggled to increase local funding. Voters haven’t approved a tax measure in more than 10 years. For about as long, Adams 14 has struggled to increase student achievement on state tests but did successfully rally against state orders for reorganization which could have dissolved the district. Still, Adams 14 has one of the highest rates of students choosing to enroll in other school districts. It is also home to many low-income families that may be more wary of raising taxes.

Voter guide: Adams 14 district wants voters to approve new funding for schools

If approved, Adams County’s 4A and 4B ballot questions would cost Adams 14 homeowners approximately $6.52 a month per $100,000 of home value. For a home valued at $400,000, that would be about $26.08 per month.

Measure 4A is the district’s request for a mill levy override to produce about $10 million per year to help pay for salary increases for teachers and classified staff.

Measure 4B is the district’s bond request to raise $113.9 million that the district wants to use to build a new middle school to house seventh and eighth graders from Kearney Middle School and Adams City Middle school. The district is planning to merge the schools but would like to build a new building instead of having to make costly repairs on one of the schools.

The district estimates it will take $77 million out of the $113.9 million bond request to build the new school building. That’s nearly as much as this year’s total general fund budget for the district, which is just over $99 million.

If approved, the rest of the bond money would help pay for security upgrades, HVAC system upgrades, and other maintenance as well as new furniture for classrooms.

The last time the district asked voters for a tax measure was in 2014 and 2013, and the measures failed both years.

The district enrolled about 5,484 students last school year. A majority of students come from low-income families, and about half of students are learning English as a new language.

Adams 14 has been the focus of state accountability measures for several years as it has struggled to raise student achievement enough to earn higher state ratings. But State Board members have stopped escalating state orders and are putting more trust in the district’s plans for improvement.

We’ll continue to update this story with election results.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado voters seem poised to approve about half of the school district funding measures this year

2024-11-08T22:52:13+00:00

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When it came to giving schools more local funding, Colorado voters were reluctant to raise taxes this year.

Typically presidential election years can be good years for districts to ask voters to raise taxes for schools. But this year, only about half of the requests, or 22 out of 41, were successful, according to unofficial results as of Friday morning. That’s fewer than in 2020 when about 90% of the measures were successful and also in 2016 when 68% of measures passed.

This year, of those 22 that voters approved, only 11 were actually tax increases.

Many of the successful ballot measures from school districts this year can at least in part attribute their success to the fact that they could say to voters that approving the measure wouldn’t mean a new or higher property tax.

In the Adams 12 school district north of Denver, the district’s two requests had split results, precisely on that basis.

The district was able to ask voters to incur new bond debt, but it would be able to pay for it with the existing tax collections. Voters widely supported that measure. It’s going to help rebuild the deteriorating Thornton High School, add a new central kitchen and warehouse, as well as pay for other maintenance of schools.

But in a bid for a new mill levy override that would provide ongoing dollars to raise teacher salaries, Adams 12 voters rejected the measure. If approved, homeowners would have had to pay about $2.04 per month per $100,000 in home value.

“We know the burden is higher,” said Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski. “Incomes are tight and squeezing in more. We know that was beyond what our families were able to do.”

Still, the district is going to continue to help the community understand school budgets, including possible revenue losses the district might face, and then do polling again later this school year to figure out “if things have changed with the property tax pinch.” Gdowski said the plan would likely be to ask voters again either in 2025 or 2026.

Denver and Aurora school districts had some of the largest funding requests on the ballot, and neither required those communities to pay a higher tax rate. Both measures were approved by large margins.

All of the measures that failed would have meant higher property taxes for homeowners. That includes measures for the Thompson school district, Pueblo County 70, several in Weld County including Weld Re-8 in Fort Lupton. In Adams 14, initial results seemed to indicate that both the district’s request for a bond and mill levy would be rejected, but by Friday, the margins had closed in and the mill levy measure was losing by only one vote. The Adams 14 measures would cost homeowners $6.52 per month per $100,000 of home value.

In Douglas County, where the district had struggled to pass a bond request for the last two years, voters approved a bond this year that — this time — did not require a higher tax rate. The money will go to building new schools in growing parts of the county.

The few districts that did pass a tax measure that required a higher tax rate include the Poudre school district in northern Colorado, Cherry Creek, Platte Valley in Weld County, Harrison in Colorado Springs, Durango, and Montezuma – which was successful in passing a mill levy override for the first time ever.

In Cherry Creek, voters were asked to approve a bond for $950 million and a mill levy override to net $9 million that together would cost homeowners $3 per month per $100,000.

The Harrison mill levy override to also get $9 million will cost those homeowners $5.31 per month per $100,000 of a home’s value, and that’s without a bond.

Disparities in local tax revenue for Colorado schools are growing, causing inequities and concern

Harrison Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel said that she knows in her community, which has many low-income families, making the request was a challenge. She thinks it helped that the last time voters approved a tax increase for a bond the district used it to improve all buildings.

“It showed our community that when we have a plan we will follow it,” Birhanzel said.

The mill levy override would pay for increased teacher salaries. But voters in Harrison also might have been showing support for another program that would be paid for with the new funding: continuing a scholarship program for all district graduates.

The scholarship started three years ago. With the approved funding, it will go to students regardless of other funding they get for college, which means they can get the district scholarship to cover tuition and then still receive other scholarships or federal funding to help with other expenses. Families may have seen the program as a direct return on investment, she said.

“It really truly creates equity for our kids,” Birhanzel said. “Our families really have got behind that.”

Holyoke, in the northeast corner of the state, was able to pass a measure that required a new tax for bonds that would only kick in if the state gets a grant to help build a new elementary school. The district last year didn’t get the grant, but the district plans to try again this year. School districts that win the state’s BEST grants for help with capital projects must have some matching funds to pay for the cost – and the Holyoke voter approval will assure the district has that this time.

Superintendent Kyle Stumpf said it was an “extremely difficult ask” for his community. As of Thursday, the measure was winning with just 70 votes.

“Our farming and ranching community supports our district very well and have always supported us, but it’s been extremely tight this year,” Stumpf said.

What made the difference, he thinks, is that parents of elementary children who attend the school building, which was built in 1954, have seen that maintenance problems are getting worse.

There have been main-water line breaks, one of the original 1954-electrical outlets caught fire, and on Election Day this week, the elementary school had to be evacuated for a gas leak. Officials ended up finding not one but three gas leaks in the school’s boiler room.

Plus, he said, the school building doesn’t have a lot of capacity to work with the technology students use now, or to accommodate smaller learning environments where teachers can work with students who need different support, including English learners.

“The building has served its purpose, but it was not designed for today’s type of education,” Stumpf said.

He said the district is “just very fortunate,” that it seems a majority of voters approved the measure. He said he expects it will be an investment that will serve the community for a long time.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Estos son los resultados electorales de las preguntas en la boleta de Colorado que afectan a las escuelas

2024-11-07T17:15:27+00:00

Los votantes de Colorado decidieron sobre varios temas relacionados con las escuelas en las elecciones del martes.

Aquí están algunos de los resultados, basados en el conteo de votos publicados el miércoles por la mañana.

La Enmienda 80 fracasa: Esta fue la propuesta a nivel estado para agregar el derecho de elegir libremente una escuela a la constitución de Colorado. Porque cambia la constitución, necesitaba el 55% de los votos para aprobarse. El jueves por la mañana, solo el 48% de los votos eran a favor de la enmienda. Los proponentes dijeron que querían proteger los derechos actuales en Colorado para elegir libremente una escuela, pero líderes de la educación pública se oponían a la medida. Dijeron que era un intento de dar lugar a desafíos en la corte para darles fondos públicos a las escuelas privadas.

Los votantes de Denver aprueban una medida de fondos: La propuesta de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver de recaudar más dinero para mejorar edificios, como instalar aire acondicionado en 29 escuelas más, tenía una fuerte ventaja. La medida no requiere que los dueños de propiedades en Denver paguen una mayor tasa impositiva.

Republicanos toman la delantera en tres puestos para el Consejo Estatal de Educación de Colorado: El Consejo Estatal de Educación, el cual cuenta con un total de nueve integrantes, tenía cuatro puestos vacantes en diferentes partes del estado estas elecciones. Dos de ellos ya estaban ocupados por integrantes republicanos. Un tercer puesto, actualmente ocupado por la demócrata Rhonda Solis en el 8º Distrito Congresal, el cual abarca la mayor parte del Condado de Adams y partes de los condados de Weld y Larimer, tenía la probabilidad de pasar a manos de la republicana Yazmin Navarro. Los resultados de la cuarta contienda mostraban a la demócrata Kathy Gebhardt en la delantera. Los resultados no cambiarán la mayoría demócrata en el consejo, pero pueden resultar en que haya más voces conservadoras.

Además: Conoce las candidatas al Consejo Estatal de Educación de Colorado

En Adams 14, los votantes rechazan solicitudes del distrito escolar: El distrito escolar les pidió a los votantes subir los impuestos a la propiedad para aumentar los salarios de los maestros y personal clasificado y para construir una nueva escuela media. Los votantes rechazaron tanto la propuesta de un bono como una propuesta para una recaudación especial de impuestos (en inglés: mill levy override). El distrito no ha logrado pasar exitosamente ninguna medida impositiva en más de una década.

Además: Alrededor del estado, otras solicitudes de fondos que hicieron los distritos escolares obtuvieron diversos resultados. En Aurora y Westminster, donde las solicitudes no hubieran aumentado los impuestos a la propiedad de dueños de viviendas, los votantes demostraron su apoyo. Los resultados también mostraron que se aprobarían las medidas de fondos escolares en el Condado de Douglas y en Cherry Creek. Pero votantes en muchos distritos, incluyendo el de Thompson, Pueblo 70 y la mayoría de los distritos en el Condado de Weld, estaban rechazando las medidas. En Adams 12, los resultados fueron diferentes para dos solicitudes. La que no aumentaría los impuestos probablemente se apruebe, mientras que los votantes rechazaron la que generaría mayores impuestos a la propiedad.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Keep or sell: Amid dropping enrollment, Colorado districts decide what to do with closed schools

2024-11-01T22:19:45+00:00

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Construction workers in hardhats and safety vests bustled around the 7,000-square-foot Loveland building, installing fixtures and painting. It was late October, and they had two months to go before the grand opening.

Soon, the former Thompson School District preschool would become “The Landing,” the first shelter for homeless youth in northern Colorado. Leaders of the effort say the state-of-the-art-building will give young people ages 15 to 20 a safe place to live and receive services while they get their lives back on track.

The $9 million project is just one example of how Colorado school districts are repurposing shuttered schools. Often, such facilities keep serving students in some fashion — becoming child care centers, career education programs, or private or charter schools. In some cases, they are transformed into housing or nonprofit hubs.

Finding the right use for shuttered schools is a timely debate as enrollment declines in districts around Colorado and education officials face tough decisions about when to cut bait on underused buildings.

Colorado’s school-age population peaked around 2019 and has been decreasing ever since, according to State Demographer Elizabeth Garner. The declines will likely continue through 2029. At that point, the population is forecast to start increasing, reaching 2019 levels in 2036.

Garner said individual counties will reach their school-age population peaks and troughs at different times.

Enrollment in Colorado’s largest district, 90,000-student Denver Public Schools, also peaked in 2019 before steadily declining. Enrollment has bumped up the past two years due to an influx of migrant students, but district officials said it’s not enough to reverse the downward trend. They predict Denver’s enrollment will fall another 8% — or about 6,300 students — by 2028.

Denver closed three small schools at the end of the 2022-23 school year and is planning more closures this spring.

The state’s second-largest district, 76,000-student Jeffco Public Schools, has also experienced sharp enrollment declines over the past decade. Jeffco has closed 21 schools since 2021, though the district pledged to pause on any more closures for the next three years.

Aurora Public Schools, which now serves about 39,000 students, experienced a drop in enrollment of more than 10% between 2015-16 and 2020-21, which led to it closing eight schools by the end of 2022-23 on the west side of the district. Aurora always expected their student count to increase on the east side with rapid new development. But in the last year or two, some schools on the west side are also seeing enrollment increases with the arrival of new immigrant families.

Jeffco has the most empty school buildings

Jeffco Public Schools has a bumper crop of empty school buildings — and a dedicated website to track what the district is doing with those buildings.

The website lists 21 school buildings in six cities throughout Jefferson County. Two buildings, the former Allendale and Zerger elementary schools, are being sold to developers, who would raze the buildings and build housing on the sites.

Jeffco officials, like those in other districts, face a tricky balancing act when deciding what to do with closed schools. They don’t want to sell buildings they may need to reopen if enrollment jumps, but they don’t want to sink money into mothballed buildings that sit vacant for years and hurt the vibrancy of neighborhoods.

The relatively low purchase price for Zerger, in Westminster, raised some eyebrows among Jeffco school board members. If all goes to plan, the district would be paid $1.26 million for the site, or $45,000 per housing lot for a minimum of 28 lots.

“I will admit that when I saw the Zerger offer … my feeling was, ‘Oh no. I don’t want to sell any of our properties that low,’” school board President Mary Parker said at a board meeting in June. “But then there’s also the considerations of the cost to maintain the buildings, however long, and the community feelings about leaving the properties there.”

The Allendale building, in Arvada, fetched a higher price: $3.56 million, or $62,500 per housing lot for a minimum of 57 lots. But the school district won’t get paid right away. The contracts give the developers a year to get the proper building permissions before the sale goes through.

Contract negotiations are underway on three more empty Jeffco elementary schools: Thomson in Arvada, and Vivian and Glennon Heights in Lakewood. District leaders expect two of the three buildings will likely be reused instead of demolished.

Greg Avedikian, the district’s operations and strategy project manager, said the community has had “mixed reactions” to the district selling vacant buildings. But he emphasized that the money Jeffco earns will go into a fund to maintain and improve the buildings that are still in use.

“If we can find a source of revenue from buildings we don’t have a justifiable need for, it’s absolutely the right thing to do for the students we’re serving now,” he said.

Emory Elementary School in Lakewood, Colorado, closed in the spring of 2023.

Two more vacant elementary schools, Emory in Lakewood and Parr in Arvada, may be sold to the cities in which they’re located. The school district’s process is to offer the buildings to the cities first — and if the cities pass, to put them up for sale more generally. Lakewood initially passed on another school site at Vivian. But after neighbors said they wanted it to become a park, Avedikian said the district is working with the city on a possible solution.

Eleven of the 21 buildings have not yet been put up for sale or reuse. District spokesperson Kimberly Mahugh said Jeffco is moving through the list “methodically and thoughtfully.”

Two other former elementary schools are still serving students. The former Campbell Elementary is now a district preschool. And the former Witt Elementary has been leased to a private organization called Austin Centers for Exceptional Students that contracts with school districts to serve students with intense mental and behavioral health needs or disabilities.

Ownership of the former Sheridan Green Elementary automatically reverted to the city of Westminster when the school closed in the spring of 2023, thanks to a unique clause in the deed, which was drawn up many decades ago, Avedikian said.

Austin Centers is located in the former Witt Elementary School in Westminster.

How Denver and Aurora are using closed school buildings

Of the three Denver schools that closed in 2023, two were in shared buildings that are still occupied by other schools. The third, Fairview Elementary, was quickly repurposed by the district. It’s now home to a special education program called Next Steps by Chancelight.

Over the years, Denver Public Schools has leased or sold other vacant school buildings. In 2021, the district leased the long-empty Rosedale Elementary school building to the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. It’s now home to St. John Paul the Great High School.

And DPS is in talks with the city of Denver about using the vacant Remington school building as an emergency shelter for migrants. Remington most recently housed a charter middle school, Rocky Mountain Prep Sunnyside, that has since moved to another building.

In Aurora, six of eight vacated buildings are still serving as schools. During the pandemic, some served as remote learning centers for students who needed to access the internet.

Since then, two buildings were turned into magnet schools, one was converted into a new preschool, and two are housing alternative school programs. One small elementary school, Lynn Knoll, which had a capacity of 250 students, was demolished and rebuilt into Del Mar Academy, which is now serving almost 1,000 students in preschool through eighth grade.

In all of those cases, district leaders said they worked internally to identify how the district should use those buildings.

But in the case of the now-closed Paris Elementary, the district didn’t identify a need, so asked the community for input and then opened a request for proposals. After receiving about five proposals, the board voted in June to lease the building to local nonprofits that formed into the All Black Collective or ABC Collective. The collective is running a community center in the building with programming for students and families.

“We’re ideally looking to find alignment between district needs and community needs,” said Christie Imholt, executive director of policy and strategy for Aurora schools.

The Aurora district is still evaluating what to do with the former Sixth Avenue Elementary and expects to make a decision this year.

New youth shelter in Thompson will serve region

The 15,000-student Thompson school district has closed six school sites in the last six years. Over the same period, it’s lost more than 1,200 students, or an 8% decline.

Four of the closed schools are still owned by the district, including one converted to an early childhood center, one to a YMCA preschool, one that now houses the district’s alternative high school and career programs, and the one that will soon be a youth shelter.

Project officials stand in front of "The Landing," a new shelter for homeless youth that will open in Loveland in January. It will be located in a former Thompson School District preschool.

The district sold a fifth building to a Christian school. The sixth building, a closed elementary school next to a busy road, is on the market.

“There are strategic sales, but it’s not as common that we end up selling our buildings,” said Kristen Battige, the district’s director of facilities. “Because while we have declining enrollment right now, we also need to look beyond that.”

The idea for Loveland’s new youth shelter started percolating at a May 2022 meeting of advocates and elected officials about youth homelessness in Larimer County.

Nicole Armstrong, executive director of Matthews House, a Fort Collins nonprofit, realized during the event that although her organization provided some housing support for homeless youth it was essentially dabbling in that area.

“I sat in that space and committed to being part of a solution,” she said.

A month later, Armstrong connected with a top administrator from Thompson to tour district buildings that might work for a youth shelter. The former Monroe Early Childhood Center, nestled in one corner of a soon-to-be closed elementary campus, was perfect.

Battige, Thompson’s facilities director, said the district offered the building — worth about $1.9 million — to the project, though it maintains ownership.

“We know if kids don’t have their basic needs met, they’re not able to learn successfully,” she said. “While operating a youth shelter is not what we do … we have the building, the infrastructure, the knowledge around construction.”

Armstrong said the state’s only youth shelters are in Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs – usually too long of a trek for northern Colorado youth. That’s why many teens facing housing instability end up couch-surfing.

“Often they’re maybe staying with someone in exchange for sex or drugs or other things,” she said.

Matthews House will run The Landing when it opens in January. The shelter will have the capacity to serve 20 youth overnight, with those under 18 in one wing and those 18 and over in the other.

The space will be filled with lots of natural light, social spaces, and cozy nooks, and sightlines that extend from the front doors to the back of the building so youth don’t feel hemmed in. The shelter will offer hot meals, laundry facilities, a health clinic, mental health support, and a daytime drop-in space.

The idea, said Armstrong, is to ensure “it’s a space that feels safe, and not just safe to anyone walking in there, but people specifically who have experienced trauma.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco schools didn’t ask for a tax increase from voters this year. Here’s why.

2024-10-30T22:47:14+00:00

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The Jeffco school district is one of only a few large Colorado districts that isn’t asking residents to vote for additional local revenue this election.

The district is under financial strain and in the spring considered asking voters to approve a mill levy override this year, but consultants recommended putting it off. They pointed out the district has faced challenges when trying to pass tax requests, and homeowners are already struggling with a rise in property taxes.

“There are many factors that would support an MLO, including a strong desire for higher teacher pay, but those supportive indicators are simply no match for voters’ current feelings against higher property tax rates,” consultants wrote in a presentation to the board.

Board members identified another challenge: a disconnect between the district and the community in understanding the district’s financial decisions and how schools are funded, leading to trust issues.

Now, the district is taking this year to examine what budget cuts are needed to balance the budget after prioritizing staff raises this year. The district is also working on a long-term facilities plan that could provide a blueprint for future projects.

When the Jeffco school board approved this year’s $1.01 billion budget, paid for in part with $39 million from reserves, board members acknowledged that using district savings won’t be sustainable in the long term.

The district has pulled around $30 million from its reserves to cover its budget for the last couple of years, but without major changes, there likely won’t be enough reserves to draw from as soon as fall 2026, leaders have said.

“At the same time, we recognize the risk to our students if we are not able to compete for talented educators and staff when our neighboring districts can afford higher salaries,” school board president Mary Parker said at the time.

Jeffco negotiated to give teachers about a 5% cost of living salary increase this year as well as a onetime 2% payment from reserves.

This year’s base starting salary for Jeffco teachers of $55,256 is in line with Denver’s starting salary, but still lower than other neighboring districts.

“We have directed Superintendent Dorland to work throughout the 2024-25 school year to identify and recommend structural adjustments to the district budget. Given that our budget is 87% salaries, it will be important for the district to analyze and adjust staffing levels to realities of our declining student enrollment,” Parker said when the budget was approved.

Student enrollment in Jeffco schools has decreased by 7,876 or 9.37% from 2019-20. The district has closed 21 schools in the last several years due to declining enrollment and projections that declines will continue. The number of teachers in that same time period, according to state figures, has only decreased by 5%.

The school closures were not primarily about money, district leaders stressed at the time, but about the resources that could be provided to students at larger schools that can pool more money, since schools receive money based on how many students they enroll.

Still, the closures were expected to cut some ongoing costs, although the effects may be delayed. Immediately after the closures, the district made large investments in the schools that received new students from closed buildings. The district is slowly starting to sell some of the properties.

During public comment sessions at board meetings, at least one community member has criticized the district’s decision to prioritize increasing teacher pay.

“Your reckless teacher pay increase almost certainly locks in a devastating future financial crisis,” Tom Coyne said at a public comment session in June. “Your projections show deficits for the next three years. Some of you said $118 million in projected deficits don’t make you anxious. If I were you, I’d be terrified.”

The last time Jeffco approved a mill levy override that increased its local tax revenue was 2018. A similar request in 2016 failed.

Based on last year’s figures, Jeffco collects approximately $2,074 per student in basic mill levy overrides approved by voters. Jeffco’s voter-approved mill levy override funding is lower than the approximate $3,101 per student Denver gets and the $2,919 per student Boulder’s district collects. Some districts such as Denver have reached the maximum amount they can raise their local revenue through basic mill levy overrides, but Jeffco has not.

That funding is in addition to the base funding, and districts can use it for a variety of ongoing operating expenses, including for staff salaries.

Without voter approval for these rate increases through mill levy overrides, homeowners may pay more in property taxes due to increased home values, but that doesn’t translate into more money for the local schools. Instead, those local taxes, even if they go up, are used toward the calculated base funding the district must reach, and that means the state can decrease its share of how much a district gets toward that base funding.

The Jeffco district is now considering a mill levy override question on the ballot in either 2026 or 2028.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Text to Colorado voters falsely suggests teachers union chief supports school choice amendment

2024-10-18T23:41:11+00:00

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The president of Colorado’s largest teachers union has denounced a text message to Colorado voters that falsely implies he supports Amendment 80, which would enshrine school choice in the state constitution.

The message includes an audio clip featuring Kevin Vick, the president of the Colorado Education Association. It does not include a disclosure of who paid for it, a potential violation of state law.

“They are blatantly misrepresenting the position of myself and thousands of teachers across the state, who have been vocally opposing this damaging initiative that would open the door to diverting millions in funding away from the public schools that educate 95% of our kids and funnel it to private schools,” Vick said in a statement.

The text message juxtaposes an audio clip of Vick saying “school choice has worked very well for students for years” with an unattributed written message saying Amendment 80 would let families keep the school choice that’s in place now.

Amendment 80 opponents note that the ability for parents to choose where to send their children to school has existed for decades and believe that the amendment backers’ true purpose is to open the door for public education funds to go to private schools.

If Amendment 80 fails, the state’s current school choice will not change. Advocates for the measure say that passing it guarantees that legislators can’t attack school choice in the future.

Voter guide: Amendment 80 would enshrine school choice in Colorado Constitution

On Thursday, Bri Buentello, the director of government affairs for Stand Colorado, another education organization opposed to Amendment 80, filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office regarding the messages.

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office said that because the complaint has been filed, the office will not comment on whether the text messages violated disclosure laws.

The complaint is directed at Colorado Dawn IEC, an independent expenditure committee, which reported that it spent more than $872,000 on mail and text communications in support of Amendment 80 on October 12. Colorado Dawn is also listed as paying for the website that supports Amendment 80.

The complaint notes that because the committee is not registered as an issue committee, it may be violating state law by supporting Amendment 80.

One issue committee, School Choice for Every Child, registered with the state to support Initiative 138, which is the former name for Amendment 80. But that committee has not reported receiving or spending any money this year.

Both the issue committee and Colorado Dawn IEC have the same registered agent, Katie Kennedy, who did not respond to a request for comment about the text messages.

Colorado Dawn IEC has been the subject of at least two other similar complaints in the past, including one that resulted in a fine for improper disclosures.

Many of this year’s contributions to the Colorado Dawn independent expenditure committee come from an affiliated nonprofit that according to tax filings is chaired by Steve Durham, a Republican member of the State Board of Education, and from another group called Protect our Kids, run by Luke Niforatos, a vocal opponent of drug legalization.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

El distrito Adams 14 quiere que los votantes aprueben nuevos fondos para las escuelas

2024-10-17T18:50:41+00:00

Read in English.

El distrito escolar de Adams 14 pedirá a los votantes, por primera vez en 10 años, que aprueben un aumento de impuestos locales para construir una nueva escuela secundaria y aumentar los salarios de los maestros.

Peticiones similares del distrito fracasaron en 2013 y 2014.

Además de construir una nueva escuela secundaria, que también fue el objetivo en 2014, la solicitud de bonos de $113.9 millones de este año, si se aprueba, se destinaría a mejoras de seguridad, como sensores en las puertas, mejoras en el sistema HVAC, nuevas ventanas, techos y nuevos muebles en muchas de las escuelas. El aumento de impuestos de $10 millones, otra versión de un aumento en el impuesto a la propiedad, incrementaría los salarios de los maestros y del personal clasificado.

Los educadores del distrito dicen que las reparaciones se han demorado mucho.

“Cuando entras a nuestras escuelas, los padres lo saben, la comunidad lo sabe”, dijo Joe Salazar, abogado de Adams 14. “Puedes ver que necesitamos mejoras serias”.

La última vez que el distrito aprobó un bono fue en 2008. Se utilizó para construir la Adams City High School. El distrito aprobó por última vez un aumento en el impuesto a la propiedad a fines de la década de 1990, aunque el distrito no confirmó un año exacto.

Esta vez, el distrito está trabajando en planes para fusionar las dos únicas escuelas secundarias del distrito, Adams City Middle School y Kearney Middle School, que ambas han visto una disminución en la inscripción y ya no albergan a estudiantes de sexto grado. (A partir de este año, los estudiantes de sexto grado permanecen en las escuelas primarias). El plan es trasladar solo a los estudiantes de séptimo y octavo grado al nuevo edificio. Si la medida de impuestos no se aprueba, las escuelas aún se fusionarán, pero los líderes del distrito no han decidido en qué edificio.

Jason Malmberg, presidente del sindicato de maestros de Adams 14 y maestro en Kearney Middle School, dijo que le entristece la idea de perder la escuela. Ha estado en Kearney durante años y dijo que incluso tiene un tatuaje de KMS. Pero dijo que los educadores entienden la posición del distrito.

“Adams City Middle School y Kearney están en una necesidad tan desesperada de reemplazo, que sería difícil encontrar a alguien que no esté emocionado por obtener un nuevo edificio”, dijo Malmberg. “Si esto va a ser algo que haga que el distrito sea más competitivo financieramente, entonces lo entendemos”.

Las condiciones de los edificios impactan directamente a los estudiantes, dijo.

“Si eres un niño y vas a la escuela y ves techos dañados por el agua y hueles algo que sube del alcantarillado por tercera o cuarta vez ese año, tiene un impacto”, dijo Malmberg.

Adams 14 ofreció fotos que demuestran las condiciones de sus edificios.

Malmberg recuerda a un estudiante que estaba considerando cambiarse a una escuela en el distrito vecino 27J, pero estaba nervioso por poder encajar en una escuela que veía como mucho más lujosa de lo que estaba acostumbrado en Adams 14.

Los estudiantes tienen expectativas más bajas para sí mismos en condiciones en las que no ven a otros invirtiendo en ellos, dijo, aunque “merecen todas las cosas”.

Dijo que el equipo de instalaciones y el personal trabajan arduamente para mantener los edificios seguros y limpios, pero que solo pueden hacer tanto con las instalaciones antiguas.

Malmberg dijo que los maestros están emocionados por las mejoras de seguridad que también vendrían, incluido el no requerir que los estudiantes caminen fuera del edificio para ir de una clase a otra, ya que los edificios actuales de la escuela secundaria están diseñados de esa manera.

Y, dijo, espera que la financiación del aumento de impuestos, si se aprueba, ayude a que el distrito sea más competitivo para la contratación y retención de maestros.

En las negociaciones del año pasado, el distrito y el sindicato acordaron que si se aprueba el aumento de impuestos, los maestros recibirán un aumento promedio mínimo del 3% una vez que el distrito comience a recibir los fondos. Las negociaciones podrían hacer que esos aumentos sean mayores.

El salario inicial en Adams 14 para los maestros es actualmente de $56,000, más alto que en años anteriores, pero aún más bajo que en algunos distritos vecinos.

Las medidas tendrán que superar desafíos previos.

El distrito podría enfrentar algunos desafíos para que las medidas de impuestos sean aprobadas. La comunidad está compuesta por muchos votantes de bajos ingresos que enfrentan una mayor carga que otras comunidades para recaudar fondos.

Para los propietarios de viviendas en Adams 14, el costo del bono propuesto y el aumento de impuestos es de aproximadamente $6.52 al mes por cada $100,000 de valor de la propiedad. Para una casa valorada en $400,000, eso sería aproximadamente $26.08 al mes.

Dos distritos cercanos, Aurora y Westminster, están pidiendo a los votantes que aprueben medidas fiscales que no requerirán que los propietarios paguen impuestos a la propiedad más altos.

El estado ha aumentado la financiación por estudiante, lo que afecta la cantidad base que reciben todos los distritos, pero los impuestos locales aprobados por los votantes han creado disparidades financieras crecientes entre distritos. Algunos han podido aprobar aumentos locales de impuestos, mientras que otros no. La diferencia puede ser de miles de dólares por estudiante.

“Debido a la forma en que financiamos la educación en Colorado, los distritos escolares tienen que hacer esto para pagar bien a sus maestros”, dijo Salazar.

En el pasado, los ex líderes del distrito de Adams 14 también dijeron que evitaron poner una pregunta en la boleta electoral debido a la percepción negativa del distrito en la comunidad.

En un informe de 2014, la Oficina de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Educación de EE. UU. acusó a los líderes del distrito de discriminar a las familias, al personal y los estudiantes de habla hispana. El distrito luchó durante años para cumplir con los derechos de esos estudiantes. Los funcionarios federales sólo aprobaron condicionalmente el plan para estudiantes de inglés en 2020.

El distrito también ha enfrentado presión del estado para mejorar después de años de bajo rendimiento estudiantil. Solo recientemente la Junta Estatal de Educación ha mostrado más confianza en el último plan del distrito. Sin embargo, la mejora en las calificaciones estatales sigue siendo difícil de alcanzar.

Según una medida, la confianza de la comunidad en general en el distrito no ha mejorado.

Adams 14 tiene una de las tasas más altas de estudiantes que eligen en Colorado asistir a escuelas en otros distritos. De los 8,484 estudiantes que viven dentro de los límites de Adams 14 y asisten a escuelas públicas, el 62% eligió asistir a escuelas del distrito el año pasado. El otro 37%, o 3,211 estudiantes, se inscribieron en escuelas en otros distritos.

Los líderes del distrito no pudieron decir exactamente cómo están trabajando para hacer correr la voz a los votantes sobre las necesidades financieras del distrito para las medidas electorales. Dos líderes del comité encargado de la obra, Adams 14 Ciudadanos por Escuelas Excelentes, no respondieron a las solicitudes de comentarios.

Malmberg dijo que si las medidas no se aprueban, no ve otra opción más que intentarlo nuevamente el próximo año.

“No hay cantidad de recortes o reducciones que puedan generar el dinero que necesitamos para reemplazar estas escuelas”, dijo Malmberg.

El distrito estima que se necesitarán $77 millones de los $113 millones solicitados en el bono para construir la nueva escuela para estudiantes de séptimo y octavo grado. Eso es casi tanto como el presupuesto total del fondo general del distrito de este año, que es poco más de $99 millones.

“Todos los niños merecen un entorno seguro y acogedor para aprender y crecer”, agregó Malmberg. “Creo que todos querríamos eso para todos los niños de la comunidad”.

Traducción de Rossana Longo-Better

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado y cubre distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Comuníquese con Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Adams 14 district wants voters to approve new funding for schools

2024-10-11T23:02:44+00:00

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The Adams 14 school district will ask voters for the first time in 10 years to raise local taxes to build a new middle school and to raise teacher salaries.

Similar requests from the district failed in both 2013 and 2014.

In addition to building a new middle school, which was also the intent in 2014, this year’s $113.9 million bond request, if approved, would pay for security upgrades such as door sensors, HVAC system upgrades, new windows, roofs, and new furniture at many of the schools. The $10 million mill levy override, another version of a property tax increase, would raise salaries for teachers and classified staff.

Educators in the district say the repairs have been long overdue.

“You walk into our schools, the parents know it, the community knows it,” said Joe Salazar, an Adams 14 attorney. “You can see that we need some serious upgrades.”

The last time the district passed a bond was in 2008. It was used to build Adams City High School. The district last passed a mill levy override in the late 1990s, though an exact year wasn’t confirmed by the district.

This time, the district is working on plans to merge the district’s only two middle schools, Adams City Middle School and Kearney Middle School, which have both seen a decrease in enrollment. and no longer house sixth graders. (As of this year, sixth graders remain in elementary schools.) The plan is to move only seventh and eighth graders into the new building. If the tax measure fails, the schools will still merge, but district leaders haven’t decided in which building.

Jason Malmberg, the union president for teachers in Adams 14 and a teacher at Kearney Middle School, said he’s sad about the idea of losing the school. He’s been at Kearney for years, and said he even has a KMS tattoo. But he said educators understand the district’s position.

“Adams City Middle School and Kearney are in such dire need of replacement, it would be hard to find someone who’s not excited about getting a new building,” Malmberg said. “If this is going to be a thing that makes the district more financially competitive, then we understand.”

Building conditions directly have an impact on students, he said.

“If you’re a kid and you go to school and you see water damaged ceilings and smell something coming up from the sewer for the third or fourth time that year, it has an impact,” Malmberg said.

Buildings in Adams 14 need improvements. District officials are seeking a bond and mill levy increase in the November election.

Malmberg recalls a student who was considering switching to a school in the neighboring 27J school district, but was nervous about being able to fit in at a school she saw as much fancier than what she was used to in Adams 14.

Students have lowered expectations for themselves in conditions when they don’t see others investing in them, he said, even though “they deserve all the things.”

He said the facilities team and staff work hard to keep buildings safe and clean, but there’s only so much they can do with the old facilities.

Malmberg said teachers are excited about the safety upgrades that would also come, including no longer requiring students to walk outside the building to get from one class to another, as the existing middle school buildings are designed.

And, he said he hopes that the mill levy funding, if approved, would help make the district more competitive for teacher hiring and retention.

In last year’s negotiations, the district and the union agreed that if the mill levy is passed, teachers will get a minimum average raise of 3% once the district starts receiving the funds. Negotiations could make those raises higher.

Adams 14’s starting pay for teachers is now at $56,000, up from previous years but still lower than in some of the neighboring districts.

The measures would need to overcome past challenges

The district may face some challenges in getting the tax measures passed. The community is made up of many low-income voters who face a higher burden than other communities to raise funds.

For homeowners in Adams 14, the cost of the proposed bond and mill is approximately $6.52 a month per $100,000 of home value. For a home valued at $400,000, that would be about $26.08 per month.

Two nearby districts, Aurora and Westminster, are asking voters to approve tax measures that won’t require homeowners to pay higher property taxes.

The state has increased per-student funding — which affects the base amount all districts get — but additional voter-approved local taxes have created growing financial disparities between districts. Some have been able to pass local tax increases, while others haven’t. The difference can be thousands of dollars per student.

“Because of the way we fund education in Colorado, school districts have to do this to pay their teachers well,” Salazar said.

In the past, former Adams 14 district leaders have also said they avoided putting a question on the ballot because of the negative perception of the district in the community.

In a 2014 report, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights charged district leaders with discriminating against Spanish-speaking families, staff, and students. The district struggled for years to come into compliance with meeting the rights of those students. Federal officials only conditionally approved the district’s plan for English learners in 2020.

The district also has faced pressure from the state to improve after years of low student achievement. Only recently has the State Board of Education shown more trust in the district’s latest plan. Improvement on state ratings still remains elusive, however.

By one measure, the larger community’s trust in the district hasn’t improved.

Adams 14 has one of Colorado’s highest rates of students choosing to attend school in other districts. Of the 8,484 students who live in the Adams 14 boundary and attend public schools, 62% chose to attend district schools last school year. The other 37%, or 3,211 students, were enrolled in schools in other districts.

District leaders couldn’t say exactly how they’re working to get the word out to voters about the district’s financial needs for the ballot measures. Two leaders of the committee in charge of the work, Adams 14 Citizens for Excellent Schools, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Malmberg said that if the measures don’t pass, he doesn’t see another option but to try again the following year.

“There’s no amount of trimming or cutting back that is going to manifest the kind of money we need to replace these schools,” Malmberg said.

The district is estimating that it will take $77 million out of the $113 million bond request, to build the new school for seventh and eighth grade students. That’s nearly as much as this year’s total general fund budget for the district, which is just over $99 million.

“All kids deserve a safe and nurturing environment to learn and grow in,” Malmberg added. “I would think we would all want that for all the kids in the community.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Bonos escolares versus un “mill levy”: ¿Qué están pidiendo los distritos escolares a sus votantes?

2024-10-11T22:02:16+00:00

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Cada noviembre, alrededor de Colorado, los votantes deciden sobre las medidas fiscales para las escuelas.

Algunos distritos escolares solicitan bonos para pagar deudas de préstamos escolares, algunos solicitan el aumento de los impuestos de la propiedad conocido como “mill levy”, algunos solicitan ambos.

A pesar de que las medidas de bonos escolares y el “mill levy” pueden afectar los impuestos a la propiedad, cada medida tiene distintos propósitos.

Así es como funcionan:

¿Qué hace una medida de bonos escolares?

Es una solicitud en una boleta electoral y suele tener la intención de preguntar: ¿Puede el distrito endeudarse más y puede aumentar los impuestos de la propiedad para pagar esa deuda?

Si los votantes aprueban la proposición, los distritos escolares contratarán a sus aseguradores para vender los bonos y conseguir una buena tasa de interés en el pago de los mismos. Cuando los distritos venden bonos, los acuerdos para pagar la deuda suelen ser de 20 a 30 años. Esta deuda puede refinanciarse durante ese tiempo si surge la oportunidad de reducir la tasa de interés.

Ocasionalmente, los distritos escolares solicitan bonos que no aumentan la tasa de los impuestos. Esto ocurre cuando un distrito recauda más dinero porque los valores de las propiedades en la comunidad han subido o porque el distrito ha reducido sus pagos de deuda existentes y ha creado espacio para asumir más deuda.

Generalmente los bonos suelen utilizarse para construir nuevos edificios o instalaciones escolares o realizar renovaciones y obras de mejoras.

A veces, los distritos escolares piden a sus votantes que aprueben bonos que ayudarán al distrito a calificar para fondos estatales complementarios. El programa estatal “Building Excellent Schools Today” o BEST ayuda a pagar la construcción de nuevas escuelas y obras de mejoras en distritos que tienen dificultades para cubrir el costo total. Si los votantes rechazan la medida de bonos, el distrito escolar no recibe dinero del estado.

¿Qué es una solicitud de “mill levy” - recaudación e incremento de impuestos a la propiedad?

El “mill levy” se refiere a la tasa que se cobra en los impuestos sobre la propiedad. También es conocido como un impuesto por milésimas a la propiedad. El estado establece un “mill levy” en cada distrito escolar, y ese dinero cubre una parte del presupuesto operativo básico de las escuelas, mientras que el estado cubre el resto del costo, de acuerdo con la fórmula de financiación escolar de Colorado.

Los distritos que deseen recaudar más dinero, además de esa tasa, deben solicitar primero la aprobación de los votantes. Esto es lo que se conoce como una solicitud de “mill levy” recaudación e incremento del impuesto de la propiedad.

El dinero generado por este impuesto se queda en la comunidad y va directamente al distrito escolar. Los distritos escolares deben informar a los votantes cómo utilizarán el dinero, por ejemplo, para aumentar el salario de los maestros.

Existe un límite en la cantidad en que los distritos pueden aumentar sus “mill levy” incluso con la aprobación de los votantes. Este límite se basa en un porcentaje de la financiación total del estado.

¿Por qué algunos distritos solicitan tanto los bonos como un aumento de “mill levy”?

El dinero generado por la venta de bonos sólo puede usarse para gastos únicos como construcción, mantenimiento o necesidades de infraestructura.

Si una escuela está buscando más dinero para aumentar el salario de los maestros, comprar nuevos libros, o crear un nuevo programa de artes, le pedirán a sus votantes un aumento en la recaudación de “mill levy” porque ese dinero no está restringido. El aumento de la recaudación genera dinero cada año que puede utilizarse para gastos que continúan cada año.

Dependiendo de lo que líderes locales piensen que sus estudiantes necesitan – y de lo que los votantes aprobaran – los consejos escolares pueden poner una medida de bonos y un aumento del “mill levy” en la boleta el mismo año o pedir a los votantes que aprueben un bono un año y un aumento de “mill levy” en otro año.

Mi distrito dice que está en 20 “mills”. ¿Qué significa eso?

Es la tasa que se aplica al avalúo fiscal de su vivienda para calcular la cantidad que debe de impuestos sobre la propiedad.

1 “mill” es igual a $1 de impuesto por cada $1,000 de valor tasado de una propiedad. En un distrito que cobra 20 mills, se cobrarían $20 por cada $1,000 de valor tasado.

¿Qué tan diferente es el valor tasado de las propiedades alrededor del estado?

“Es dramáticamente diferente”, dijo Tracie Rainey, directora ejecutiva del Colorado School Finance Project (Proyecto de Finanzas Escolares de Colorado), una organización sin fines de lucro que investiga y recopila datos sobre cómo se financian las escuelas. Las tasas de impuestos fijadas por el estado varían mucho. Además, algunas comunidades tienen más éxito que otras en conseguir que los votantes aprueben aumentos de los impuestos.

Este método de financiación produce diferentes resultados según la mezcla de propiedades en un distrito — residencial, comercial, agrícola, petróleo y gas — y según sus valores, respectivamente.

Hipotéticamente, un aumento en la recaudación de impuestos generaría $200 por estudiante en un distrito con muchas propiedades y solo $50 por estudiante en un distrito con pocas propiedades. A partir del 2022, el estado comenzó a ofrecer fondos estatales complementarios para los aumentos del “mill levy” en los distritos más pobres, pero como pocos distritos se beneficiaron, el estado está investigando cómo cambiar quién puede obtener estos dólares de compensación a través del estado.

Traducido por Rocky Mountain Language Co-op.

Colorado districts hope voters support tax measures for new school buildings, scholarships, and more

2024-10-04T23:05:27+00:00

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More than 30 of Colorado’s 178 school districts are asking voters to approve a local tax measure in this November’s election.

The number of requests on the ballot isn’t more than in some past years. But what has gone up is the amount of money districts are requesting — nearly $7 billion.

There are two types of tax measures districts are putting to voters this year. Bond and capital measures would mostly go to pay for new school buildings, renovations, new air conditioning in some districts, and safety upgrades. Mill levy overrides would raise operating dollars that would mostly help increase staff pay and add more career education opportunities for students.

Some districts are planning to use the money for unique needs. Adams 12 would like to build a central warehouse and kitchen. Harrison would like to continue a scholarship program for graduates. And Weld County’s 3J district would like to hire more bus drivers.

While some Colorado homeowners have already seen higher property tax bills this year, when it comes to education, those increases don’t always translate to more money for schools.

The state uses a formula to calculate how much funding each district needs per student. When local property tax revenues aren’t enough to reach that amount, the state pitches in funding. In many districts, rising property tax revenue has simply allowed the state not to have to fill in as much with its own dollars, but the total dollars per student hasn’t changed.

If approved, bond and mill levy override dollars are provided to school districts in addition to the amount of money that the state calculates districts must have per student.

What’s a bond measure? How do mill levy overrides work? We explain.

Some districts that pass tax measures and have high property wealth in their communities gain an advantage over other districts that aren’t able to pass these tax measures for additional funds. This year, a couple of the districts requesting a mill levy override for operating dollars on top of their state calculation, Pueblo 70 and Montezuma, have never passed such a tax measure before.

The Harrison and Adams 14 school districts last passed mill levy overrides more than 20 years ago.

Adams 14 district wants voters to approve new funding for schools

Below is some more information about proposed tax measures in several districts.

Harrison hopes to keep funding community college scholarships

$9 million mill levy override request for teacher salaries and the district’s scholarship program for graduates.
If approved it will cost homeowners about $5.31 per month per $100,000 of a home’s value.

Wendy Birhanzel, the superintendent for the Harrison school district in Colorado Springs, said that about 100 students have already benefited from the district’s scholarship program, which allows district graduates to attend two years of community college for free.

She said for many of the district’s students who didn’t think higher education was possible, being able to go to college is a “game changer” that can alter the trajectory of their lives.

And during the beginning of the pandemic, when college-going rates were going down elsewhere, Birhanzel said the rate kept going up in Harrison.

But the scholarship program was privately funded for the three years. District leaders said they hope voters will approve the mill levy override in order to continue it.

In addition to the scholarship program, Birhanzel said the district needs more money to be able to increase teacher pay.

“Our retention and hiring is better than surrounding districts,” Birhanzel said. But to be able to keep competing, and increasing salaries, the new money would go a long way: “We want to have that competitive advantage.”

Aurora’s request won’t require a higher tax rate

$1 billion bond request for three new school buildings and other renovations.
$30 million capital funds mill levy for some ongoing maintenance, salaries, and career education.
If approved, the tax rate homeowners pay will stay the same.

2024 Denver Public Schools bond: Which projects are recommended to be included in $975 million ask?

In Aurora, the district’s chief financial officer Brett Johnson, says the district’s ability to plan ahead for the past few years has allowed them to make more debt payments.

For the past few years, with previous debt, the district has paid about $80 million per year in principal and interest. But with accelerating payments, those annual payments will go down by $50 million, allowing the district capacity to now take out $1 billion in bonds with the same amount in payments, meaning no additional taxes will be necessary, Johnson said.

The district has a need for such a large amount of funding in part due to how much buildings cost now.

The Aurora district has seen a decline of students on its western boundary near Denver as housing costs rise. But on the opposite boundary, opening up to the eastern plains, the district is rapidly growing and needs new schools for the new homes being built.

“We’re talking as many as 2,000 new homes per year at this point,” Johnson said.

The district has already opened new schools in recent years with previous bonds, but this year’s request would pay for two more pre-K-8 buildings and a high school.

In 2016, with the last bond, a pre-K-8 building cost the district between $30 million and $35 million. Now, a similar building will cost $80 million.

The new high school building is expected to cost between $220 million and $230 million, up from around $100 million in 2016. The Cherry Creek school district, next to Aurora, is also requesting a bond to build a new high school, and has estimated a similar cost.

Aurora’s second request, a capital mill levy, is a request for ongoing capital funds that are expected to generate about $30 million annually, and also will not need a higher tax rate.

If that measure passes, Johnson said that ideally the district would do more maintenance, such as upgrading HVAC systems, on a routine basis, rather than waiting to pass bonds.

Adams 12 says it needs new Thornton High School

$830 million bond request for a new high school, new central kitchen, and other maintenance.
$34.5 mill levy override request for teacher salaries, computer science classes, and career education.
If approved, the bond will not require a tax increase. The mill levy override would cost homeowners about $2.04 per month per $100,000 in home value.

Thornton High School isn’t the oldest building in the Adams 12 school district, but it’s the one that’s causing the most problems. The school was built on a hillside, and has up to five floors on one part of the building. There are ramps throughout the building, but some parts are still a challenge for ensuring accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

There have been other problems too, ranging from water pressure to masonry issues that endangered the structure.

Adams 12 is now planning to construct a new building for Thornton High on the same campus.

Chris Gdowski, the Adams 12 superintendent, said that the district has invested more in buildings in the north of the district. With the new Thornton High, the district is looking to bring more needed investments to the older part of the district.

The bond would also pay to expand air conditioning to more parts of school buildings, such as gymnasiums and cafeterias, while also upgrading the filtration systems to improve air quality.

The district would also build a new central kitchen and warehouse that will allow the district to cook more meals for students, decreasing the reliance on pre-packaged meals.

Gdwoski said without a large enough storage site, Adams 12 has to ask for multiple deliveries so the orders are taken to each school. Instead, the district wants large orders to come to a central location where staff can prepare meals and then deliver them to school sites.

“It’s about double the cost now compared to what it will be” if the measure is approved, Gdowski said.

Additionally, with the mill levy override, the district wants to expand a pilot program for how it pays teachers. This year, the pilot is at two schools, and if the tax measure is approved, it would expand to all other Title I schools in the district over the next two years.

All teachers would also get a 2% raise for the current year.

Westminster’s big focus is expanding career education

$111 million bond request for expanding career education, and for security, and air conditioning upgrades to schools.
If approved it would not cost any additional in property taxes

This fall, the district opened a new building, the Iver C. Ranum Innovation Campus, where high school students can take career classes that will earn college credit as well as industry certificates. Westminster wants to do more of the same through bond money.

“It really comes down to making sure we are providing for the needs of our students for the jobs of the 21st century in Adams County,” said Jeni Gotto, Westminster’s new superintendent.

The building also hosts younger students to help them explore what they want to do when they grow up. Next fall, the school will also partner with Front Range Community College to offer career education for adult students.

If the bond is approved, Wesntminster plans to expand the career offerings based on family surveys and a consultant that helped evaluate the career pathways. Among the planned programs are an expansion of the biomedical courses and offerings, as well as advanced manufacturing, construction engineering, and culinary arts.

Westminster’s bond would also help add air conditioning to the remaining schools that don’t yet have it, as well as security upgrades at schools too.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Quesadillas, fajitas, tacos: Parents helped Jeffco create 15 new recipes the district is trying this year

2024-10-01T01:14:31+00:00

Leer en español.

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Azucena Rubio’s kids often complained about meals in their Jeffco schools.

Her elementary school daughter said the food was cold, sometimes frozen, and had no flavor. She often skipped lunch. Her son, now 16, left campus to buy snacks for lunch from the local gas station and was often late coming back to class.

So when she heard that the district was working with a group of parents on improving school meals, she joined in.

For the past two years, more than two dozen parents and district staff worked to think up new meals that might be healthier, and culturally responsive for the largely Latino population in Jeffco’s Edgewater schools on the western boundary near Denver.

This fall, the district has started serving 15 new recipes at three Edgewater schools, including some submitted by parents. Rubio, for instance, submitted a recipe for enchiladas and one for fried rice, which she got out of a nutrition book she uses in a health class she teaches.

Other new recipes include a chicken fajita bowl, pork carnitas tacos, and chicken and cheese quesadillas.

When the district first made the recipes for a parent taste test, the food was great, Rubio said. But now at schools, it hasn’t been consistently good, her kids report.

“It is getting better, I see they are trying, it’s progressing, slowly, but it is,” Rubio said. Her son is leaving campus much less often.

Parents submitted 27 recipes, then settled on the top 15. The district had to see which could be scaled up to make in large quantities, which could be tweaked to meet federal nutritional guidelines for school meals, and which were doable with the ingredients and kitchen equipment available to the district.

“It’s important to care for the health of our kids,” Rubio said. “If the food is all frozen and processed and not healthy, it can harm the health of our kids.”

Rebecca Lemos grabs another box of pizza from the warmer as she serves lunch to students at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School.

Logistical and communication challenges arise

District officials say their goal was not only to respond to the community, but also to explore ways to increase the amount of speed scratch cooking — a version of cooking from scratch that is simplified for school meals, and uses more fresh ingredients.

But throughout the time working with families to plan these meals, and even as the schools started testing some recipes last year, there have been challenges.

Some problems relate to communication between families and the school district. In the second half of last year, the district hired a facilitator to help run the meetings with families to improve the trust.

Many families believe that they weren’t being listened to and that the district was not opening up about why certain foods weren’t able to be served or why some kitchen equipment wasn’t being used. School nutrition officials worried that families didn’t understand the guidelines by which they had to operate.

Then there were some logistical challenges. The chicken bowl, for instance, was served with all the ingredients, such as cheese and lettuce, separate so kids who have allergies could still eat it. But that was a problem for younger children.

“Kids don’t know you need to put it all together, so they don’t know you’re making a chicken bowl,” said Tara Peña, Jeffco’s chief of family and community partnerships, who helped lead the pilot.

There are also questions about the cost.

Last year, meals were served as a test one day a week at the three schools — Edgewater Elementary, Lumberg Elementary, and Jefferson Junior/Senior High — but the district didn’t track the costs per meal. Combined, the three schools serve, on average, about 814 meals per day.

One potential cost is additional lunch staff. The three pilot schools have one additional staff member compared to other schools serving a similar number of meals per day.

Another potentially expensive problem in expanding is space – some school kitchens have more room to cook speed scratch meals than others. The district has a makeshift central kitchen, but it’s not large enough to accommodate cooking for all district schools.

“It does lead to some inconsistencies in the type of scratch cooking we can do for some students vs others,” Superintendent Tracy Dorland told the school board last month. Building a large central kitchen, as other districts are doing, might be the answer, she said, but it would be costly.

Jeffco Board members who received an update on the pilot also asked about sustainability and whether the plan is to expand to other schools.

“How do you scale the concept of culturally sensitive?” asked board member Danielle Varda. “The meals you’re making now may not be appealing to parents and families in lots of other schools, so like where do we scale what we’re doing in these three schools and do we have to adapt culturally sensitive approaches everywhere?”

District leaders said that they’re still working through the answer.

“It was a call to action for that community and you’re absolutely right it might not be appropriate to apply or assume that what this community needs and wants for their children and families is appropriate or needed in another community,” Peña said.

Students at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School finish their lunches in the school’s cafeteria.

Parents say more options at more schools is better

In Aurora Public Schools, one of the most diverse districts in the state, leaders started incorporating culturally varied meals such as chicken tikka masala, empanadas, and pupusas in 2015. The meals are served at all schools, but the schools always serve at least four or five meal options. The district doesn’t serve certified halal or kosher meals, but tries to offer meals that would naturally be halal such as lentils.

“Someone who is vegetarian or doesn’t eat pork, will always have an option,” said James Lesley, assistant director of support and compliance in nutrition services for Aurora schools. “We know that students want choices. By offering more options, it just helps everyone.”

During COVID, some of the meal options went away because of supply problems with vendors, but the district is working to bring them back. At a recent food show where families voted on new meals, the Aurora district saw that families were particularly excited about the reintroduction of pupusas.

Families also highly rated guacamole and a beverage similar to the Starbucks Pink Drink, but which meets school nutrition standards. The pink drink might be served as a special treat on Valentine’s Day.

In Jeffco, Rubio said that wanting healthier meals for all students is about advocating for students who might not have ideal circumstances at home.

“We pay taxes and schools get the money,” Rubio said. “I believe our kids deserve food that is healthier. Not every parent knows or has the income to send their kids with lunch every day.”

Brisneida Barrueta, who arrived in Colorado from Venezuela in December, is living with her husband and two daughters in Jeffco. Barrueta also participated with the group of parents working on the pilot program after realizing her daughters refused to eat their school lunches.

Barrueta said she struggles with packing school meals every day. Sometimes it’s because the working mom is limited on time. Sometimes it’s because her family doesn’t have a lot of food at home.

“As an immigrant, we don’t always have everything necessary for them to eat,” Barrueta said. “We’ve struggled a lot.”

Barrueta submitted a couple of recipes, and one of them, baked chicken with potatoes, a dish she made at home in Venezuela, is one of the meals being piloted. She said her daughters definitely enjoy that meal, but are still picky about eating some of the other foods. Even when the meal is similar to something they like, she said, it’s prepared in different ways or with different ingredients.

If school meals were healthier and her daughters could eat it, she said, “it would be such a great help.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org .

Quesadillas, fajitas, y tacos: Este año realizarán pruebas con 15 recetas que creó Jeffco con ayuda de los padres

2024-10-01T01:14:23+00:00

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Los hijos de Azucena Rubio a menudo se quejaban de la comida que ofrecen las escuelas de Jeffco.

Su hija que va a la primaria ha dicho que la comida estaba fría, hasta a veces congelada, y que no tenía sabor. Por ese motivo, a menudo se saltaba el almuerzo. En cuanto a su hijo, que ahora tiene 16 años, contó que salía de su escuela para comprar bocadillos en la gasolinera local y frecuentemente volvía tarde a clase.

Así que, cuando se enteró de que el distrito estaba trabajando con un grupo de padres para mejorar el menú escolar, decidió unirse.

Durante los últimos dos años, más de dos docenas de padres y personal del distrito han trabajado para idear nuevas recetas. Con el objetivo de hacerlas más saludables y culturalmente pertinentes para la gran población latina que acude a las escuelas de Edgewater en Jeffco, en el límite occidental cerca de Denver.

Este otoño, el distrito ha comenzado a servir 15 recetas nuevas en tres escuelas de Edgewater, donde se incluyen las que enviaron los padres. En el caso de Rubio, por ejemplo, presentó una receta de enchiladas y otra de arroz frito, que tomó de un libro de nutrición que utiliza para las clases de salud en las que enseña.

Entre las otras recetas que se implementarán, se incluye: un bowl de fajitas de pollo, tacos de carnitas de cerdo y quesadillas de pollo con queso.

Cuando el distrito preparó las recetas por primera vez para que los padres pudieran probar los sabores, la comida fue extraordinaria, dijo Rubio. Sin embargo, en las escuelas no ha sido de la misma calidad, según informan sus hijos.

“Está mejorando, veo que le están echando ganas, parece que sí va progresando, lento, pero sí”, dijo Rubio. Al menos su hijo ya no sale de la escuela con tanta frecuencia.

De las 27 recetas enviadas por los padres, se seleccionaron las 15 mejores. Luego, el distrito se encargó de evaluar cada una y determinar varios factores, como la viabilidad de producirlas en grandes cantidades, cuales podrían ser modificadas para que cumplan con las pautas nutricionales federales para las comidas escolares, la disponibilidad de los ingredientes necesarios para cada plato y el equipamiento de las cocinas del distrito.

“Es importante cuidar la salud de los niños”, dijo Rubio. “Si esa comida es congelada y procesada y no son comidas saludables, perjudica la salud de nuestros hijos”.

Rebecca Lemos saca otra caja de pizza mientras sirve comida a los estudiantes de Jefferson Junior/Senior High School.

Emergen desafíos logísticos y de comunicación

Los funcionarios del distrito aseguran que su objetivo es atender a la comunidad y, al mismo tiempo, buscar formas de aumentar la práctica de la cocina desde cero rápida. Esta es una alternativa simplificada de cocinar desde cero que se adapta al diseño del menú de comidas escolares, centrándose en la incorporación de ingredientes frescos.

No obstante, mientras trabajaban con las familias en la planificación del menú y comenzaban a probar algunas recetas el año pasado, surgieron varios desafíos.

Algunos problemas están vinculados a la comunicación entre las familias y el distrito escolar. En la segunda mitad del año pasado, el distrito contrató a un facilitador para coordinar las reuniones con las familias y fortalecer la confianza.

Muchas familias sienten que no se les escuchaba y que el distrito no les informaba sobre por qué ciertos alimentos no podían considerarse opciones para el menú, ni el motivo por el cual algunos equipos de cocina no estaban en uso. Los funcionarios de nutrición escolar estaban preocupados porque las familias no habían comprendido las pautas con las que debían trabajar.

Luego surgieron algunos desafíos logísticos. Por ejemplo, el bowl de pollo se servía con todos los ingredientes, como queso y lechuga, por separado, para que los niños con alergias pudieran comer. Sin embargo, esto resultó ser un inconveniente para los niños más pequeños.

“Los niños no saben que tienen que mezclar los ingredientes, no comprenden que es un bowl de pollo”, dijo Tara Peña, jefa de asociaciones familiares y comunitarias de Jeffco, quien ayudó a liderar el programa piloto.

También hay preguntas con respecto a los costos.

El año pasado, se realizaron pruebas al servir el nuevo menú una vez a la semana en Edgewater Elementary, Lumberg Elementary y Jefferson Junior/Senior High. En total, estas tres escuelas sirven un promedio de alrededor de 814 comidas al día. Sin embargo, el distrito no registró los costos por comida.

Un costo potencial es el personal adicional requerido para el servicio del almuerzo. Las tres escuelas piloto cuentan con un miembro extra del personal en comparación con otras escuelas que sirven un número similar de comidas diarias.

Otro problema potencialmente costoso a la hora de pensar en llevarlo a las demás escuelas, es el espacio. Algunas cocinas escolares tienen más capacidad para preparar comidas desde cero rápidas que otras. El distrito dispone de una cocina central improvisada, pero no es lo suficientemente grande para gestionar la preparación de comidas para todas las escuelas del distrito.

“Esto genera disparidades en el tipo de comidas desde cero qué se pueden ofrecer en las distintas escuelas”, comentó la superintendente Tracy Dorland al consejo escolar el mes pasado. Afirmó que construir una cocina central más grande, como están haciendo otros distritos, podría ser la solución, aunque sería costosa.

Los miembros de la junta de Jeffco que recibieron una actualización sobre el programa piloto también preguntaron sobre la sostenibilidad y si hay planes de expandirse a otras escuelas.

“¿Cómo podemos ampliar el concepto de sensibilidad cultural?” preguntó la miembro de la junta, Danielle Varda. “Las comidas que están preparando ahora pueden no ser atractivas para los padres y familias de muchas otras escuelas. Entonces, ¿cómo podemos expandir lo que estamos haciendo en estas tres escuelas y tienen que adaptarse estos enfoques culturalmente sensibles para las distintas escuelas del distrito?”

Los líderes del distrito indicaron que aún están trabajando en la respuesta.

“Fue un llamado a la acción para esa comunidad, y tienes toda la razón: tal vez no es apropiado asumir que lo que esta comunidad necesita y desea para sus hijos y familias sea igual de adecuado o necesario en otra”, afirmó Peña.

Estudiantes de Jefferson Junior/Senior High School terminan su almuerzo en la cafetería de la escuela.

Los padres aseguran que contar con más opciones en más escuelas es mejor

En las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora, que es uno de los distritos más diversos del estado, los líderes comenzaron a incorporar comidas culturalmente variadas, tales como pollo tikka masala, empanadas y pupusas, desde el 2015. Las comidas se sirven en todas las escuelas, garantizando siempre al menos cuatro o cinco opciones distintas. Aunque el distrito no ofrece platos certificados como halal o kosher, busca proporcionar alternativas que sean naturalmente halal, como las lentejas.

“Siempre habrá una opción para quienes son vegetarianos o no comen cerdo”, dijo James Lesley, subdirector de apoyo y cumplimiento en los servicios de nutrición de las escuelas de Aurora. “Sabemos que los estudiantes desean tener opciones. Al ofrecer más alternativas, simplemente beneficiamos a todos”.

Durante la pandemia de COVID, algunas opciones de comida dejaron de ofrecerse debido a problemas de suministro con los proveedores, sin embargo el distrito está trabajando para volver a incorporarlas. En una reciente feria de alimentos donde las familias votaron por nuevas opciones, el distrito de Aurora observó que estaban especialmente entusiasmadas por la reintroducción de las pupusas.

Las familias también dieron una alta calificación al guacamole y a una bebida similar a la bebida rosada de Starbucks, pero que cumple con los estándares de nutrición escolar. La bebida rosada podría ofrecerse como un detalle especial en el Día de San Valentín.

En Jeffco, Rubio señaló que el deseo de ofrecer comidas más saludables para todos los estudiantes se basa en la necesidad de defender a aquellos que pueden no contar con las mejores condiciones en casa.

“Pagamos taxes y las escuelas tienen el dinero”, dijo Rubio. “Yo creo que nuestros hijos merecen comidas más saludables. No todos los padres sabemos o tenemos los ingresos para mandar a nuestros hijos con comida todos los días”.

Brisneida Barrueta, quien llegó a Colorado desde Venezuela en diciembre, vive con su esposo y sus dos hijas en Jeffco. Barrueta también se unió al grupo de padres que trabaja en el programa piloto tras darse cuenta de que sus hijas se negaban a comer sus almuerzos escolares.

Barrueta mencionó que tiene dificultades para preparar las comidas escolares todos los días. A veces es porque, como madre trabajadora, dispone de poco tiempo; otras veces, es porque su familia no tiene suficiente comida en casa.

“Como inmigrante uno no cuenta con todo lo necesario que ellos necesitan para comer,” dijo Barrueta. “Nosotros hemos tenido que batallar mucho.”

Barrueta envió varias recetas, incluida la de pollo al horno con papas, un plato que solía preparar en Venezuela y que está siendo probado en el programa piloto. Ella dijo que a sus hijas definitivamente les gusta, pero que siguen siendo exigentes con otras comidas. Aunque el menú sea similar a algo que les agrada, comentó que por lo general se prepara de manera diferente, o con otros ingredientes.

Expresó que si el menú escolar fuera más saludable y sus hijas tuvieran la oportunidad de comerlo, “sería de gran ayuda”.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

As COVID relief ends, Denver and Jeffco school districts to keep some aid-funded initiatives

2024-09-23T20:52:19+00:00

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As the deadline approaches to spend federal pandemic relief for schools, Colorado districts face a decision: Which programs and staff funded by that aid will they keep?

Colorado got nearly $1.2 billion in the third and final round of pandemic relief funding, known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III, or ESSER III. The state divided most of that amount — about $1 billion — among its 178 school districts, giving more money to districts serving students with higher needs.

The federal government intended ESSER to help address the academic impact of lost learning time during the pandemic, and districts had to set aside a portion of the funds specifically for that purpose. But local officials had wide discretion to spend it on other things too.

Colorado’s two largest districts, 88,000-student Denver Public Schools and 76,000-student Jeffco Public Schools, got $209.6 million and $68.2 million, respectively. School districts must allocate their ESSER III money by Sept. 30 and spend it by January. However, states can ask the federal government for an extension to the spending deadline on behalf of districts and schools, and Colorado officials have indicated that they will.

Jeffco will continue spending on new curriculum, safety

Once ESSER runs out, Jeffco Public Schools will spend $9 million to continue some of the work previously funded by the federal COVID relief money. Jeffco officials said they’ve tracked outcomes and feel confident that they’re maintaining the most important things.

“Overall the things that were working, I think we found ways to continue to sustain them or sustain them in maybe a little different way,” said Dr. Kym LeBlanc-Esparza, deputy superintendent of Jeffco schools, who oversaw the spending of ESSER.

Among the items Jeffco will maintain spending on: security personnel for middle schools, some training for support positions including paraprofessionals, mental health telehealth appointments for students through Hazel Health, a continued rollout of new curriculum including for reading in secondary schools, and an increased daily rate for substitute teachers.

District leaders said the increased substitute teacher pay really helped. When the sub pay went up, so did the number of teacher vacancies that were filled by substitutes.

Denver to continue spending on summer programs, mental health

Denver Public Schools is spending $7.1 million to continue programming that’s been funded by ESSER. That includes some after-school and summer programming, as well as the salaries of about 40 staff who work in those programs. It also includes the salaries of 14 additional mental health workers and five additional armed safety patrol officers who respond to emergency calls.

“We are grateful for the money, and we did receive a lot of money,” said Katie Hechavarria, the Denver district’s executive director of finance. Losing the ESSER funding, she said, “will be felt across the district,” but added that officials have planned for it.

Deep staff cuts not expected in many districts

Nationwide, district officials have worried about the effect of the so-called “ESSER cliff” when the relief money runs out. One of the most-feared outcomes has been that schools would have to lay off teachers and other staff they’d hired with ESSER money.

Chalkbeat submitted open records requests to 15 school districts across Colorado and found that most are not eliminating positions as a result of ESSER’s expiration. Many districts have found ways to keep most, if not all, positions that had been funded by the aid.

Denver will lose the equivalent of about 16 full-time positions previously funded by ESSER, as well as another eight temporary positions that were expected to end anyway. The district had the equivalent of more than 11,700 full-time positions last year.

Jeffco will lose about 34 individuals whose jobs were funded by ESSER. People in most other positions that were cut were able to fill other roles, or were only working a handful of hours to supplement their existing district role, district leaders said.

High-dosage tutoring will end in Jeffco

One thing Jeffco will eliminate is high-dosage tutoring. The district used ESSER to pay for more than 100 part-time tutoring positions that will now be cut. But officials said many of those positions were filled by teachers who will continue to work for the district.

Although the district is cutting tutoring, leaders said research showed that the resources tutors were using may still deliver results even without the additional staff. Students who used the Lexia Core5 program made significant gains, according to district data.

Jeffco is also cutting back on its ESSER-funded expansion of summer programming due to staffing challenges. And it will no longer pay teachers and staff for training time outside of the school day as opposed to pulling them during the school day, an arrangement that LeBlanc-Esparza said the district would have liked to keep but couldn’t afford.

Denver will cut bonuses for hard-to-staff positions

Meanwhile, Denver will no longer offer ESSER-funded hiring bonuses for hard-to-staff positions, such as nurses. The district will also increase the fees some families pay for its before and after school program, called Discovery Link. ESSER had allowed the district to hold the fees steady.

There may be other cuts in Denver. The district doled out a significant chunk of its ESSER dollars directly to schools over the course of the three previous school years. Many schools initially spent it on teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff.

But in an attempt to wean schools off the federal relief money before it expired, DPS reduced its direct-to-school payments over those three years.

By 2023-24, DPS’ 150 district-run schools were funding the equivalent of 63.5 full-time positions with ESSER money, an average of less than half a position per school, Hechavarria said.

She didn’t know how many school-based positions were cut this school year because of the expiration of federal aid. Those decisions are made by principals who don’t differentiate between ESSER-funded positions and other positions in their budgets, Hechavarria said.

“It’s difficult to attribute a change happening at a school just to stimulus dollars going away,” she said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org .

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org .

School accountability should factor in environmental hazards like pollution, Adams 14 says

2024-09-20T01:12:30+00:00

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The Adams 14 school district in Commerce City faces some of the most serious environmental hazards of any in Colorado. It’s also one of the lowest performing.

But external factors such as local levels of poverty or pollution aren’t a part of Colorado’s school rating system that holds districts accountable for student test scores. Adams 14 officials have asked the State Board of Education to reconsider that. But it looks like they have an uphill battle.

After more than a year of work, a 26-member task force has almost finished a set of recommendations for changing the state’s accountability system. The group’s latest draft, published on Friday, doesn’t recommend considering factors such as the environmental pollution in a community, although it’s still taking feedback.

At a State Board of Education meeting last Wednesday, Adams 14 Superintendent Karla Loria highlighted pollution in Commerce City, and research showing that such conditions can contribute to higher rates of student illnesses, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems.

Community members say their higher than average rate of adverse health issues are directly tied to conditions created by industries like a Commerce City oil refinery run by Suncor Energy that has faced multiple investigations for exceeding the amount of pollution it is allowed to release into the air. Commerce City, a heavily industrialized community north of Denver, is considered a disproportionately impacted community, based on state data.

“Adams 14 students face, every day and night, detrimental environmental exposures that more than 90 percent of our students across the state do not face,” Loria said.

The Adams 14 school district currently serves about 5,400 students, of which more than half speak English as a new language and a majority come from low-income families. Those demographics, when combined with high pollution levels, create a challenging situation for Adams 14 students and educators, Loria said.

Wendy Birhanzel, the superintendent of the Harrison school district and the chair of the task force looking at the accountability system, said she’s well aware of how external forces impact students.

But she said the task force focused on inequities within the accountability system, and stuck to factors that are within a school district’s control. In the year the task force has been meeting, she said she didn’t hear concerns about environmental pollution.

“We know there’s a lot of factors that go into a student’s performance or a student’s success, and so with our charge it was really about what can schools and districts control and change within their own systems to change outputs,” Birhanzel said. “When you talk about those outside factors, that becomes a whole different conversation than really what our focus was.”

Accountability system’s handling of Adams 14 spurred criticism

For its accountability system, Colorado mostly looks at student performance on standardized state tests, and student growth on those tests. At the high school level, the rating system also considers graduation rates and how many students move on to postsecondary options.

Districts can earn one of five ratings. In the most recent results for the last school year, just 11 districts — including Adams 14 — received one of the lowest two ratings. Being in those two lowest ratings for five years or more then means the state must step in and order an improvement plan, or take steps like closing schools.

Adams 14 was the first district to reach so many years on the watchlist for low ratings. The fallout has put a strain on the accountability system, as well as the local community. The State Board stripped the district’s accreditation in 2022, and ordered a reorganization that could have resulted in school closures or even the dissolution of the district. But after community pushback, the state backed off the order.

Many community members pointed to factors outside of the school’s control — including poverty, bad water, and student health issues — as reasons why they said the state’s ratings system was unfair, punitive, or inaccurately capturing student learning.

For years, Adams 14 has been working with outside consultants trying to improve student achievement. But it has yet to show improvement on the state’s rating system.

A majority of schools and districts initially identified for low performance under the same system do manage to improve and get off the watchlist.

Still, Colorado lawmakers commissioned an audit to examine the state’s accountability system. In 2022, the audit concluded that the system was reasonable, although it did find that certain groups of students, such as Hispanic students, were more likely to struggle.

After that audit, the state convened a task force to determine whether there should be changes to the state’s accountability system.

That task force has been meeting since August of last year. Their latest draft includes more than 20 possible recommendations including creating a super subgroup to avoid over-counting students who fall into more than one subgroup, and translating more of the state tests into more languages.

Birhanzel said the recommendations will help the state “better measure where we’re succeeding and where we need to support schools, districts or students.”

The final report is due by mid-November. Some of the recommendations could be adopted by the State Board or the Colorado Department of Education, but some could require changes to the state law on accountability.

Adams 14 seeks help from new Colorado rules

This month, much of Commerce City is breathing a sigh of relief after an oil and gas company dropped plans to expand gas storage tanks across the street from an Adams 14 elementary school. But that reprieve for the district doesn’t address all its current concerns about environmental dangers.

Adams 14 officials implied in their public comments last week that due to new state rules about environmental justice, the State Board had a legal obligation to consider the district’s official status as a disproportionately impacted community when making any changes to the accountability system.

The new rules define a “disproportionately impacted community” and suggest that more state agencies factor the designation into their decisions. The Colorado Department of Education was not listed among the state agencies, although the rules note that its list of such agencies isn’t meant to be exhaustive.

The state education department disputed Adams 14′s interpretation of the rules, saying it’s not aware of such a requirement. But it did say it would review relevant materials from the district about that issue.

“We recognize that factors outside schools’ control impact the student learning environment,” the department said in a statement. “Our department and the state board can and do consider those factors when making decisions about how to support districts and schools.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado will temporarily lower SAT math score needed for graduation, while investigating a long-term plan

2024-09-11T21:48:33+00:00

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Colorado students for the next two years will be able to meet state graduation requirements with a lower score on the SAT math test.

The State Board of Education voted in favor of the temporary change on Wednesday. Staff from the Colorado Department of Education and many board members said the change isn’t a lowering of standards, but rather a response to changes to the SAT that seem to have been more significant than expected.

“I want to make sure we’re not negatively impacting Colorado students given we had some unusual results — not just in Colorado, but across the country,” said board President Rebecca McClellan.

In past years, students needed a 500 on the math portion to be able to use the math SAT test to meet graduation requirements. Wednesday’s vote will change the score to 480 for students graduating in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The percentage of 11th graders who scored 500 on the math test dropped from 45% in 2023 to 39% in 2024. With the new score of 480, about 45.5% of the students who took the test in spring 2024 will be able to use the score to meet their graduation requirements in spring 2025, making the percentage comparable to past years.

The concern was that some students may have planned to use their scores from their SAT to meet graduation requirements, and may have unexpectedly gotten lower scores than expected based on taking the PSAT in their ninth and 10th grades. Those students, now as seniors, may have a smaller time frame to find an alternative way to meet state graduation requirements before May.

There were several changes to the SAT test last spring, including a new fully digital format and question and language changes. Joyce Zurkowski, the state department’s chief assessment officer, told the board there is some investigation into whether the questions on this year’s SAT were ultimately more advanced.

In Colorado, all 11th graders take the SAT, and students who meet a certain score can use that score to meet Colorado’s graduation requirement to show competency in math and English. Districts can offer students about a dozen ways to meet that requirement, such as taking advanced courses, concurrent enrollment classes, or industry certificates. While state officials don’t track how many students use each method, they believe the SAT is one of the more popular options.

Using the raw SAT scores, the state of Colorado also calculates how many students met state expectations in math and English language arts. The percentage of Colorado students meeting state expectations on the SAT math test dropped by 4.1 percentage points compared to last year. Similar drops were not seen in the English language arts portion of the test and so the state’s changes to the graduation cut scores are only for the math test.

Colorado PSAT and SAT 2024 scores: How did your school or district perform?

At the same time, the state will be working with higher education partners to identify what scores on this reformatted SAT actually correlate to postsecondary readiness to recommend the best passing score for the graduation requirement to use long-term.

State Board member Steve Durham said he was already inclined to think that changing the score was appropriate based on last month’s board discussion, but since then he got additional information about the other states that use the SAT for all 11th graders, including Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia. He said he saw that they too reported similar significant decreases in the number of students meeting math expectations.

“Data now confirms the most likely reason for the difference in the outcome is due to a change in the test rather than a change in student performance,” Durham said. “Re-norming it for this purpose, at least for graduation, for a short period of time, is an appropriate thing to do.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

¿Cómo funcionarán este año los almuerzos escolares gratis en Colorado? A continuación, algunas respuestas.

2024-09-10T18:12:20+00:00

Read in English.

A pesar de que el costo del programa ha superado las previsiones iniciales de los funcionarios estatales, Colorado continuará ofreciendo comidas escolares gratuitas este año.

Mientras un grupo asesor trabaja en soluciones a largo plazo que podrían implicar cambios en los próximos años escolares, los legisladores estatales han decidido seguir financiando el programa en el corto plazo. Por lo tanto, no habrá modificaciones en el programa para este año escolar.

A continuación, encontrarás respuestas a algunas de las preguntas más frecuentes sobre el programa. Si después de leerlas aún tienes dudas, envíanos un correo electrónico a co.tips@chalkbeat.org.

¿Este año, las comidas escolares continúan siendo gratuitas para todos los estudiantes?

Sí, para los distritos que elijan participar en el programa de comidas escolares gratuitas del estado. Los distritos deberán registrarse con el estado. El año pasado, la mayoría de los distritos estatales participaron en el programa. Este año, los distritos tienen hasta el 16 de septiembre para notificar al estado su decisión de unirse al programa, por lo que aún no se sabe si todos los distritos participarán o solo algunos.

Los grandes distritos escolares, incluidos Denver, Jeffco y el condado de Douglas, han anunciado en sus sitios web que ofrecerán comidas gratuitas a todos los estudiantes nuevamente este año escolar.

¿Por qué la escuela de mi hijo me solicita que complete un formulario para determinar si califico para comidas gratuitas o a precio reducido?

El programa estatal sólo proporciona fondos después de que las escuelas y distritos hayan recibido los reembolsos del gobierno federal por las comidas de los estudiantes que califican para almuerzos gratuitos o a precio reducido. Por lo tanto, identificar a los estudiantes que califican para estas comidas permite a las escuelas obtener primero el reembolso federal, haciendo que los fondos estatales sean más eficientes.

Por qué la escuela de tus hijos quiere que solicites las comidas gratis

Además, hay otros beneficios asociados. El estado y los distritos a veces asignan ciertos recursos a las escuelas en función del número de estudiantes que califican para comidas gratuitas o a precio reducido, ya que estos datos se utilizan como un indicador de pobreza.

También existen beneficios adicionales para las familias identificadas como calificadas para los almuerzos subsidiados, como descuentos en otras tarifas escolares o asistencia adicional.

Pero, ¿no escuché que el año pasado el estado superó el presupuesto para los almuerzos?

Sí. El programa, tal como fue aprobado por los votantes en 2022, está financiado en parte porque el estado eliminó un crédito fiscal que solía ahorrar dinero a los contribuyentes. Al suprimir ciertas deducciones fiscales para las familias que ganan más de $300,000, el estado logró recaudar nuevos ingresos destinados a pagar las comidas escolares.

Sin embargo, el estado subestimó la cantidad de estudiantes que solicitarían comidas escolares gratuitas, lo que resultó en un mayor número de estudiantes comiendo en la escuela y, en consecuencia, en un costo más alto del programa de lo previsto.

El año pasado, los legisladores recurrieron otros recursos estatales para cubrir esta brecha y asignaron dinero adicional para financiar el programa durante el presente año escolar, mientras determinan si se realizarán ajustes futuros.

¿Todavía existen posibilidades de que el programa de comidas escolares gratuitas cambie?

Cualquier cambio en el programa probablemente se implemente en el próximo año escolar, 2025-26. El estado ha contratado a un consultor para trabajar con el nuevo Grupo Asesor Técnico del programa Healthy School Meals for All. La tarea del grupo es identificar cómo maximizar los fondos provenientes de los reembolsos federales y, al mismo tiempo, evaluar formas de reducir el costo del programa. Esto permitirá a los legisladores explorar opciones para garantizar la sostenibilidad del programa.

Una organización que ayudó a crear el programa en 2022 está considerando la posibilidad de proponer una medida en la boleta electoral para solicitar a los votantes fondos adicionales para apoyar el financiamiento del programa.

El grupo asesor comenzó a reunirse en julio y tiene previsto presentar una actualización a los legisladores en septiembre, con un informe final y recomendaciones que se espera entreguen en diciembre.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

Colorado’s annual performance ratings show more schools, districts earning better marks

2024-09-10T16:58:44+00:00

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More Colorado schools and districts are earning higher marks on the state’s annual performance ratings, according to preliminary data published Tuesday.

The ratings, largely based on scores from standardized state tests administered every spring, improved but are not yet better than before the pandemic. The trend is similar to state test score data released by the Colorado Department of Education last month, which showed student achievement slowly recovering from declines after the pandemic disruptions of 2020.

Overall, the list of districts on the state’s accountability clock — the watchlist where districts land for low performance — has been cut in half from 22 to 11. Aurora Public Schools, one of the largest districts that had earned a low rating last year, has quickly bounced back and is off the list based on an improved rating for 2024.

And at the school level, 83% of schools earned the two top ratings of performance or improvement in 2024, compared to 78% in 2023.

The state uses the ratings to identify schools and districts with persistently low academic performance and provide them with more funding and scrutiny. By law, the State Board of Education must order schools and districts that have had more than five years of low ratings to undergo changes in an effort to improve student performance. Those changes could include closing a school or requiring a struggling district to merge with a better-performing one.

But in recent years, the State Board has backed off ordering more serious interventions. Instead, it has largely rubber-stamped schools’ and districts’ own improvement plans as long as they meet the parameters of the state’s accountability law.

Likelihood of improving is high, but some schools struggle

Among notable improvements, Denver’s Manual High School earned significantly higher points compared to last year and will be able to exit the state’s low-performance watchlist.

But a handful of chronically low-performing schools and districts continue to struggle. That includes Denver’s Lincoln High School, which entered the low-performance list at the same time as Manual.

Colorado’s accountability system places districts and schools on the accountability clock when they earn one of the lowest two performance ratings. If a district or school remains on that list for five years in a row, the state must step in and order an improvement plan. The state also provides more funding for schools on the clock, although officials on Tuesday said the need always exceeds the funding available.

Many of the schools and districts that end up on the clock are those with high numbers of Hispanic students, students from low-income families, or students with disabilities. But an audit in late 2022 found that overall the state’s system was still reasonable.

Still, new members on the State Board have sided with community members who criticize the state’s system as punitive and inequitable.

Although Colorado statute has not changed the state’s accountability system, State Board members more recently have taken a different approach of asking state officials to collaborate with districts and monitoring those schools and districts.

In 2022, the state had escalated and exhausted its options for Adams 14 by ordering reorganization for the district, which has been on the clock for more than 10 years. But, after community pushback, last fall the state backed down.

This year, ratings show student performance in Adams 14 has once again decreased, and the district this year earned the fewest points of all districts in the state. At the school level, each of the district’s schools earned fewer points on the state’s report card, compared to last year, and now three elementary schools — Alsup, Central, and Rose Hill — earned the lowest rating possible.

Behind Adams 14, which is now officially on “year 11″ of the clock, only one other school in the state has had as many low ratings: Risley International Academy of Innovation, a middle school in Pueblo 60. This year, Risley also continued to earn one of the lowest ratings in the state, although the school earned 40% of possible points on the report card, more points than the 38% it earned last year.

Among the large school districts in the state, most districts had stable numbers of schools on the clock, with some of their schools improving and others earning lower ratings and taking their place on the list. Jeffco Public Schools, however, has eight, or twice as many schools as last year, on the clock.

State officials say about 60% of schools that enter the clock will exit right away with additional support and focus.

In Aurora, Aurora Central Campus, formerly Aurora Central High School, continues to face low state ratings. Last year, the school had insufficient data to earn a score. This year, the school earned 49.2% of possible points — enough to earn a higher rating and start to exit the clock — but low test participation means the school will continue to earn a low rating for a 10th year.

Schools and districts now get a chance to appeal their ratings if they can present additional data to warrant a change. After considering appeals, the state will finalize the ratings later this fall.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

How the Durango, Colorado, district supported newcomer students to practice English this year

2024-09-06T20:07:35+00:00

Leer en español.

Sandra Hernandez knows what a struggle it can be for students to learn English while in high school.

She’s been raising four multilingual children, including a 17-year-old niece who just returned from Mexico to live with her in Durango in southwest Colorado.

So every time Hernandez was asked to fill out a survey from school, she suggested the same thing: more support for students learning English.

Finally, after hearing many similar requests, a family liaison at Durango High School pitched the idea to host a summer program focused on helping newly arrived migrant students who need more practice with their English before the school year begins.

This summer, the Durango district enrolled about 10 students in the program for four weeks before the school year started, including Hernandez’s niece, Abril Esmeralda.

Hernandez praised the program, and her district for listening to her request.

“I can already see how she’s developing,” Hernandez said of her niece.

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez working on her art project during a summer program.

Such programs fill a critical need for families and educators across the state. Colorado districts enrolled thousands of newly arrived immigrant students throughout the last school year. Teachers in places like Denver, Aurora, and Jeffco have described feeling overwhelmed at times by the arrival of so many new students, and the experience has prompted changes across schools.

The same has happened in rural Durango, a district of about 5,200 students where about 4% of students identify as English learners. The district received 36 new-to-English students last school year, compared with six in 2021.

Last year, the district welcomed new-to-the-country families enrolling for school with a printed guide containing information about school start times, supply lists, and free lunches, plus pictures of all the key people to know and how to get in contact with them.

But this year’s summer program was the big hit with families and students who participated.

The program went beyond practicing English. Students also worked on art projects about what it means to be home. The idea came from a former Colorado Teacher of the Year, who’s been sharing it for years as a way to get students and their communities to connect.

The students’ projects were presented to families first, then to teachers who were able to use the works to get to know the students they might encounter in their classes. Next week, the projects will be on display at the community library.

Leaders say the work has already helped students feel like they belong.

Kira Cunningham, the Durango district’s newcomer specialist, said she watched students from the summer program walking into their first day of the school year last month. One student, who had arrived in the U.S. just before the last school year ended, caught her attention.

“He was strutting into the building, fist-bumping all the staff members out front,” Cunningham said. “It was just such a delight to see. The confidence was just kind of coming out of their pores.”

The district spent just $3,219 on the program. The goal was to help students practice their English skills in a comfortable environment before the start of the school year, giving them confidence to participate more during the school year.

“Truly, I feel that because of the classes, I have a lot more confidence to be able to explain things,” said 17-year-old Brandon Chame, one of the participants. “I’m less afraid of making a mistake.”

Conquering fear was the idea behind the art project, said Leticia Guzman Ingram, the 2016 Colorado Teacher of the Year, an educator in the Roaring Fork School District, and now also a professor at Colorado Mountain College.

Guzman Ingram said she first thought of the idea of an art project about home when she saw fear between her newcomer students and local community members. Students told her they were afraid that one of her white male friends they encountered was going to call immigration on them. The man told her he was afraid the students were troublemakers.

“Everybody is afraid of each other,” Guzman Ingram said. “But then you realize you’re so much more alike than you think. It doesn’t matter what color skin you have. Mothers all want their kids to be happy and to succeed. Sometimes we forget.”

She thought of an art project, she said, because “art’s easy. It’s something everyone can share.”

The project also incorporates writing. In Durango, students wrote a narrative about their project and themselves. Then they practice speaking English when they get to present it to others.

After doing the project in various ways with different classes of students, Guzman Ingram said she sees how art and having students speak about their life experiences can inspire educators, give students confidence, and change the community’s perspectives.

She also likes to take newcomer students on field trips to put their new English skills to use asking for directions at the airport, or for help at the grocery store. She gets the workers at those places involved ahead of time, so they know that they’re helping her students who want to be fluent in English, and it breaks the fear, she said.

“I’ve seen it as a teacher that when these students feel safe and they feel like their voice is heard, they try harder and work harder,” Guzman Ingram said. “When they feel accepted they flourish. That happens with all of us.”

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez's art project.

For her project, Hernandez’s niece, Abril, drew a river because home made her think of peaceful surroundings.

For Brandon, who was also born in Durango but raised in Mexico, home reminded him of a warrior — a representation of the historical Mexican culture he liked to learn about in his former home. It’s something he carries with him wherever he goes.

Brandon has been back in Durango with his parents for just over a year now. He’s attending school, and working at a local hotel kitchen. He loves his job, and the fact that the money he earns doesn’t feel as crucial to his family’s survival as it did when he was in Mexico.

Brandon Chame next to his art project.

In Mexico, he had to give up school recently to work full time. It’s part of what drove his family to decide they needed to come back to the U.S. Now he’s able to work and study. And he’s thinking ahead to college, and a possible career in culinary arts or criminology.

At his high school in Durango, he said he’s encountered supportive teachers, so when Cunningham asked if Brandon would help present the art projects to teachers, he was nervous, but he agreed.

Now Brandon brags about how he was able to present, mostly in English and unscripted — speaking mostly from his heart, he said.

He hopes other immigrant students get to experience programs like Durango’s. And he has been able to offer advice to teachers encountering more immigrant students.

“I told them the majority of Latino students who arrive here tend to be nervous about speaking,” Brandon said. “We know we’re not very familiar with the language, like to be able to explain things fully. It’s not that we don’t want to participate, it’s that embarrassment, and nerves stop us. Just get close to them and ask them questions. Little by little, it gets better.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Cómo el distrito escolar de Durango, Colorado, apoyó a los estudiantes recién llegados este año

2024-09-06T20:07:09+00:00

Read in English.

Sandra Hernandez sabe bien lo difícil que puede ser para un estudiante aprender inglés mientras estudia high school.

Ha estado criando cuatro niños multilingües, incluyendo una sobrina que recientemente regresó de México para vivir con ella en Durango en el sudoeste de Colorado.

Así que cada vez que a Hernandez le pedían que completara una encuesta en la escuela, sugería la misma cosa: más apoyo para estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Finalmente, después de escuchar que muchos otros había pedido algo similar, una facilitadora familiar en Durango High School presentó la idea de organizar un programa de verano enfocado en ayudar a los estudiantes migrantes recién llegados que necesitaran practicar más el inglés antes de iniciar el año escolar.

Este verano, como 10 estudiantes en el distrito escolar de Durango se inscribieron en el programa de cuatro semanas antes de que empezara el año escolar, incluyendo la sobrina de Hernandez, Abril Esmeralda.

Hernandez elogió el programa, y también elogió al distrito por escuchar su pedido.

“Yo ya veo que se está desenvolviendo”, Hernandez dijo sobre su sobrina.

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez trabajando en su proyecto.

Este tipo de programas cubren una necesidad crucial para familias y educadores alrededor del estado. Miles de estudiantes migrantes recién llegados se inscribieron en distritos de Colorado durante todo el año escolar. Maestros en lugares como Denver, Aurora y Jeffco han descrito sentirse abrumados a veces con la llegada de tantos estudiantes nuevos, y la experiencia ha resultado en cambios en las escuelas.

Lo mismo ha ocurrido en zonas rurales como Durango, un distrito con alrededor de 5,200 estudiantes donde cerca del 4 por ciento dice estar aprendiendo inglés. El distrito recibió 36 estudiantes que estaban empezando a aprender inglés—comparado con seis en 2021.

El año pasado, el distrito recibió a familias recién llegadas al país que querían inscribir a sus hijos en una escuela con una guía impresa con información sobre los horarios de llegada, listas de materiales y almuerzos gratis, además de fotografías de todas las personas clave en el distrito y cómo comunicarse con ellas.

Pero el programa de verano de este año fue muy popular entre las familias y estudiantes que participaron.

El programa abarcó más que practicar inglés. Los estudiantes también trabajaron en proyectos de arte sobre lo que significa sentirse como en casa. La idea surgió de una maestra que años antes recibiera el premio como Maestra del Año en Colorado y quien, por años, ha estado compartiendo la idea como una forma de que los estudiantes y las comunidades se conecten.

Los proyectos de los estudiantes se presentaron primero a las familias, luego a los maestros que pudieron usar las obras para conocer mejor a los estudiantes que quizás asistieran a sus clases. La próxima semana, los proyectos empezarán a exhibirse en la biblioteca comunitaria.

Líderes dicen que el proyecto ya ayudó a los estudiantes a sentir que pertenecen.

Kira Cunningham, la especialista en estudiantes recién llegados en el distrito escolar de Durango, dijo que observó a los estudiantes en el programa de verano llegar a su primer día de clases el mes pasado. Un estudiante, quien había llegado a los Estados Unidos justo antes que terminara el año escolar pasado, atrajo su atención.

“Entró caminando orgullosamente al edificio, chocando los puños [como saludo] con los integrantes del personal parados en la entrada”, Cunningham dijo. “Fue un placer ver eso. La confianza en sí mismo salía de sus poros”.

El distrito gastó solo $3,219 en el programa. El objetivo fue ayudar a los estudiantes a que practicaran sus habilidades de inglés en un entorno cómodo antes que empezara el año escolar, dándoles confianza para participar más durante el año.

“La verdad, en base a las clases, siento mucha más confianza para tratar de explicar cosas”, dijo Brandon Chame de 17 años de edad y uno de los participantes. “Tengo menos temor de equivocarme”.

La idea detrás del proyecto de arte es que los estudiantes superen sus temores, dijo Leticia Guzman Ingram, la Maestra del Año 2016 en Colorado, una educadora en el Distrito Escolar de Roaring Fork. Ahora, Guzman también es profesora en Colorado Mountain College.

Guzman Ingram dijo que la idea de un proyecto de arte sobre lo que significa sentirse como en casa se le ocurrió por primera vez cuando observó el temor entre los estudiantes recién llegados e integrantes de la comunidad local. Los estudiantes le dijeron que tenían miedo de que uno de los amigos varones blancos de Guzman Ingram iba a llamar a inmigración para reportarlos. El hombre le dijo que tenía miedo de que los estudiantes causaran problemas.

“Todos tienen miedo del otro”, Guzman Ingram dijo. “Pero luego te das cuenta de que te pareces mucho más de lo piensas. No importa de qué color sea tu piel. Todas las madres quieren que sus hijos sean felices y triunfen. A veces nos olvidamos”.

Pensó en un proyecto de arte, dijo, porque “el arte es fácil. Es algo que todos pueden compartir”.

El proyecto también incorpora la escritura. En Durango, los estudiantes escribieron una historia sobre su proyecto y sobre ellos mismos. Luego practican hablar en inglés cuando les presentan el proyecto a otras personas.

Después de hacer el proyecto de diferentes formas con diferentes grupos de estudiantes, Guzman Ingram dijo que ve cómo el arte y que los estudiantes hablen sobre sus experiencias de vida puede inspirar a los educadores, darles confianza a los estudiantes y cambiar las perspectivas de la comunidad.

También le gusta llevar a estudiantes recién llegados excursiones para que usen sus habilidades con el inglés, ya sea preguntando cómo llegar al aeropuerto o pidiendo ayuda en el supermercado. Involucra por adelantado a las personas que trabajan en esos lugares para que sepan que están ayudando a estudiantes que quieren hablar inglés con fluidez, y eso rompe con el temor, dijo.

“Lo he observado como maestra que cuando estos estudiantes se sienten seguros y que sus voces se escuchan, intentan más y trabajan más duro”, Guzman Ingram dijo. “Cuando se sienten aceptados, prosperan. Eso sucede con todos nosotros”.

El proyecto de Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez.

Para su proyecto, Abril, la sobrina de Hernandez, dibujó un río porque sentirse como en casa le hizo pensar sobre entornos tranquilos.

Para Brandon, quien también nació en Durango pero se crio en México, sentirse en case le hace pensar en un guerrero, una representacion de la cultura mexicana histórica que le gustaba estudiar en su antiguo hogar. Es algo que lleva dondequiera que va.

Brandon ha estado de regreso en Durango con sus padres por un poco más de un año. Está yendo a la escuela y trabajando en la cocina de un hotel local. Le encanta su trabajo y el hecho de que no siente que el dinero que gana es tan indispensable para que la familia sobreviva como cuando estaba en México.

Brandon Chame con su proyecto.

En México, tuvo que dejar de ir a la escuela para poder trabajar de tiempo completo. Es parte de lo que impulsó a la familia a regresar a Estados Unidos. Ahora puede trabajar y estudiar. Y está pensando en ir a la universidad y en una posible carrera en artes culinarias o criminología.

En su high school en Durango, dijo que ha encontrado maestros que lo apoyan, así que cuando Cunningham le pidió a Brandon que ayudara a presentar los proyectos de arte ante los maestros, se sintió nervioso pero aceptó.

Ahora Brandon presume que pudo presentar, principalmente en inglés y sin un guion—hablando más que nada de corazón, dijo.

Espera que otros estudiantes inmigrantes puedan participar en programas como el de Durango. Y ha podido ofrecer consejos a los maestros que interactúan con más estudiantes inmigrantes.

“Les dije, la mayoría de los estudiantes latinos que llegan aquí tendemos a ser nerviosos para hablar”, Chame dijo. “Sabemos que no estamos familiarizados con el idioma como para explicar algo por completo. No es que no queramos participar, si no que la vergüenza y los nervios es lo que nos detiene. Solo acercarse y preguntarle a uno preguntas. Poco a poco mejora”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Colorado might ease SAT graduation requirement after big drops in high school math scores

2024-08-30T01:28:03+00:00

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Colorado next month may lower the passing score on high school math tests many students use to meet graduation requirements, the latest potential fallout from test scores that fell dramatically this year.

Without such a change, it’s possible graduation rates could drop for the Class of 2025, Colorado Department of Education officials told the State Board of Education on Thursday.

To graduate from high school in Colorado, students must show proficiency in English and math. Using SAT scores is the most common way that districts offer students to meet that requirement, since the test is already administered to students in their junior year; ninth and 10th graders take the PSAT. But officials couldn’t say how many students were relying on the test result to meet the graduation requirements this year.

The proposed change the State Board is considering would lower the minimum passing score on the math portion of the SAT from 500 to 480. Without that change, officials say the percentage of students who can use their SAT score to meet graduation requirements will drop from 45% in 2023 to 39% with these results. That means about 3,400 students might be looking for a last-minute alternative to meet graduation requirements before May.

If the board agrees to lower the passing score to 480, it would mean 45.5% of students who took the test could use the score to meet their graduation requirements, roughly the same as last year.

State Board members started Thursday’s discussion hesitant about the idea of lowering the bar for graduation, but ultimately their comments leaned in favor of the change. Education department staff are continuing to gather more data about the impact, and will ask the State Board to vote on the proposal next month.

Joyce Zurkowski, the Colorado Department of Education’s chief assessment officer, has been sharing concerns about the SAT scores with the State Board for months as preliminary results were previewed by state school officials. Final school and district level results were just released Thursday.

Compared to 2023, the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations on math tests dropped for students in grades 9-11. (Colorado doesn’t test 12th grade students.) Scores fell across all student subgroups.

Colorado PSAT and SAT 2024 scores: How did your school or district perform?

Among 11th graders, the percentage meeting expectations dropped to 31.1% this year from 35.2% in 2023, and it’s down from 39% in 2019. In the reading and writing portion of the tests, some student subgroups’ scores improved; officials are not considering changing the required passing score — 470 — for that portion of the test.

Zurkowski has said that while it is possible some of the drops in math scores reflect drops in learning and student abilities, it’s likely that some of the decline is due to changes to the SAT, which went fully digital for the first time last year. It’s not possible to distinguish how much of the change in scores is due to each factor, she said.

Students who were in 11th grade last spring and took the SAT for the first time digitally might have been expecting that their performance on the PSAT the previous year would be predictive of their scores on the SAT in 11th.

“They were, I’m going to suggest, surprised when that prediction did not work out the way they were expecting it to work,” Zurkowski said. “I would encourage you to keep that in mind”

Lisa Escarcega, a State Board member, said the 3,400 students who could be forced to find an alternative way to meet graduation requirements if the board doesn’t lower the cut score is a “significant” number.

“It’s much larger than I thought,” Escarcega said.

Instead of reaching certain SAT scores, students can meet graduation requirements to show mastery in math or English by earning passing scores on certain concurrent enrollment classes, doing capstone projects, or earning specific industry certificates. There are also a number of other tests students can take.

Not all districts offer all options however, and state officials worry that some students’ options now could be limited.

The state may also consider taking more time to work with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and institutions of higher education to come up with a new cut score that represents the same level of proficiency as previous cut scores. But officials said that may take years.

Only around a dozen other states use the SAT for all students as an annual test the way Colorado does. But education department staff will share data next month on how Colorado’s score drops compare to those other states.

Colorado officials also spent the summer evaluating whether the lower high school SAT scores would be valid for use in this year’s school and district ratings. The state ultimately determined they will be used. The preliminary ratings will be out next month.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Resultados de la prueba CMAS de Colorado 2024: ve cómo le fue a tu escuela o distrito

2024-08-29T17:44:56+00:00

Read in English.

La mayoría de los distritos escolares de Colorado observaron un aumento en el porcentaje de los estudiantes de 3.º a 8.º grado que están alcanzando las expectativas en sus exámenes de matemáticas.

Esto es según los resultados de las pruebas a nivel escuela y distrito publicados el jueves por el Departamento de Educación de Colorado. Los resultados proporcionan más detalles sobre los datos del desempeño estatal publicados la semana pasada.

Alrededor del estado, Colorado observó mejoras continuas en los resultados de matemáticas. Datos de las pruebas de Medidas de Éxito Académico de Colorado, o CMAS (por sus siglas en inglés) que los estudiantes de tercero a octavo grado tomaron en el estado, también mostraron que los estudiantes están mejorando en lectoescritura, pero muchos estudiantes siguen sin desempeñarse tan bien como antes de la pandemia. Los datos estatales mostraron que las brechas del desempeño continúan para muchos subgrupos de estudiantes, incluyendo estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma.

Los datos a nivel distrito y escuela muestran una tendencia similar, con la mayoría de los distritos mejorando en sus resultados de matemáticas, pero menos distritos mejorando en las pruebas de artes del idioma.

Al examinar los resultados combinados entre niveles de grado, 80 de los 178 distritos escolares en Colorado mejoraron respecto al año anterior en el porcentaje de estudiantes que alcanzaron las expectativas en las pruebas de artes del idioma, y 86 distritos observaron una disminución. Algunos distritos no reunieron suficientes datos.

Weld Re-8 en Fort Lupton fue uno de los distritos más grandes que observó un aumento significativo en el desempeño de artes del idioma. En 2024, 29.6 por ciento de los estudiantes en Weld Re-8 alcanzaron las expectativas en las pruebas de artes del idioma, un aumento en comparación con el 24.3 por ciento en 2023.

En distritos como el de Cherry Creek, 27J en Brighton y Adams 14, menos estudiantes alcanzaron las expectativas en las pruebas de artes del idioma inglés comparado con el año pasado. Adams 14, un distrito que por mucho tiempo ha figurado en la lista de vigilancia del estado por bajos logros académicos, también observó un porcentaje combinado más bajo de estudiantes que alcanzaron las expectativas en las pruebas de matemáticas.

Muchos distritos, incluyendo Denver, Aurora, Mapleton y Sheridan, obtuvieron pequeñas mejoras de menos de 1 punto porcentual en el porcentaje de estudiantes que están alcanzando o superando las expectativas en las pruebas de artes del idioma.

Lo que los padres de Colorado deben saber cuando reciban — y traten de descifrar — los resultados de CMAS

Sin embargo, con respecto a los resultados de lectura en tercer grado, fue más probable que los distritos observaran mejoras. Este año, más estudiantes en 73 de los distritos en Colorado alcanzaron las expectativas en las pruebas de lectura de tercer grado comparado con el año pasado, y solo 43 distritos observaron una disminución.

Academy 20, Colorado Springs 11 y el Distrito 49, todos en Colorado Springs, obtuvieron algunas de las mejoras más amplias en los resultados de lectura en tercer grado comparado con el año pasado. Otros distritos con amplias mejoras en los resultados de artes del idioma incluyen los distritos escolares de Boulder, Thompson y Jeffco.

Los datos también muestran que en 54 distritos escolares un porcentaje mayor de estudiantes de tercer grado están alcanzando las expectativas de artes del idioma comparado con 2019, antes de la pandemia. Estos distritos incluyen los del Condado de Douglas, el Distrito 51 del Condado del Valle de Mesa y Jeffco.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Contacta a Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado’s CMAS test results for 2024: See how your school or district performed

2024-08-29T17:00:21+00:00

Leer en español.

Most Colorado school districts saw gains from last year in the percentage of students in grades 3-8 who are meeting expectations on their math exams.

That’s according to school and district level test results released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Education. The results provide more detail on the statewide performance data released last week.

Statewide, Colorado saw continued improvement in math results. Data from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success tests, or CMAS, given to third through eighth grade students in the state, also showed that students are making gains in literacy, but many students are still not performing as well as they did before the pandemic. The state data also showed that gaps in performance persist for many student subgroups, including students learning English as a new language.

Colorado PSAT and SAT 2024 scores: How did your school or district perform?

District and school data shows a similar trend, with most districts improving math results, but fewer districts gaining on language arts tests.

Looking at aggregated results across grade levels, 80 of Colorado’s 178 districts had a year-over-year improvement in the percentage of students meeting expectations on language arts tests, and 86 districts had a decrease. Some did not have enough data.

Weld Re-8 in Fort Lupton was one of the larger districts that had a significant increase in language arts performance. In 2024, Weld Re-8 had 29.6% of its students meeting expectations on language arts tests, up from 24.3% in 2023.

Districts including Cherry Creek, 27J in Brighton, and Adams 14 had fewer students meeting expectations on English language arts tests compared with last year. Adams 14, a district that has long been on state watchlists for low student achievement, also had a smaller aggregate percentage of students meeting expectations on math tests.

Many districts, including Denver, Aurora, Mapleton and Sheridan, had small improvements of less than 1 percentage point in the rate of students meeting or exceeding expectations on language arts tests.

Here’s what Colorado parents need to know about getting — and deciphering — kids’ CMAS scores

However, for third grade reading scores, districts were more likely to see gains. This year, 73 Colorado districts had more students meeting expectations on third grade reading compared with last year, with just 43 seeing a decrease.

Academy 20, Colorado Springs 11, and District 49, all in Colorado Springs, had among the larger improvements on third grade reading results compared with last year. Other districts with big improvements in language arts results include the Boulder, Thompson, and Jeffco school districts.

The data also shows that 54 school districts have a higher percentage of third graders meeting language arts expectations than they did in 2019, before the pandemic. That includes the Douglas County, Mesa County Valley District 51, and Jeffco school districts.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado students have improved attendance, but the rate of chronic absenteeism remains high

2024-08-22T15:30:10+00:00

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The percentage of Colorado students who are chronically absent dropped for a second year, a promising sign that schools may be getting more kids engaged in classes.

State data for the 2023-24 school year, released by the Colorado Department of Education Thursday, showed that 27.7% of students were chronically absent, down 3.4 percentage points from a year before. In raw numbers, 241,119 Colorado students — more than 1 in 4 — were chronically absent last school year, meaning they missed more than 10% of school days.

The rate of chronic absenteeism is still higher than it was in the 2019-20 school year, before the pandemic, when 22.6% of students were chronically absent. According to a news release from the state, the 2023-24 rate is the third-highest rate since data collection began in 2016.

And now the state has set a goal to decrease the percentage of chronically absent students to 17.8% by the 2026-27 school year.

“We know that our educators and school leaders are working urgently to keep students engaged and feeling connected to their school communities, and we see that effort reflected in attendance and chronic absentee rates,” Susana Cordova, state education commissioner, said in a news release. “If students aren’t in school, we know they won’t have access to the opportunities designed to help them continue learning.”

How many missed days of school are too many? Here’s what you need to know about attendance.

Students who are chronically absent are less likely to learn to read on grade level by third grade, and more likely to eventually drop out of school. Even excused absences count toward chronic absenteeism, and just a few absences a month can add up to 10% of school days.

Schools across the country are dealing with the same struggle to improve attendance. A recent survey of states by the independent think tank FutureEd showed Colorado in the middle of the pack, with lower rates than some, but higher rates than others.

And while all groups of students made improvement, gaps remain because some groups of students are chronically absent more than others. Students who are experiencing homelessness, those who come from low income families, and Hispanic students have some of the highest rates.

Pacific Islander students had the highest rate of chronic absenteeism at 50.1% in the most recent school year. Pacific Islander students also had some of the smallest decreases in chronic absenteeism year over year.

Students who are experiencing homelessness had a 56% chronic absenteeism rate, down from 59.5% in 2022-23.

Hispanic students had a 37.1% chronic absenteeism rate in 2023-24, down from 41.4% in 2022-23.

A majority of school districts saw improvement in reducing chronic absenteeism rates. Colorado Springs District 11, District 49, Roaring Fork, and Englewood had some of the bigger decreases.

The state highlighted the districts of Durango and Alamosa as two places that had big improvements. In Alamosa, state officials said that the district had the support of the community in its campaign and had coffee shops putting stickers on cups to remind families that every day in school mattered.

Making significant improvements to attendance does require everyone to be involved, officials said.

Thirty percent of districts had a higher chronic absenteeism than a year before, including the Sheridan, Adams 14, Elizabeth, and Eagle school districts.

In Denver, the state’s largest district, chronic absenteeism was 37.1% in 2023-24, down from 41.1% the prior year.

State officials say that based on what they’ve heard anecdotally, challenges related to reliable transportation, illness, and feeling unsafe in school have worsened in some places over time, contributing to attendance problems.

The Colorado Department of Education announced a new initiative to help school districts get more students attending school. The work would include a guidebook for school and district leaders, a virtual resource hub, and training for educators.

Decreasing the amount of missed school is thought to be important in improving student achievement. State test results released earlier this week show progress in getting students to pre-pandemic achievement levels or better, but officials acknowledged more work remains to keep student results improving.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

School lunches will still be free in Colorado this year, while lawmakers study funding options

2024-08-21T20:49:30+00:00

Leer en español.

Colorado is still offering free school meals this school year, even though the program has ended up costing more than state officials predicted.

While an advisory group tries to come up with long-term solutions that may mean changes in future school years, state lawmakers decided to continue funding the program in the short term, so the program won’t change for this school year.

Below are answers to some common questions people have about the program. If you have others, email us at co.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Are school meals free for all students this year again?

Yes, in districts that choose to participate in the state’s free school meals program. Districts have to sign up with the state. Last year, a majority of the districts in the state participated. This year, districts have until Sept. 16 to tell the state they’re opting in, so the state doesn’t yet know whether all districts, or fewer, will participate this year.

Large school districts including Denver, Jeffco, and Douglas County have indicated on their websites that they are offering free meals to all students again this school year.

Why is my child’s school telling me to fill out a form to see if I qualify for free or reduced-price lunch?

The state program kicks in money only after schools and districts have already received reimbursements from the federal government for the meals of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. So identifying students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals helps your school get money from the federal government first, helping state dollars go further.

There are other benefits as well. The state and districts sometimes allocate certain resources to schools based on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, because it’s used as a measure of poverty.

And families who are identified as qualifying for those subsidized meals can become eligible for other benefits such as discounts on other school fees or other assistance.

Why your child’s school really wants you to apply for free lunch

Didn’t I hear that the state went over budget on these meals last year?

Yes. The program as it was approved by voters in 2022 is funded because the state got rid of a tax credit that used to save tax-filers money. By not allowing certain tax deductions for families who make more than $300,000, the state was able to collect new revenue to pay for the school meals.

But the state miscalculated how many students were going to eat free school meals. Since many more students than expected ate school meals, the cost of the program was higher than expected.

Lawmakers last year used other state money to cover the shortfall, and also budgeted extra money to cover the program for this school year, while they figure out if changes will be made.

Is there still a chance the free school meal program will change?

Yes, but any changes would likely be for the next school year, 2025-26. The state has hired a consultant that is working with the new Healthy School Meals for All Technical Advisory Group. The group is tasked with identifying how to maximize the amount of money that comes in from federal reimbursements first, and how to reduce the cost of the program. It will develop options for lawmakers on how to make the program sustainable.

One organization that helped create the program in 2022 has considered the idea of a ballot measure, for example, to ask voters for more help to fund the program.

The advisory group began meeting in July and will have an update for lawmakers in September, with its final report and recommendations due in December.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Resultados de la prueba CMAS 2024 de Colorado indican una continua recuperación y avances en matemáticas

2024-08-20T15:50:21+00:00

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Mientras que los estudiantes más jóvenes obtuvieron mejores calificaciones que antes de la pandemia en las pruebas estatales estandarizadas de matemáticas, las calificaciones de matemáticas de los estudiantes en la mayoría de los otros grados siguen sin mejorar, según los resultados publicados el martes de las pruebas realizadas en la primavera de 2024.

En lectoescritura, la mayoría de los estudiantes en el estado siguen sin obtener calificaciones tan altas como antes que se cerraran las escuelas debido a la pandemia, aunque están avanzando.

Sin embargo, como en años anteriores, algunos grupos de estudiantes siguen enfrentando más dificultades que otros, incluyendo los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma.

Los datos publicados el martes reflejan las calificaciones promedio de las pruebas de todos los estudiantes en el estado. Las calificaciones a nivel escuela y distrito no se publicarán hasta la próxima semana.

“Nos empoderamos con la mejora continua de nuestros estudiantes desde que la pandemia interrumpió el aprendizaje”, dijo Susana Córdova, Comisionada de Educación de Colorado. “Sin embargo, seguimos viendo brechas de rendimiento preocupantes y persistentes entre los diferentes grupos de estudiantes. No es suficiente ver crecimiento en algunos estudiantes de Colorado, necesitamos asegurarnos de que cada niño(a) reciba el apoyo necesario para tener éxito”.

En Colorado, los estudiantes de tercero a octavo grado toman la prueba CMAS de matemáticas y artes del idioma inglés, es decir, la prueba de Medidas de Éxito Académico de Colorado (por sus siglas en inglés). En high school, los estudiantes entre el noveno y 11.º grado toman la Prueba Preliminar de Aptitudes Escolásticas o la Prueba de Aptitudes Escolásticas (PSAT/SAT, por sus siglas en inglés) para evaluar sus habilidades de inglés y matemáticas.

Entre los aspectos positivos figuran las calificaciones de CMAS para matemáticas. Los estudiantes de primaria ahora cumplen con o superan las expectativas en mayores porcentajes, en comparación con los estudiantes que tomaron la prueba en 2019, antes de la pandemia.

Entre los estudiantes de high school que han tomado la nueva versión digital de PSAT/SAT, el porcentaje de estudiantes que están cumpliendo con las expectativas de las pruebas de matemáticas disminuyó significativamente. Hubo una reducción de 7 puntos porcentuales entre los estudiantes de noveno grado, con solo el 39.5 por ciento cumpliendo con las expectativas este año, lo cual refleja un porcentaje más bajo en comparación con el 46.5 por ciento el año pasado. La razón en parte podría ser el nuevo formato de la prueba.

Colorado ha invertido en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas en los últimos años usando fondos de asistencia por COVID, incluyendo un programa computarizado gratis para que estudiantes entre kindergarten y octavo grado aprendan matemáticas.

En lo relacionado con las pruebas de artes del idioma, el 42 por ciento de los estudiantes de tercer grado cumplieron con o superaron las expectativas, un aumento en comparación con el 39.9 por ciento el año pasado, y más que el 41.3 por ciento en 2019. Pero la tasa de estudiantes de cuarto grado que están cumpliendo con las expectativas de la prueba CMAS en artes del idioma disminuyó 1.8 puntos porcentuales, la reducción más alta por nivel de grado en comparación con el año pasado.

Los estudiantes de sexto, séptimo y octavo grado todos tuvieron porcentajes ligeramente más altos de estudiantes que cumplieron con las expectativas en las pruebas de artes del idioma, comparado con 2023, y la mejora entre los estudiantes de sexto grado también refleja un aumento en el porcentaje comparado con 2019.

Las brechas aumentan mientras algunos estudiantes enfrentan dificultades para recuperarse

De manera similar a años anteriores, la mayor brecha en los resultados de las pruebas se observó entre los estudiantes de quinto grado que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma y los que no.

Este año, solo el 6.3 por ciento de los estudiantes multilingües de quinto grado cumplieron con o superaron las expectativas en la prueba de artes del idioma, comparado con el 52.6 por ciento de los estudiantes que no están aprendiendo inglés—una brecha de 46.3 puntos porcentuales. Esa brecha es aún mayor que el año pasado o que en 2019, antes de la pandemia.

El año pasado, los funcionarios del estado estaban preocupados por la falta de progreso de los estudiantes multilingües. Pero representantes del Departamento de Educación de Colorado también dijeron que la legislatura necesita intervenir para aprobar una ley que ofrezca más apoyo académico, y ese tipo de ley no ha sido aprobada.

Estos estudiantes tuvieron más retrasos académicos durante COVID. ¿Cómo están respondiendo las escuelas en Colorado?

Los legisladores sí aprobaron cambios en la fórmula de financiamiento escolar que les dará más fondos a los distritos para los estudiantes que estén aprendiendo inglés este otoño. Para el año escolar 2023-24, también aprobaron fondos únicos especiales para distritos escolares que estaban recibiendo una gran cantidad de estudiantes nuevos provenientes del exterior para cubrir necesidades básicas como materiales escolares y personal.

Colorado exentó a muchos de los estudiantes recién llegados de las pruebas realizadas en la primavera.

Colorado permite que algunos estudiantes de tercero y cuarto grado tomen la prueba de artes del idioma en español. Entre los estudiantes migrantes solo aquellos que habían estado en la escuela regularmente antes de llegar reunieron requisitos para tomarla.

Esta primavera, el 17.2 de los estudiantes de tercer grado que tomaron la prueba de artes del idioma en español cumplieron con o superaron las expectativas, una reducción en comparación con el 18.7 por ciento el año pasado y menos que el 27.5 por ciento en 2019.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, una promotora y asesora con la Asociación de Colorado para la Educación Bilingüe, dijo que los administradores y muchos de los educadores que trabajan con estudiantes multilingües siguen sin tener la preparación adecuada para apoyar a los estudiantes y ayudarlos a que avancen.

“Los distritos y el estado siguen sin hacer lo suficiente”, dijo.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado 2024 CMAS test results show continued recovery and math gains

2024-08-20T15:40:05+00:00

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While younger Colorado students have now surpassed pre-pandemic scores on the state’s standardized math tests, the math scores of students in most other grades still lag behind, according to results from spring 2024 tests released Tuesday.

In literacy, most of the state’s students are still not scoring as high as they did before the pandemic shuttered school buildings, though they are catching up.

But as in previous years, some student groups continue to struggle more than others, including students who are still learning English as a new language.

The data released Tuesday were average test scores encompassing all students statewide. School and district level scores won’t be released until next week.

“We are encouraged by the continued improvement of our students since the pandemic disrupted learning,” said Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova. “We continue, however, to see troubling and persistent achievement gaps across student groups. It is not enough to see growth for some Colorado students — we need to ensure that every child is getting the support they need to be successful.”

In Colorado, students in third through eighth grades take the math and English language arts CMAS, or the Colorado Measures of Academic Success test. In high school, students in ninth through 11th grade take a PSAT/SAT test to evaluate English and math. Students also take a science CMAS test in fifth, eighth, and 11th grade.

Among the bright spots are the CMAS scores for math. Students in elementary grades now have higher rates of meeting and exceeding expectations than students did in 2019, before the pandemic. These students were in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade as schools shut down in 2020 for the pandemic.

Among the middle school grades, rates of students who met or exceeded expectations aren’t yet higher than in 2019, but the rates have continued to improve each year at sixth and seventh grade, but not at eighth grade.

For high school students taking the new digital PSAT/SAT, the percentage of students meeting expectations on math tests fell significantly including up to a 7 percentage point drop for ninth grade students where just 39.5% met expectations this year, down from 46.5% just last year.

Part of the reason may be a new digital format for the SAT. The state had to do further analysis to ensure that the tests were still similar enough to previous years so that growth scores could be calculated. Ultimately, the state cautions that this year’s low math SAT scores are likely due at least in part to the new test format, but said it was still fair to calculate growth scores and use the test results in annual school quality ratings later this year.

Colorado has invested in math learning in the last couple of years using COVID relief funding. Among other work, the state offered a free math computer program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and extended it in 2024-25, saying that 65% of schools were using the program.

When it comes to language arts tests, 42% of third graders met or exceeded state expectations, up from 39.9% last year, higher than the 41.3% who did in 2019. But the rate of fourth grade students meeting expectations on the CMAS language arts test dropped by 1.8 percentage points, the largest drop by grade level compared to last year.

Sixth, seventh and eighth graders all had slightly higher rates of students meeting expectations on language arts tests compared to 2023, and for sixth graders the improvement also now brings the rate to better than it was in 2019. In 2024, 44% of sixth graders met expectations on language arts tests, compared to 43.6% in 2019.

Gaps widen as some students struggle to recover

Similar to previous years, the largest test score gap was between fifth grade students who are learning English as a new language and those who are not.

This year, only 6.3% of multilingual fifth grade students met or exceeded expectations on the language arts test, compared to 52.6% of students who are not English learners — a gap of 46.3 percentage points. That’s a larger gap than the 45.7 percentage point gap in 2023, and in 2019, when 9.5% of multilingual students met or exceeded standards on the same test compared to 53.9% of students who aren’t English learners.

Last year, state officials were concerned about the lack of progress multilingual students and said they need support. But officials with the Colorado Department of Education also said the legislature would need to step in to pass a law to offer more academic support, and no such legislation passed.

In the most recent session, lawmakers did approve changes to the school funding formula that would give districts more money for the English learners they enroll starting this fall. For the 2023-24 school year, they approved special onetime funding for school districts that were receiving an influx of new students from out of the country, because many of students were arriving after the state’s official count day, which is used to calculate how much money schools get.

And although many of those students were English learners, schools said they needed the funds for basics in some cases like new desks in overcrowded classrooms or dedicated staff.

State officials also said in the spring that many of the new immigrant students would be exempt from taking these state tests under broader rules. Students who are identified as new to the country and have no or limited proficiency in English were already exempt from taking standardized English reading and writing tests for at least their first year of school. But this year, the state also exempted some of them from taking the math or science tests.

Colorado allows some third and fourth graders to take the language arts test in Spanish, but migrant students were only eligible to do so if they did not have a record of interrupted schooling.

This spring 17.2% of third graders who took the Spanish language arts test met or exceeded expectations, down from 18.7% who did last year and down from 27.5% in 2019.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, an advocate and advisor with the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education, said that administrators and many of the educators working with multilingual students continue to be underprepared to support the students and help them make gains.

“Districts and the state are still not doing enough,” she said.

Looking at Colorado’s growth calculations, which compare student test scores to peers with similar test history, almost all students of color had growth scores below 50. Generally, state officials say that students who are behind need a growth score of more than 50 to make progress.

Students with disabilities, migrant students, and Black students taking English language arts tests had some of the lowest growth scores this year of 46 or lower. White students had an average growth score of 52 on math and on language arts.

In many areas, the state now sees growth scores returning to what they were before the pandemic began, but now the key is to maintain or continue improving growth “to rebound fully,” according to the state press release.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Lo que los padres deben saber sobre la educación para dotados y talentosos

2024-08-16T16:21:07+00:00

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Algunos distritos escolares en Colorado están probando nuevos métodos para identificar a niños dotados entre estudiantes de color y otros grupos subrepresentados. A los niños a quienes identifican como dotados les pueden dar atención adicional en la escuela para desarrollar más sus habilidades.

Pero alrededor del estado y en el país, continúan existiendo grandes brechas, ya que los estudiantes blancos tienen mayor probabilidad de que los identifiquen como dotados.

Estos son algunos datos básicos para ayudar a los padres a informarse sobre lo que significa ser un estudiante dotado.

¿Qué significa si a un niño lo identifican como dotado o talentoso?

A un estudiante que es dotado o talentoso usualmente lo identifican como que tiene una inteligencia o capacidad entre el 5 por ciento más alto de los estudiantes de su edad. El ser dotado tiene que ver más con las capacidades de un estudiante que con su trabajo actual. Las pruebas de coeficiente intelectual cognitivo son una forma de identificar a estudiantes dotados, pero los distritos también pueden identificar a estudiantes que sobresalen de otras maneras. Los estudiantes dotados quizás no sobresalgan necesariamente en sus clases—a veces son dotados en solo una área o habilidad.

A algunos estudiantes dotados les faltan habilidades sociales y quizás necesiten apoyo adicional, el cual pueden recibir después de que los identifiquen.

¿Reciben una enseñanza diferente los estudiantes dotados?

Los estudiantes a quienes identifican como dotados o talentosos deben tener un plan anual de aprendizaje avanzado con metas relacionadas con el área en la que sean dotados. Usualmente los estudiantes permanecen en sus salones regulares, pero los maestros pueden adaptar sus lecciones o ponerlos en diferentes grupos de estudiantes durante el día para abordar sus necesidades.

Algunos distritos escolares más grandes como el de Denver cuentan con programas especializados para estudiantes muy dotados y talentosos. Para identificarlos como muy dotados y talentosos, representantes del distrito en Denver dicen que los estudiantes deben tener una alta calificación en una prueba cognitiva como parte de la evidencia usada para identificarlos.

Algunos distritos ofrecen oportunidades como programas de verano para estudiantes dotados o es más probable que animen a esos estudiantes para que tomen cursos avanzados.

¿Qué pruebas u otras medidas usan los distritos para identificar a estudiantes dotados?

Cada distrito tiene diferentes formas de identificar a estudiantes dotados. Los distritos ofrecen pruebas cognitivas para la evaluación universal por lo menos en un nivel de grado, usualmente en la escuela primaria, aunque algunos distritos también hacen pruebas en la escuela media. Pero más allá de eso, algunos distritos están empezando a examinar tendencias sobre qué tan rápido estudiantes multilingües aprenden inglés, por ejemplo.

Los distritos pueden usar cualquier dato de las pruebas que sea normalizado, pero la evidencia debe incluir las calificaciones de más de una prueba, y con frecuencia incluye observaciones de los padres y maestros y otros trabajos del estudiante. De forma similar, una calificación mala en una prueba no significa que a un estudiante no lo puedan identificar como dotado.

Distritos escolares prueban nuevas formas de encontrar estudiantes dotados de diversos orígenes

La escuela de mi hijo me pidió que completara un formulario de observación para la evaluación. ¿Y ahora qué sucederá?

Algunos distritos les piden a las familias que completen un formulario sobre ciertos comportamientos que observan en sus hijos. Solo es una parte de la evidencia que la escuela usará para determinar si tu hijo es dotado o talentoso.

“Siempre quiero animar a los padres porque ellos conocen a su hijo mejor que nadie”, dijo Meryl Faulkner, gerenta principal del programa para estudiantes dotados y talentosos en las Escuelas Públicas de Denver. “Su opinión es igual de válida” que las de otros adultos que pueden observar al niño.

Sé honesta/o cuando completes los formularios, y pídele a la escuela que te mantenga informada/o sobre los siguientes pasos. En algunos casos, los distritos quizás observen a un estudiante y reúnan datos durante más de un año antes de tomar una decisión.

¿Qué características tienen los niños dotados?

Los estudiantes dotados tienen un desarrollo avanzado en comparación con sus pares, pero expertos dicen que algunas características pueden demostrarse de diferentes formas en estudiantes de diferentes culturas.

Un estudiante joven que puede traducir cosas como los estados de cuentas bancarias para un adulto quizás sea dotado. Los niños que aprenden instintos básicos de supervivencia y saben que tienen que decir ciertas cosas para obtener comida, o para que sus padres no se metan en problemas, quizás también sean dotados.

En general, los estudiantes que son dotados pueden tener una buena memoria, hacer muchas preguntas, ser muy expresivos o ser buenos con los patrones.

Creo que mi hija podría ser dotada. ¿Qué debo hacer?

Habla con el maestro de tu hija. Algunas escuelas tienen coordinadores dedicados especialmente a los estudiantes dotados, o quizás haya alguien a nivel distrito que esté a cargo de hacer pruebas e identificar a los estudiantes dotados.

Faulkner les dice a los padres que, sin importar cuál sea la reacción del maestro de tu hija, los padres tienen el derecho de pedir que se evalúe a su estudiante. Por ley, los distritos tienen 30 días para responderles a los padres con los siguientes pasos planeados después de que se derive la evaluación.

Si no estás logrando que el distrito evalúe a tu hija, comunícate con el Departamento de Educación de Colorado.

A mi hijo lo identificaron como dotado. ¿Cómo lo apoyo?

Los padres deben conocer a otros padres con niños dotados para aprender más y compartir experiencias y desafíos.

Algunos distritos escolares tienen grupos de apoyo, pero también hay grupos que existen afuera de los distritos escolares. La Asociación de Colorado para Dotados y Talentosos, por ejemplo, proporciona muchos recursos en español e inglés.

Expertos dicen que es importante mantenerse involucrado. Las escuelas deben comunicarse contigo cada año cuando estén trabajando en el plan de aprendizaje avanzado de tu niño, pero si no lo hacen, comunícate tú con la escuela. Saber qué metas establece la escuela para tu hijo te puede dar más ideas sobre cómo apoyarlo.

¿Pueden ser dotados los estudiantes y también tener una discapacidad?

Sí. Las escuelas se refieren a estos estudiantes como dos veces excepcionales. Los estudiantes con discapacidades también pueden ser dotados y talentosos. Están subrepresentados en los programas para estudiantes dotados porque muchos educadores y escuelas tienen dificultades para identificar a estudiantes dotados con discapacidades.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

What parents need to know about gifted and talented education

2024-08-16T16:20:51+00:00

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Some Colorado school districts are trying new approaches to identifying gifted children among students of color and other underrepresented groups. Children identified as gifted can get extra attention at school to further develop their skills.

But across the state and the country, big gaps remain, with white students most likely to be identified as gifted.

Here are some basics to help parents navigate what being gifted means.

What does it mean if a child is labeled as gifted or talented?

A student who is gifted or talented is usually identified as being in the top 5% of intelligence and capability of students their age. Giftedness refers more to a student’s capabilities than just their current work. Cognitive IQ tests are one way of identifying gifted students, but districts can also identify students who stand out in other ways. Gifted students may not necessarily excel in their classes — sometimes they are gifted in just one area or skill.

Some gifted students lack social skills and might need additional support, which they can get after being identified.

Do gifted students receive a different education?

Students who are identified as gifted or talented must have an annual advanced learning plan with goals related to their gifted area. Usually the students will stay in their regular classrooms, but teachers may adjust their lessons or pair them with different groups of students throughout the day to address their needs.

Some larger districts such as Denver have magnet programs specifically for highly gifted and talented students. To be identified as highly gifted and talented, Denver officials say students must have a high score on a cognitive test as part of the evidence used to identify them.

Some districts offer opportunities such as summer programming for gifted students or may be more likely to encourage those students to take advanced courses.

What tests or other measures do districts use to identify gifted students?

Every district will have different ways to identify gifted students. Districts offer cognitive tests for universal screening at least at one grade level, usually in elementary school, though some districts also test a middle school grade level. But beyond that, some districts are starting to look at trends in how fast multilingual students learn English, for example.

Districts can use any test data that is normed but the evidence must include more than one test score, and it will often include parent and teacher observations and other student work. Similarly, one bad test score doesn’t mean a student can’t be identified as gifted.

Colorado school districts are working on new ways to find gifted students from all backgrounds

My child’s school asked me to fill out an observation form for the evaluation. What should I expect?

Some districts will ask families to fill out a form about certain behaviors you observe from your child. It is only one piece of evidence the school will use to determine whether your child is gifted or talented.

“I always want to encourage parents that they know their child best,” said Meryl Faulkner, senior manager of gifted and talented for Denver Public Schools. “Their opinion is just as valid” as that of other adults who could observe the child.

Be honest when filling out forms, and ask the school to keep you informed about next steps. In some cases, districts may observe a student and gather data for more than a year before making a determination.

What characteristics do gifted children have?

Students who are gifted are developmentally advanced compared to their peers, but experts say that some characteristics might show up in different ways in students from different cultures.

A young student who is able to translate things like bank statements for an adult might be gifted. Children who learn basic survival instincts and know that they have to say certain things to get food, or to keep their parents from getting in trouble, could also be gifted.

In general, students who are gifted might have a good memory, ask a lot of questions, be very expressive, or be good with patterns.

I think my child might be gifted. What should I do?

Definitely talk to your child’s teacher. Some schools have dedicated gifted coordinators, or there might be someone at the district level who is in charge of testing and identifying gifted students.

Faulkner tells parents that regardless of your teacher’s reaction, it is a parent’s right to have their child evaluated. By law, districts have 30 days to respond to parents once a referral to be evaluated is made with the intended next steps.

If you aren’t having success getting your district to evaluate your child, contact the Colorado Department of Education.

My child has been identified as gifted. How do I support them?

Parents should meet other parents of gifted children to learn more and share experiences and challenges.

Some school districts have support groups, but there are also groups that exist outside of the school districts. The Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, for example, provides lots of resources in English and Spanish.

Experts say it’s important to stay involved. Schools are supposed to contact you every year when they’re working on your child’s advanced learning plan, but if they don’t reach out, you should reach out to the school. Knowing what goals the school sets for your child can give you more ideas about how to support them.

Can students be gifted and also have a disability?

Yes. Schools refer to these students as twice exceptional. Students with disabilities can also be gifted or talented. They are underrepresented in gifted programs because many educators and schools struggle to identify gifted students who have disabilities.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Distritos escolares prueban nuevas formas de encontrar estudiantes dotados de diversos orígenes

2024-08-16T16:20:42+00:00

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Puntos clave:

A un estudiante que es dotado o talentoso usualmente lo identifican como que tiene una inteligencia o capacidad entre el 5 por ciento más alto de los estudiantes de su edad, pero los estudiantes dotados quizás no estén adelantados en todas las áreas académicas.
Niños de cualquier origen pueden ser dotados, pero la mayoría de los estudiantes en programas para estudiantes dotados y talentosos son blancos y crecieron en hogares más adinerados.=
Algunos distritos escolares están realizando una mejor tarea para identificar a estudiantes dotados de diversos orígenes, pero siguen existiendo brechas.
Identificar a todos los estudiantes dotados es importante porque los estudiantes necesitan que los desafíen y les den los recursos correctos. Líderes dicen que los estudiantes también se merecen saber sobre sus habilidades.
Los estudiantes multilingües que logran dominar el inglés mucho más rápido que el promedio quizás sean dotados. Más escuelas están usando este estándar para identificar a estudiantes dotados que todavía están aprendiendo inglés.
A veces a las familias les piden que completen un formulario de observación sobre su hijo como parte del proceso de identificar al niño como dotado.
Después de que se identifica a un estudiante como dotado, la ley del estado exige que tenga un plan de aprendizaje avanzado con metas específicas según sus habilidades. Los planes se revisan cada año.

Alrededor de una década después de que las escuelas en Colorado empezaran a usar pruebas universales para identificar a estudiantes que son dotados, los estudiantes blancos y aquellos de clases socioeconómicas más altas constituyen la gran mayoría de los estudiantes en programas para dotados.

Por eso, educadores están dando nuevos pasos para asegurar que aquellos estudiantes que por mucho tiempo se han visto subrepresentados en estos programas, incluyendo estudiantes de color, aquellos que están aprendiendo inglés y de familias con ingresos más bajos, tengan una mayor representacion.

Distritos y organizaciones ahora se están enfocando en nuevos análisis de datos, examinando múltiples pruebas y capacitando a los maestros para identificar comportamientos que quizás indiquen habilidades superiores entre estudiantes de diferentes culturas.

Algunos distritos están cerrando brechas y están identificando a más estudiantes, aunque alrededor del estado siguen existiendo diferencias.

Los estudiantes blancos constituyen el 50 por ciento de la población, pero representan más del 69 por ciento de los participantes en programas para estudiantes dotados en Colorado.

Los estudiantes hispanos constituyen el 35.5 por ciento de todos los estudiantes, pero solo el 16 por ciento de los estudiantes identificados como dotados.

Otros estudiantes de color y aquello de familias con bajos ingresos también están subrepresentados. Otro grupo que en su mayoría está subrepresentado son los estudiantes a quienes los identifican como estudiantes multilingües, que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma. Ellos constituyen hasta el 13 por ciento de todos los estudiantes en el estado, pero solo representan el 2.3 por ciento de los estudiantes dotados.

En el pasado, la identificación dependía de un maestro o un padre que pedía que a un niño le hicieran la prueba. Ahora, los obstáculos incluyen prejuicios en las pruebas mismas o en las observaciones de los educadores, quienes también en su mayoría son blancos. La falta de personal en algunos distritos también limita cuánto trabajo pueden realizar los equipos en programas para estudiantes dotados.

Cerrar la brecha e identificar a los estudiantes es importante, líderes dicen, porque los estudiantes necesitan que los desafíen y así los educadores pueden proporcionar mejores recursos. Pero también para que los estudiantes sepan.

Nisia Patalan, la coordinadora del programa para dotados en los distritos de BOCES de San Juan en el sudoeste de Colorado, dijo que la identificación de estudiantes importa en parte para que los estudiantes se puedan entender mejor a sí mismos.

“Entender quiénes son y cómo observan el mundo de forma diferente y luego solo ser aceptados”, Patalan dijo. “Solo pienso en lo aislante que es ser un estudiante dotado. Creo que esos estudiantes no están recibiendo lo que necesitan si no están enfrentando suficientes desafíos para que los noten. Se están ocultando debido a sus [habilidades dotadas]”.

Educadores usan datos para encontrar a más estudiantes

Identificar a estudiantes dotados que son multilingües es una reciente área de enfoque en muchos distritos en el estado. Hace como cinco años, el Departamento de Educación de Colorado empezó a crear pautas guía que ahora permiten que los distritos usen las calificaciones de la prueba ACCESS—un examen que evalúa cada año el dominio del inglés de estudiantes identificados como que están aprendiendo ese idioma—como una forma de identificar a estudiantes dotados.

A los estudiantes que logran dominar el inglés mucho más rápidamente que el promedio los pueden seleccionar para la identificación.

Brad Russell, subdirector de enseñanza y aprendizaje y del programa para estudiantes dotados y talentosos en Mapleton, participó en un grupo con el estado para ayudar a crear las pautas para que los distritos usen la prueba.

Así que en su distrito, justo al norte de Denver, donde el 80 por ciento de los estudiantes son hispanos y alrededor del 40 por ciento están aprendiendo inglés, líderes que estaban trabajando con un socio externo para asegurar que los maestros estuvieran enseñando según los estándares de nivel de grado, también empezaron a pensar sobre la poca cantidad de estudiantes a quienes estaban identificando como dotados.

Hace cuatro años, a solo el 2.5 por ciento de los estudiantes en el distrito los estaban identificando como dotados, y el distrito estableció una meta del 5 por ciento en un año. Ahora, al 8 por ciento de los estudiantes en el distrito los están identificando como dotados. De esos estudiantes dotados, el 70 por ciento son hispanos, lo cual Russell dijo es cerca del 80 por ciento de los estudiantes hispanos en el distrito.

Cada año, Russell busca patrones a largo plazo en lugar de cómo se desempeña un estudiante en una prueba en un momento dado.

Luego, se comunica con los maestros del estudiante en la escuela. A veces también se les pide a las familias que completen un formulario de observación sobre su hijo, y quizás se usen otros trabajos del estudiantes para crear suficiente evidencia e identificarlo formalmente.

Lo que los padres deben saber sobre la educación para dotados y talentosos

Tradicionalmente, a los estudiantes los identificaban como dotados con base en una alta calificación en una prueba de habilidades cognitivas.

Esas son las prueba usadas para la evaluación universal. En Mapleton, a todos los estudiantes de segundo y sexto grado les hacen la prueba. Pero si esas pruebas no identifican a un estudiante como dotado, o si los estudiantes de alguna forma no toman la prueba, la examinación de datos que Russell realiza y otras observaciones de los maestros también pueden usarse para identificar a un estudiante que es avanzado.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Denver empezaron a realizar una examinación similar de datos el año pasado.

En el primer año de examinar los resultados de la prueba ACCESS de los estudiantes durante cinco años, líderes en Denver identificaron a más de 300 estudiantes que podían ser dotados con base en su habilidad acelerada de aprender un idioma.

Alrededor del 26 por ciento de los estudiantes en el distrito están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma, pero solo el 3 por ciento de los estudiantes dotados eran estudiantes multilingües. Después de ese primer año de examinar datos, el porcentaje aumentó ligeramente al 4 por ciento de los aproximadamente 6,900 estudiantes identificados como dotados. Más estudiantes están en un grupo siendo evaluado y observado para que posiblemente los identifiquen en los próximos dos años.

“Es muy emocionante, nuestros maestros [del programa de] dotados están muy contentos por esto”, dijo Meryl Faulkner, gerenta principal del programa para dotados y talentosos con el distrito escolar de Denver.

El distrito está en proceso de examinar datos nuevamente este año.

Y cuando los maestros completan las calificaciones que observan para identificar a estudiantes, Faulkner dijo, el distrito trata de hacer que un maestro del mismo origen cultural que el estudiante complete la observación. “Las diferencias culturales ocurren, los malentendidos o las interpretaciones equivocadas sobre lo que los comportamientos realmente son”, dijo.

Shalelia Dillard, fundadora del Programa de Enriquecimiento de SCD, una organización sin fines de lucro que está tratando de ayudar a que las escuelas diversifiquen sus programas de estudiantes dotados, señaló que “cuestionar la autoridad es una característica generalizada de muchos estudiantes dotados”, pero los estereotipos de que las mujeres negras discuten quizás permitan que un educador piense: “Esta es solo una pequeña niña negra tratando de tener una mala actitud conmigo”.

Otro ejemplo que le gusta usar para pensar sobre las diferentes formas como se demuestran las habilidades dotadas es cuando los estudiantes jóvenes tienen que traducir para los adultos.

“Los estudiantes que tuvieron que leerles a sus padres los estados de cuenta bancarios a los seis años de edad y tuvieron que guiarse y traducir eso con palabras infantiles respetuosas, se requiere un perfil cognitivo de alto nivel”, Dillar dijo. “Estás usando ambos hemisferios de tu cerebro. Esa es una enorme [señal].”

Funcionarios del estado también señalaron a BOCES de San Juan como una área que está observando mejoras positivas para cerrar brechas en a quién identifican como dotado. BOCES, las siglas en inglés de consejos de servicios educativos cooperativos, son grupos de distritos pequeños que comparten recursos.

Los distritos de BOCES con muchos estudiantes indígenas también han observado mejoras en su representacion. Por ejemplo, en el Distrito Escolar de Mancos, el 6.5 por ciento de los estudiantes inscritos se identifica como indoamericano, y entre los estudiantes dotados el porcentaje es del 6.7.

Patalan, la coordinadora del programa para dotados, capacita a maestros cada año, compartiendo diferentes herramientas para hacer observaciones cada mes. Esta herramientas incluyen algunas diseñadas específicamente para observar cómo ciertos comportamientos tradicionales se pueden expresar de forma diferente entre diversos grupos de estudiantes.

Entre los estudiantes indoamericanos, por ejemplo, muchos de sus atributos no son verbales, mientras que un estudiante que está aprendiendo inglés y tratando de expresarse quizás use un “lenguaje ingenioso” al combinar idiomas.

Los distritos quieren que la identificación sea más que una etiqueta

Cuando los estudiantes ya están en el proceso de que los identifiquen como dotados, los maestros pueden empezar a diferenciar cómo ayudarlos en las clases. Un maestro quizás ponga a dos estudiantes dotados para que hagan tareas juntos, por ejemplo.

Y cuando ya los identifican, la ley estatal exige que los estudiantes tengan un plan de aprendizaje avanzado con metas específicas de acuerdo con sus habilidades, el cual se revisa cada año.

En el puñado de escuelas donde la organización de Dillard trabaja, ella organiza una clase con mayormente estudiantes de color que quizás sean dotados. A algunos estudiantes ya los han identificado, y a algunos no. En la clase, reciben habilidades de preparación universitaria, aprendizaje avanzado para suplementar las áreas centrales de contenido, y hablan sobre cómo el ser dotados puede afectar sus habilidades socioemocionales.

“Esto es lo que significa ser dotado”, Dillard dijo. “Es una neurodiversidad. Con esta neurodivergencia en particular, así es como abogas a tu favor, cómo puedes conectar con otros estudiantes”.

Su programa también organiza un programa de una semana durante el verano para estudiantes en el área metropolitana. El distrito de Mapleton también ha estado organizando un programa en el verano para estudiantes identificados como dotados.

El año pasado, la lista para inscribirse en línea al campamento de verano de Mapleton se llenó en menos de una hora. El distrito había planeado un campamento para 90 estudiantes y lo amplió para recibir a 122. Aún más trataron de inscribirse, líderes dijeron, pero los tuvieron que rechazar.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Clausura de edificio deja a familias migrantes con problemas para encontrar vivienda y mantener a sus hijos en la escuela

2024-08-12T17:55:42+00:00

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La hija de 8 años de Carolina estaba emocionada de empezar la escuela esta semana, pero se ha pasado la semana llorando.

El miércoles, la policía rodeó el edificio de apartamentos donde la familia vive, causando que la niña llegara tarde a la escuela el primer día de clases.

Carolina no pudo ocultarle las noticias a su hija. La ciudad declaró en ruinas el edificio. Tendrían que salirse a más tardar el martes. La policía y los funcionarios de la ciudad publicaron un aviso formal mientras los niños trataban de llegar a su primer día de clases.

“El colegio es un escape donde ella se olvida de todos los problemas de aquí”, Carolina dijo. “Pero está asustada. Pregunta que adónde nos vamos a ir”.

Carolina no tiene una respuesta.

Carolina es una de aproximadamente 300 personas, la mayoría inmigrantes venezolanos, que están viviendo en el edificio de apartamentos ubicado en 1568 Nome St. en Aurora. La ciudad declaró el edificio en ruinas debido a condiciones inseguras de vivienda, pero residentes como Carolina temen que la ciudad esté enfocándose en el edificio debido a un reciente tiroteo conectado con violencia de pandillas. (Chalkbeat no está usando el nombre real de Carolina porque teme que afecte negativamente su caso migratorio.)

Ella y otras familias que viven en el edificio están suplicándole a la ciudad que les dé más tiempo para encontrar un lugar donde vivir. Inquilinos y líderes de organizaciones comunitarias creen que hay por lo menos 66 niños afectados viviendo en el edificio y asistiendo a escuelas en Aurora. Se cree que algunos otros niños asisten a escuelas cercanas en Denver.

Nadeen Ibrahim, directora de esfuerzos organizativos en la Colectiva Comunitaria de East Colfax, una organización sin fines de lucro, dijo que el aviso de la ciudad—programado para el primer día de clases—causó una profunda angustia entre las familias.

“Honestamente, fue una de las cosas más traumatizantes que he visto”, Ibrahim, quien ha trabajado con otras familias desplazadas, dijo. “Los niños estaban extremadamente aterrados y llorando. Ha habido muchos policías presentes desde entonces, y [los niños] están viendo muchas armas alrededor del edificio y es difícil encontrar una razón para sonreír.

“Los niños así de pequeños no deberían estar expuestos a eso”, agregó.

En una declaración preparada, los funcionarios de la ciudad dijeron que “reconocen totalmente la carga y la incertidumbre” que se ha producido, pero dijeron que “sería irresponsable para la ciudad permitir que 1568 Nome St. siga estando ocupado por otros dos meses en su estado actual”.

Con menos de una semana para encontrar un nuevo hogar, Carolina dijo que muchas personas sin parientes o un automóvil terminarán en la calle o en uno de los refugios para personas sin hogar de la ciudad. Y para los niños como su hija, probablemente también signifique que perderán días de clase.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora organizaron una feria de recursos para las familias en un antiguo edificio escolar el jueves. Representantes del distrito no confirmaron cuántos estudiantes se han visto afectados por la clausura del edificio de apartamentos, pero dijeron en una declaración que saben que muchas familias fueron afectadas.

“Con nuestro año escolar apenas empezando, sabemos que este es un difícil desafío para muchas de nuestras familias y continuaremos proporcionando tantos apoyos y recursos como sea posible. Es sumamente importante que nuestros estudiantes sigan asistiendo a la escuela todos los días, para que estén en un lugar seguro para aprender y recibir desayuno y almuerzo”, dijo un vocero del distrito en un una declaración.

Carolina lleva a su hija caminando a la Escuela Primaria Montview de Aurora, a solo un par de cuadras del edificio de apartamentos. Inscribió a su hija ahí al poco tiempo de llegar a Denver en diciembre.

El año escolar pasado, Aurora registró la llegada de más de 1,500 estudiantes provenientes de un nuevo país entre octubre y finales de febrero.

Madre teme que el desalojo interrumpa los estudios de los niños

Carolina y su hija dejaron su país natal de Venezuela hace seis años y fueron a vivir a Colombia. Carolina abrió una lavandería, pero pandillas locales empezaron a extorsionarla. La inseguridad presionó a Carolina para que dejara su hogar con su hija una vez más—esta vez, con el objetivo de llegar a los Estados Unidos.

Después de llegar a Colorado, Carolina logró encontrar trabajo limpiando apartamentos. Le permitió pagar el alquiler de $1,200 mensuales en el edificio que han declarado en ruinas.

Ahora su trabajo informal está en pausa mientras encuentra una solución.

Tenía inquietudes con las condiciones del edificio, y hace un par de meses empezó a notar lo que ahora sabe que eran actividades de pandillas, pero los niños no se dan cuenta de las malas condiciones de vivienda, dijo. Solo saben que tienen un lugar para ir a casa, dijo.

Carolina no compró un automóvil porque no quería conducir sin una licencia. Y mientras espera que le den su permiso de trabajo sujeto a su caso de asilo, cuenta con pocas formas de identificación para obtener una licencia o completar la documentación necesaria para solicitar otras formas de asistencia.

Sin un automóvil, Carolina no está segura de si logrará que su hija siga yendo a la escuela Montview. Dijo que quizás tenga que deshacerse de las pocas cosas que tienen porque no tendrá manera de transportarlas o guardarlas.

Carolina dijo que los funcionarios de la escuela están haciendo todo lo posible por ayudar, pero muchos de los recursos con los que los conectan, como de asistencia con el alquiler, tardan en procesarse.

Ibrahim dijo que a las familias desplazadas les puede tomar más de un mes encontrar una vivienda nueva, aun cuando tengan un historial de crédito y buenos ingresos y no tengan desafíos de accesibilidad. Dijo que la decisión de la ciudad de clausurar un edificio de apartamentos tan grande, sin comunicarse antes con ninguna de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro que están ayudando, “no tiene precedente”.

“Lo único que sabemos que es definitivo es que todo el complejo va a quedarse sin hogar el martes por la mañana”, Ibrahim dijo. “Esto está directamente afectando de manera negativa el acceso de los niños a la educación. Los niños serán los más profundamente afectados”.

Funcionarios de la ciudad dicen que cubrirán los costos de los nuevos depósitos de seguridad, pero las familias deben solicitar esa ayuda después conseguir vivienda.

Carolina solo quiere encontrar una forma de proporcionarle estabilidad a su hija mientras encuentra vivienda.

“Sería muy shockeante para estos niños”, dijo Carolina. “Es complicado, pero solo quiero que piensen en los niños que más sufren”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Condemned building leaves migrant families scrambling to find housing and keep their kids in school

2024-08-09T23:52:12+00:00

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Carolina’s 8-year-old daughter had been excited about the start of school this week, but has spent the week in tears.

Police surrounded the family’s apartment building on Wednesday, making her late to class on the first day of school.

Carolina couldn’t keep the news from her daughter: The city condemned their building. They have to leave by Tuesday. Police and city officials gave the formal notice as kids were trying to make their way to the first day of school.

“School is an escape where she can forget about her problems here,” Carolina said. “But she’s scared. She keeps asking where we’re going to go.”

Carolina doesn’t have an answer.

Carolina is one of nearly 300 estimated people, mostly Venezuelan immigrants, living in the apartment building at 1568 Nome St. in Aurora. The city condemned the building for unsafe housing conditions, but residents like Carolina fear the city is targeting the building because of a recent shooting tied to gang violence. (Chalkbeat isn’t using Carolina’s real name because she fears retribution in her immigration case.)

She and other families living in the building are pleading for the city to give them more time to figure out where to move. Residents and organization leaders believe there are at least 66 school-aged children in the building who attend Aurora schools and will be affected. Some other children are believed to attend Denver schools nearby.

Nadeen Ibrahim, an organizing director with the nonprofit East Colfax Community Collective, said that the city’s notice – timed for the first day of classes — was deeply upsetting for families.

“Honestly it was one of the most traumatizing sights I’ve ever seen,” Ibrahim, who has worked with other displaced families, said. “Kids were extremely terrified and crying. There’s been a lot of police present since and so they’re seeing a lot of weapons around the building and it’s just hard to find a reason to smile.

“Children that young shouldn’t be exposed to that,” she added.

In a prepared statement, city officials said they “wholeheartedly recognize the burden and uncertainty” that has resulted, but said that “it would be irresponsible for the city to allow 1568 Nome St. to remain occupied for another two months in its current state.”

With less than a week to find a new home, Carolina said that many people without extended family or a car, will end up on the streets or in the city’s homeless shelters. And for children like her daughter, it will also likely mean missed days of school.

Aurora Public Schools hosted a resource fair for families at a former school building on Thursday. District officials would not confirm how many students are impacted by the building’s closure, but said in a statement they know many families are impacted.

“With our school year just starting, we know this is a difficult challenge for many of our families and we will continue to provide as many supports and resources as possible. It is critically important that our students continue to attend school every day, so that they are in a safe place to learn and to receive breakfast and lunch,” a spokesperson for the district said in a statement.

Carolina walks her daughter to Aurora’s Montview Elementary, just a couple blocks away from the building. She enrolled her daughter there shortly after arriving in Denver in December.

Last school year, Aurora recorded receiving more than 1,500 students between October and the end of February who were new to the country.

Mom fears the disruption is likely to interrupt children’s school

Carolina and her daughter first left their home in Venezuela six years ago and moved to Colombia. She opened a small laundromat, but local gangs began extorting her. The insecurity pushed Carolina to leave home with her daughter once again — this time, with the goal of reaching the U.S.

After arriving in Colorado, Carolina was able to find work cleaning apartments. It allowed her to pay the $1,200 monthly rent at the condemned building.

Now the informal work is on hold while she figures out what she’s doing next.

She had issues with the building conditions and a few months ago started noticing what she now knows was gang activity, but kids don’t notice the bad living conditions, she said. They just know they have a place to go home to, she said.

Carolina didn’t buy a car because she didn’t want to drive without a license. And while she’s waiting on a work permit pending her asylum case, she has limited identification forms to get a license, or to complete paperwork for other forms of assistance.

Without a car Carolina isn’t sure she’ll be able to get her daughter to continue school at Montview Elementary. She said she may have to give up some of their few possessions because she won’t have a way to transport or store them.

Carolina said the school officials are doing their best to help, but many of the resources they connect them to, such as rental assistance, take a while to process.

Ibrahim said that for displaced families, it can take more than a month to find new housing, even when they do have credit, good income, and no accessibility issues. She said the city’s move to condemn such a large apartment building, without contacting any of the local nonprofits that assist beforehand, is “unprecedented.”

“The only thing we know that is definitive is that entire complex is going to become homeless Tuesday morning,” Ibrahim said. “This is directly negatively impacting children’s access to education. The children are going to be the most deeply impacted.”

City officials say they will cover the costs of new security deposits for families, but they must apply for that assistance after they secure housing.

Carolina just wants to find a way to provide stability for her daughter while she finds housing.

“It will be very disruptive for these kids,” Carolina said. “It’s complicated, but I just want the city to think about the kids who are the ones who suffer the most.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado school districts are working on new ways to find gifted students from all backgrounds

2024-08-08T01:13:03+00:00

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About a decade after schools in Colorado started using universal testing to identify students who are gifted, white students and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds still make up the vast majority of students in gifted programs.

So educators are taking new steps to make sure students who have long been underrepresented in gifted programs across the country, including students of color, English language learners, and those from lower income families, are better represented.

Districts and organizations are now focusing on new data analysis, looking at multiple tests, and training teachers to identify behaviors that might signal high abilities among students of different cultures.

Some districts are closing gaps and are identifying more students, although statewide the gaps remain.

White students and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds make up 50% and 54% of the population respectively, but white students make up more than 69% of students in gifted programs and those from higher economic backgrounds make up 80% of students in gifted programs in Colorado.

Statewide, Black students make up 4.6% of all public school students, but only 2.1% of students identified as gifted. Hispanic students make up 35.5% of all students, but only 16% of students identified as gifted.

By other measures, gaps are more significant. Students who qualify for subsidized meals, a measure of poverty, make up 45.7% of all students in the state, but only account for 19.9% of students who are identified as gifted. And students who are identified as multilingual learners, learning English as a new language, make up 13% of all students in the state, but only account for 2.3% of gifted students.

In the past, identification depended on a teacher or parent advocating for a child to be tested. Now, barriers include biases in tests themselves or in observations from educators, who are also still largely white. Staffing limitations in some districts also limit how much work gifted teams can do.

Closing the gap and identifying students matters, leaders say, because students need to be challenged and so educators can provide better resources. But also for self-knowledge.

Nisia Patalan, the gifted coordinator for the districts of the San Juan BOCES in southwest Colorado, said student identification matters in part so students can understand themselves better.

“Understanding who they are and how they see the world differently and then just being accepted,” Patalan said. “I just think about how isolating it is to be a gifted student. I think those kids aren’t getting what they need if they aren’t struggling if they aren’t struggling enough to get noticed. They’re masking because of their giftedness.”

Educators use data to find more students

Identifying students who are multilingual is a recent area of focus for many districts in the state. About five years ago, the Colorado Department of Education started creating guidance that now allows districts to use the scores of the ACCESS test — an English fluency exam that students identified as English learners already take every year — as a way to identify gifted students.

Students who gain proficiency in English much more rapidly than average can be flagged for identification.

Brad Russell, assistant director of teaching and learning and gifted and talented programming in Mapleton, participated in a group with the state to help create the guidance for districts to use that test.

So in his district, just north of Denver, where 80% of students are Hispanic and about 40% are English learners, leaders who were working with an outside partner on making sure teachers were teaching to grade level standards, also started to think about how few students were being identified as gifted.

Four years ago, just 2.5% of the district’s students were identified as gifted, so they set a goal to get to 5% within one year. Now, 8% of the district’s students are identified as gifted. Of those gifted students, 70% are Hispanic, which Russell said is close to the 80% of Hispanic students in the district.

To get there, every year, Russell creates a spreadsheet with every student and the scores for all tests they may take. He pulls out all the students who have scores in the 80th percentile and starts looking for trends over time. This means he looks for longer term patterns instead of how a student performs on one test at one point in time.

“Having that formal data review annually, that is step one for everyone,” but he added, “we want to make sure we’re going beyond that.”

Next, he reaches out to the student’s school teachers and has them use a formal rating scale to make observations about the student’s behavior. Sometimes families will also be asked to fill out an observation form about their child, and other student work might be used as well to create enough evidence to formally identify the student.

What parents need to know about gifted and talented education

Traditionally, students were identified as gifted based on a high score on a cognitive ability test.

Those are the tests used for universal screening. In Mapleton, all second and sixth graders are tested. But if those tests don’t flag a student as gifted or if students somehow miss that test, Russell’s data review and other teacher observations can also be used to identify a student who is advanced.

Denver Public Schools started a similar data review last year.

In the first year of reviewing about five years worth of student scores on the ACCESS language test, Denver leaders identified more than 300 students who could be gifted based on their accelerated ability to learn a language.

About 26% of the district’s students are learning English as a new language, but only about 3% of gifted students were multilingual learners. After that first year of data review, it inched up to 4% of the approximately 6,900 identified gifted students. More students are in a group being evaluated and observed to possibly be identified within the next year or two.

“It’s really exciting, our gifted teachers are so thrilled about this,” said Meryl Faulkner, senior manager of gifted and talented for the Denver school district.

The district is in the process of reviewing data again this year.

DPS also piloted last year a new cognitive test, the NGAT, for its universal screening at some schools, which Faulkner believes made a difference in identifying more Black and multilingual students, she said.

This fall, all second graders in the district will take the new cognitive test.

And when teachers fill out observational ratings to identify students, Faulkner said, the district tries to have a teacher of the same cultural background as the student fill it out. “Cultural mismatches can occur, misunderstanding, or misinterpreting what their behaviors actually are,” she said.

Shalelia Dillard, founder of SCD Enrichment Program, a nonprofit organization trying to help schools diversify their gifted populations, is also in the process of getting a new teacher observation tool nationally recognized.

For example, she noted that “questioning authority is an across the board characteristic of many gifted students,” but stereotypes of black women being argumentative might allow an educator to think, “This is just a little black girl trying to have an attitude with me.”

Another example she likes to use for thinking about the different ways gifted abilities show up is when young students have to translate for adults.

“Students that had to read their parents bank statements at six years old and having to navigate that and translate that into respectful children language, it takes a high level cognitive profile,” Dillard said. “You’re using both hemispheres of your brain. That’s a huge one.”

State officials also pointed to San Juan BOCES as one area seeing positive improvements in closing gaps in who is identified as gifted. BOCES, which stands for boards of cooperative educational services, are groups of small districts that share resources.

Across the eight districts in the BOCES group, more than half of students qualify for free or reduced price lunches, a measure of poverty. In 2020-21, just 26.5% of gifted students did, but that number has jumped to 32% in 2023-24.

The BOCES districts with large populations of indigenous students have also seen improvements in their representation. For example, in the Mancos School District, 6.5% of enrolled students are identified at Native American, and among gifted students 6.7% are.

Many of the BOCES districts are using an alternative cognitive test, the same one DPS is moving to. And Patalan, the gifted coordinator, trains teachers every year, sharing different observational tools every month, including some geared specifically to look at how traditional behaviors might be expressed differently among different groups of students.

Among Native American students, for example, many of their traits are nonverbal, while an English learner who is trying to be expressive might use “inventive language” combining languages.

Districts want identification to be more than a label

Once students are in the process of being identified, teachers can start to differentiate how they help them in class. A teacher might purposefully pair two possibly gifted students together for assignments, for example.

And once they’re identified, state law requires students to have an advanced learning plan with goals specific to their gifted abilities which are reviewed every year.

In the handful of schools where Dillard’s organization works, she hosts a class with mostly students of color who might be gifted. Some students are already identified, and some are not. In the class, they receive college prep skills, advanced supplemental learning in core content areas, and talk about how being gifted might impact their social and emotional abilities.

“This is what it means to be gifted,” Dillard said. “It is a neurodiversity. With this particular neurodivergence, here’s how you can advocate for yourself, how you can connect with other students.”

Her program also hosts a weeklong summer program for students from across the metro area. The Mapleton district has also been hosting a summer program for students who are identified as gifted.

Last year, the online sign-up for Mapleton’s summer camp filled up in less than an hour. The district had planned for 90 students, and expanded to accommodate 122. Even more tried to enroll, leaders said, but had to be turned away.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Artículos escolares, cortes de pelo, vacunas y más, gratis. Aprovecha estos eventos antes del regreso a clases en 2024

2024-07-31T17:45:52+00:00

Read in English.

Ya casi se termina el verano, y las familias se están preparando para regresar a la escuela el próximo mes.

Antes de regresar a la escuela, las familias tienen que completar formularios para los almuerzos escolares, asegurar que las vacunas de sus hijos estén al día, e ir a comprar artículos escolares. Para ayudar a las familias, varias organizaciones estarán ofreciendo artículos escolares gratis.

A continuación hay una lista de los eventos que se realizarán próximamente. Si sabes de otros eventos que deberíamos incluir en nuestra lista, mandanos un mensaje electrónico a co.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Encuentra eventos gratis de vacunación cercanos

Sábado, 3 de agosto

Hora: 9 a.m. a 1 p.m.

Lugar: Adams City High School, 7200 Quebec Parkway

La feria anual de recursos en Adams 14 incluirá una distribución de artículos escolares gratuitos y ayuda con el registro escolar.

Sábado, 3 de agosto

Hora: 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Lugar: Centro de Eventos Island Grove, 501 North 14th Avenue, Greeley

La celebración comunitaria anual de inicio de curso organizada por el Distrito Escolar 6 de Greeley-Evans, en colaboración con la Fundación Success, distribuirá más de 4,000 mochilas gratis llenas de artículos escolares para los niños inscritos en el distrito y presentes durante el evento.

Sábado, 3 de agosto

Hora: 10 a.m. a 12:30 p.m.

Lugar: Town Center, 14200 E. Alameda Ave., Aurora

El inicio de regreso a clases de las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora incluirá mochilas y artículos escolares gratuitos para estudiantes del distrito y vacunas a bajo o sin costo. El evento también ofrece una oportunidad para registrar a los niños en la escuela y conocer al personal.

Sábado, 3 de agosto

Hora: 10 a.m. a 2 p.m.

Lugar: Parque de Sloans Lake, West 26th Avenue y Tennyson Street, Denver

La Fundacion de la Familia Silva y varias otras organizaciones distribuirán 3,500 mochilas gratis entre estudiantes que estén presentes durante el evento.

Sábado, 10 de agosto

Time: 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Lugar: Community Connections, 9471 Dorothy Blvd., Thornton

Community Connections y otras organizaciones se están asociando para distribuir artículos escolares gratuitos entre estudiantes que asistan al evento. También habrá camiones que venderán comida.

Jueves, 15 de agosto

Hora: 9 a.m. a 1 p.m.

Lugar: 3131 W 14th Ave., Denver

La organización Servicios de La Raza proporcionará artículos escolares, comida, cortes de pelo y otros recursos. Debes traer una identificación escolar o acta de nacimiento, o el niño debe estar presente.

Sábado, 17 de agosto

Hora: 10 a.m. a 1 p.m.

Lugar: Parque Barnum, 360 Hooker St., Denver

La organización Southwest Denver Coalition tendrá una feria de recursos para los estudiantes de Denver que viven en uno de los siguientes códigos postales: 80219, 80204, 80223, 80236, 80227. El niño debe estar presente.

Domingo, 18 de agosto

Hora: 2 p.m. a 6 p.m.

Lugar: 158 S. Federal Blvd., Denver

Los grupos de Skyline Chapter y Krazy Chicanos Car Club tendrán un evento para regalar mochilas, utiles escolares y botellas de agua.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Free school supplies, haircuts, vaccines, and more. Check out these 2024 back-to-school events

2024-07-26T21:05:37+00:00

Leer en español.

Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.

Summer is almost over, and families are getting ready to head back to school next month.

In preparation, families have to fill out school lunch forms, make sure their kids’ vaccinations are up to date, and go shopping for school supplies. To help families out, several organizations are offering free school supplies.

Below are some of the upcoming giveaway events. If you know of others we should include on our list, email co.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Saturday July 27

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Where: Fire Station 39, 9150 E. 50th Ave., Denver

The city of Denver is launching Denver Days with an event that includes pancakes and a backpack giveaway.

Saturday Aug. 3

Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Adams City High School, 7200 Quebec Parkway

The annual Adams 14 resource fair will include a school supply giveaway and assistance with school registration.

Saturday Aug. 3

Time: 9 a.m. to noon

Where: Island Grove Event Center, 501 North 14th Avenue, Greeley

The annual school kickoff community celebration hosted by the Greeley-Evans School District 6 in partnership with the Success Foundation will give away more than 4,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to children enrolled in the district and present at the event.

Saturday Aug. 3

Time: 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Where: Town Center, 14200 E. Alameda Ave., Aurora

Aurora Public School’s annual school kickoff will include free backpacks and school supplies for district students and low- or no-cost immunizations. The event is also an opportunity to register children for school and meet staff.

Saturday Aug. 3

Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Sloans Lake park, West 26th Avenue and Tennyson Street, Denver

The Silva Family Foundation and several other organizations are giving away more than 3,500 backpacks to students who are present at the event.

Saturday Aug. 10

Time: 9 a.m. to noon

Where: Community Connections, 9471 Dorothy Blvd., Thornton

Community Connections and other organizations are partnering to give away school supplies to students who attend this event. There will also be food trucks.

Thursday Aug. 15

Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: 3131 W 14th Ave., Denver

Servicios de La Raza will provide school supplies, food, haircuts, and other resources. You must bring a school ID, birth certificate, or have the child present.

Saturday Aug. 17

Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Barnum Park, 360 Hooker St., Denver

The Southwest Denver Coalition is having a back to school resource fair giving free backpacks to students from southwest Denver. Students must be present, and must live in one of these zip codes: 80219, 80204, 80223, 80236, 80227.

Sunday Aug. 18

Time: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: 158 S. Federal Blvd., Denver

The Skyline Chapter and Krazy Chicanos Car Club are hosting their annual back to school event where they will be giving away backpacks, school supplies and water bottles.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco will pilot new programs, including a welcome center bus, to better serve immigrant students

2024-07-15T23:28:51+00:00

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An influx of immigrant students last year left the Jeffco school district scrambling to meet their needs. So this fall, officials are piloting new programs and support to help newcomer students.

The school district is piloting a series of changes, including new staff, resources, and curriculum materials, as well as a new welcome center bus, after hundreds of immigrant students arrived throughout the past school year. The district is planning for the surge to continue into next school year.

“Our schools have been incredibly autonomous in how they meet the needs of our special populations and especially our multilingual language learners,” Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland told the district’s school board this spring. “Our student achievement data tells us that’s not working.”

Schools across the state and country saw a surge of new students last school year arriving from South American countries, including Venezuela and Colombia. Jeffco reported to state officials that it received more than 300 students from October through the end of February. But district officials told the board in March that they estimated about 600 newcomer students had arrived in the previous 12 months.

Jeffco, the second largest school district in Colorado, enrolled 76,172 students as of last October, of which about 6.2% were identified as English learners.

New programs will focus on four schools at secondary level

Although the newcomer students are spread across the district, some Jeffco areas were more overwhelmed with new enrollments.

Four high schools — Jefferson Jr/Sr, Alameda Jr/Sr, Lakewood High, and Green Mountain High — will have specific newcomer programming where a dedicated teacher with a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education certificate to teach English learners will co-teach core academic classes and help give students two years worth of English credits in one year to help them gain traction toward graduation.

For elementary schools, the district is creating a team of roving teachers to deploy to any school experiencing a surge in students who don’t speak English as a native language. The central team will help screen, enroll, and orient students so English language development teachers at schools can continue their work helping classroom teachers learn strategies to teach any language learners in their classes.

Other large metro-area school districts, including Denver, Aurora, and Adams 12, already have specialized programs to serve refugee and immigrant students who are new to the country. But Jeffco hasn’t historically had such standalone programming.

The district is also retrofitting a short school bus to serve as a mobile welcome center for families. District leaders said they were inspired by the Aurora school district’s comprehensive welcome center that serves diverse immigrant and refugee families. Jeffco initially considered using an empty school building to create one, but worried that families spread throughout Jeffco would find transportation to the center to be a barrier.

“We really reimagined what a welcome center could look like,” said Tara Peña, Jeffco’s chief of family and community partnerships. “The brick and mortar experience of walking through and into an institution could also feel really intimidating and so having something that is colorful and inviting could hopefully take a little bit of that stigma away.”

Much of the cost of the bus is being covered by a state grant. The district has budgeted about $1.2 million for the new staff and other supports.

Adan Gonzales, president of Volition Components, a shop that is retrofitting the bus into a mobile welcome center for Jeffco, describes how the outside of the bus will have an awning and speakers to help the district draw people in.

The bus and three newly hired family ambassadors, as well as additional translators when necessary, will travel to schools, apartment complexes, shelters, and libraries to find families that need help enrolling their children in school, or who need referrals to health or mental health resources. The bus will also be equipped with wi-fi to help families fill out online forms on site. District leaders are taking donations so the bus can be stocked with school supplies, clothes, food, and diapers to help families with other needs.

Peña said the family ambassadors come from some of the same countries as many new Jeffco students and speak their language.

“That immediately disarms our families,” she said.

Peña said the department is also in talks with high school students earning translation certificates at Alameda High School to possibly volunteer on the bus to get more translation work experience.

The students and the family ambassadors would speak Spanish. According to district data, 70% of the past year’s newcomers speak Spanish. The next most common languages are Arabic and Russian.

The inside of Jeffco's welcome center bus will have tables, a fridge, a television screen, and wi-fi so families can get help filling out enrollment forms or getting referrals to services.

At the high school level, the district is planning to track students who enroll in the newcomer program to compare to other newcomer students who don’t to see if, in the long run, students are more successful with that support.

Students would be part of the newcomer programming for no more than a school year, and would be integrated into classes with non-newcomer students for electives, lunch, and other activities.

The district is expecting to serve a total of 150 students in the four schools and has already identified some students who will enroll, but is planning to leave space for students who show up this fall.

For students who aren’t near those four schools, the district will continue and expand an online service it offered last school year. Students who don’t have access to English language development in their own school log onto a multilingual learner online platform where they get live instruction from a trained teacher. The district expects to be able to serve 300 students this way.

The district is also in the process of updating district-wide policies for how high schools enroll students with foreign transcripts or without transcript records.

School board President Mary Parker questioned the process after a 16-year-old newly arrived Ugandan student she was mentoring was counseled to go to college because school officials felt the girl had already met the high school graduation requirements. District leaders said high schools have so far often used their own discretion in making decisions about enrolling and placing students, but will have updated uniform guidance soon.

In elementary schools, district leaders will be tracking whether the central roving team is the right support for school staff to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed.

“Right now the thinking initially is this is really a pilot design before we scale this up,” Peña said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Para ayudar a los estudiantes migrantes, Westminster creó un programa de verano

2024-07-11T22:41:05+00:00

Read in English.

Durante la última semana de la escuela de verano en Westminster, unos 19 niños practicaban la formación de oraciones en inglés que describían imágenes mostradas en una pizarra digital al frente de la clase.

“Veo niños jugando fútbol”, dijo un niño, Mathias, sobre una foto de un grupo de niños mayores jugando al fútbol bajo la lluvia.

Pero la maestra Sydney Pollock quería que la clase de tercer a quinto grado practicara comenzando las oraciones con las palabras “Esto” o “Eso”, y que usaran un verbo singular en la oración. Le recordó a Mathias que “niños” es plural. Escribiendo la palabra en la pizarra, preguntó a la clase cómo hacerla singular. Quitar la “S”, dijeron los niños.

Mathias lo intentó de nuevo. “Este niño jugando…”

Mathias, un estudiante en la clase de verano en el distrito escolar de Westminster practica su inglés durante clase el 26 de junio de 2024.

No olvides tu verbo, le recordó Pollock, señalando ejemplos en la pizarra blanca.

“Este niño está jugando fútbol”, dijo Mathias, emocionado por acertar.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Westminster fue uno de muchos distritos en Colorado que recibió una oleada de nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes después del comienzo del año escolar. Solo en los cuatro meses entre octubre y febrero, el distrito informó que había matriculado a 216 estudiantes recién llegados. Westminster recibió $877,000 en financiamiento estatal único para ayudar a cubrir los gastos de educar a estudiantes que no fueron contados para el financiamiento estatal de este año porque comenzaron después de octubre.

Los estudiantes del programa de verano tienen un recreo breve durante su día escolar de cuatro horas.

Con esa ayuda, Westminster presupuestó $10,000 para crear un nuevo programa de escuela de verano para ayudar a los estudiantes hispanohablantes a seguir practicando inglés, con la esperanza particular de matricular a muchos de los nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes que acababan de comenzar a aprender.

El programa de verano matriculó a 135 estudiantes desde kínder hasta el undécimo grado. Kate Herter, quien se desempeñó este verano como directora del programa, dijo que estimó que aproximadamente el 85% de los estudiantes matriculados eran nuevos en el país este año.

Los líderes dijeron que uno de los objetivos era asegurarse de que los nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes se sintieran más cómodos y listos para aprender este otoño.

Herter dijo que el objetivo es que los estudiantes tengan un espacio donde puedan sentirse más cómodos practicando sus habilidades en inglés, para que puedan sentirse más seguros participando en su aprendizaje el próximo año escolar.

Cuando los niños comenzaron el programa de verano, empezaron aprendiendo cómo hablar sobre la comida. Otra semana se dedicó a aprender sobre el dinero y cómo contar dólares estadounidenses. Al lado de la clase de Pollock, otro grupo de estudiantes estaba aprendiendo cómo formar oraciones en inglés para describir las diferentes estaciones, haciendo observaciones sobre el frío, la lluvia y las hojas.

“Realmente estamos tratando de enfocarnos en el lenguaje que puedan usar inmediatamente en la comunidad”, dijo Herter.

Susana Zubia López fue una de las enlaces familiares que ayudaron al distrito a llamar a todas las familias recién llegadas para invitarlas a inscribir a sus hijos.

Dijo que la mayoría de las familias estaban entusiasmadas con la oportunidad de que sus hijos siguieran aprendiendo inglés.

Zubia López dijo que de las nuevas familias inmigrantes con las que estaba en contacto, las únicas que no inscribieron a sus hijos fueron las que se estaban mudando o que dijeron que iban a hacer un viaje.

El distrito proporcionó transporte gratuito al programa diario de cuatro horas, así como desayuno y almuerzo justo antes de que los estudiantes se fueran a casa al mediodía. Los estudiantes en el programa también pudieron recibir vacunas para estar listos para la inscripción escolar este otoño.

“Nosotros no queríamos una brecha”, dijo Zubia López. “Nuestro objetivo era no tener una brecha tan grande”.

En 2018, Westminster firmó un acuerdo con el gobierno federal para hacer cambios en cómo identificaba y atendía a los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés como nuevo idioma después de que el Departamento de Justicia encontrara que el distrito podría haber estado subidentificando a los estudiantes y no proporcionándoles suficientes recursos. El distrito comenzó a hacer cambios cuando empezó la pandemia.

En el verano de 2021, Westminster también utilizó fondos de ayuda por COVID para extender el año escolar 12 días adicionales para dar a los estudiantes más oportunidades de aprendizaje. Pero este es el primer año, dijeron los líderes del distrito, en que el distrito tuvo un programa de verano específico para estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

Herter dijo que los maestros están recopilando datos regularmente y evaluarán si los estudiantes demuestran mejoras en su desarrollo del inglés el próximo año.

Los estudiantes en una clase del programa de verano de Westminster vieron un video de caricaturas acerca de las temporadas y se pusieron a cantar y bailar con el video.

Por ahora, los maestros también trabajaron para que los estudiantes se sintieran más cómodos. En la clase de Pollock, una niña escribió una oración sobre la imagen que observó, pero al principio rogó a la maestra que se acercó a su mesa que no la hiciera intentar decirla en voz alta.

Al lado, cuando los estudiantes estaban aprendiendo sobre las estaciones, la maestra SanJuanita Carbajal hizo que los estudiantes vieran un video animado con una canción pegajosa sobre las estaciones. Al principio, los estudiantes no cantaban. Pero después de unos minutos, se unieron.

Sara Gonzalez, quien enseña a estudiantes de primer y segundo grado en el programa, dijo que los estudiantes saben que ella habla español y empezaron el programa tratando de hablarle principalmente en español.

A menudo les dice que no entiende, en un esfuerzo por hacer que practiquen su inglés. Ahora, dijo, los está viendo intentar hablar más en inglés.

“Sabemos que se sentirán más seguros en su aprendizaje más adelante”, dijo Herter.

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Contacta a Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Colorado high school students had big drops in math scores. Is the new digital SAT to blame?

2024-07-02T20:33:13+00:00

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Most Colorado students continue to make progress on state tests, with scores nearly recovering from dropping after the pandemic. That’s according to preliminary data previewed for the State Board of Education in June.

But one area of concern is that high school math scores were significantly lower than in previous years as the state transitioned to a new digital PSAT and SAT.

Ninth grade scores seem particularly concerning. In 2019, 49.6% of ninth graders met or exceeded math standards on the PSAT. In 2024, just 39.5% did — a difference of more than 10 percentage points. The 2024 rate also represents a significant decrease from 2023, when 46.5% of students were meeting expectations.

Ninth graders were in fifth grade when the pandemic began and would have been in sixth grade, possibly starting middle school, in the fall of 2020 when school was largely held online.

State officials said they are spending the summer analyzing the data to see if they will still be able to use it for annual school ratings. The board voted to allow accountability officials to possibly set new cutoff targets for each performance level, based on this year’s distribution of scores, instead of using the same points as in previous years.

“What we’ve discovered is this is really a new assessment,” said Lisa Medler, executive director of accountability and continuous improvement for the state.

The PSAT/SAT Colorado uses to test all ninth, 10th, and 11th graders, and also is used as one way of demonstrating English and math proficiency for graduation requirements, was changed for the spring of 2024. It was the first time the test was fully online. The test was also reformatted.

Initially, state officials believed the changes wouldn’t affect the meaning of scores compared to previous years, but now, after seeing such a large drop in the number of students who met standards on the test in math, officials suspect it might have to do with the tests. But they’re not sure how much was difficulty with the tests or how much students may be struggling with math.

“I cannot disentangle those changes in terms of what caused those changes,” said Joyce Zurkowski, the Colorado Department of Education’s chief assessment officer. “Some of that is indeed due to changes in student performance, but some of that is due to a change in test.”

The SAT is going digital. Here’s what to know.

In the lower grades, which take the state’s CMAS test, the results don’t show students struggling as much. Among third through sixth grade students, the percent meeting or exceeding math standards is now at or above the 2019 pre-pandemic rates.

But eighth grade CMAS math scores are still behind. In 2019, 36.9% of eighth graders met or exceeded math standards. In 2024, preliminary data shows just 32.9% did, a slight increase compared to 32.7% in 2023.

Apart from the changes to the PSAT/SAT, officials are also looking at how an increase in the number of students new to the country this year could also have affected the average scores.

This spring, the state exempted more students than usual from taking the tests, but new immigrant students who did not have interrupted schooling were still expected to take math and science tests, with accommodations. Their scores will not count for school ratings but could be affecting the state’s overall test averages.

State officials are auditing the data to finalize it and are studying if it can be used in growth calculations and for other purposes in annual school ratings. An update about the findings might come later this month.

State officials said that other states are also finding significant score decreases with the new PSAT/SAT, but not all states use the test for all students or for accountability purposes.

In the meantime, as students are receiving their own scores, state officials want students and families to know the changes to the test itself could be playing a role.

“So, 11th grade students: if your senior sibling is giving you a hard time because they scored better than you on math, tell them to go take the new assessment and then you can have the conversation,” Zurkowski said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

To help migrant students, Westminster created a summer program for English language learners

2024-06-28T23:38:53+00:00

Leer en español.

During the last week of summer school in Westminster, about 19 kids practiced forming English sentences that described pictures displayed on a smartboard at the front of the class.

“I see kids playing fútbol,” one child, Mathias, said about a photo of a group of older kids playing soccer in the rain.

But teacher Sydney Pollock wanted the class of third through fifth graders to practice starting sentences with the words “This” or “That,” and to use a singular verb in the sentence. She reminded Mathias that “kids” is plural. Writing the word on the board, she asked the class how to make it singular. Drop the “S”, kids said.

Mathias, a student in the mixed grade summer classroom for Westminster Public Schools, works to practice speaking English during class on June 26, 2024.

Mathias tried again. “This kid playing…”

Don’t forget your verb, Pollock reminded him, pointing to examples on the whiteboard.

“This kid is playing fútbol,” Mathias said, excited to get it right.

Westminster Public Schools was one of many districts in Colorado to receive a surge of new immigrant students after the start of the school year. In the four months between October and February alone, the district reported it had enrolled 216 newcomer students. Westminster received $877,000 in one-time state funding to help cover the expenses of educating students who were not counted for this year’s state funding because they started after October.

Students in the summer program get a short recess during their four-hour school day.

With that help, Westminster budgeted $10,000 to create a new summer school program to help Spanish-speaking students keep practicing English, particularly hoping to enroll many of the new immigrant students who had just started to learn.

The summer program enrolled 135 students in kindergarten through 11th grade. Kate Herter, who served this summer as the program’s principal, said she estimated about 85% of the students enrolled were new to the country this year.

Leaders said one of the goals was to ensure new immigrant students feel more comfortable and ready to learn come this fall.

Herter said the goal is for students to have a space where they can feel more comfortable practicing their English skills, so that they might feel more confident participating in their learning next school year.

When kids began the summer program, they started learning how to talk about food. Another week was spent learning about money and how to count U.S. dollars. Next door to Pollock’s class, another group of students was learning how to form sentences in English to describe the different seasons, making observations about the cold, the rain, and the leaves.

“We’re really trying to target language that they can use immediately inside the community,” Herter said.

Susana Zubia López, left, and Kate Herter, pose for a portrait on Wed., June 26, 2024 at Josephine Hodgkins Leadership Academy in Denver, Colorado.

Susana Zubia López was one of the family liaisons who helped the district call all newcomer families to invite them to enroll their children.

She said most families were excited about the opportunity to have their children keep learning English.

Zubia López said that of the new immigrant families she was in touch with, the only ones who didn’t enroll their children were families who were moving or who said they were taking a trip.

The district provided free transportation to the four-hour daily program, as well as breakfast and lunch just before students went home at noon. The students in the program were also able to get vaccinations to be ready for school enrollment this fall.

“We didn’t want a gap,” Zubia López said. “Our goal was to not have that big a gap.”

In 2018, Westminster had signed an agreement with the federal government to make changes to how it identified and served students who were learning English as a new language after the Department of Justice found that the district may have been under-identifying students and not providing them with enough resources. The district started making changes as the pandemic began.

In the summer of 2021, Westminster also used COVID relief funds to extend the school year an extra 12 days to give students more opportunities to learn. But this is the first year, district leaders said, that the district had a targeted summer program for students learning English.

Herter said teachers are regularly collecting data and will be evaluating if students demonstrate improvement in their English development next year.

Students in Westminster's summer program watched an animated video about the seasons and sang and danced along.

For now, teachers also worked on making students feel more comfortable. In Pollock’s class, one girl spelled out a sentence about the picture she observed, but initially pleaded with the teacher who had come around to her table not to make her try to say it out loud.

Next door, when students were learning about the seasons, teacher SanJuanita Carbajal had the students watch an animated video with a catchy song about the seasons. At first, the students were not singing along. But after a few minutes, they joined in.

Sara Gonzalez, who teaches first and second graders in the program, said that students know she speaks Spanish and started the program trying speaking to her mostly in Spanish.

She often tells them she doesn’t understand in an effort to have them practice their English. Now, she said, she is seeing them try to speak more in English.

“We know they’ll feel more confident in their learning later,” Herter said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Two Aurora schools change partners, get more time to show academic improvements

2024-06-13T00:24:16+00:00

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Colorado State Board of Education voted Wednesday to allow two Aurora schools, North Middle School and Aurora Central High School, to continue their own improvement plans for another two years.

It’s a change for Aurora Central in particular, which before the start of the pandemic was facing more criticism and more possible intervention from the state.

On Wednesday, new district and school administrators told State Board members about the growth they’ve experienced and the changes they want to make to the plan.

The district’s plan for Central is to continue rolling out a K-12 arts program, further develop career and college options for students, and partner with a new group to help improve instruction. An analysis the district presented found that the school still has inconsistent teaching and planning.

For that reason, the district leaders said they looked for a new partner that could help drill down on improving instruction. They will partner with TNTP, a nonprofit education group that is also helping the Adams 14 school district, which is also under state-ordered improvement plans. Aurora leaders said they are using more specific goals in their work with TNTP as a result of a move towards outcomes-based contracts, in which the contractor’s pay can be tied to achieving certain goals.

North will have a new principal and will be working with a new management partner, switching from EdDirection, formerly known as MGT Consulting, to also work with TNTP.

North’s major focus will also be to improve teaching and leadership’s coaching abilities.

Two State Board members — Steve Durham and Deb Scheffel — voted against both plans. Durham criticized the education system as a whole and said Aurora Central’s plan seemed not to call for enough change.

Other State Board members said change takes time, noting that even though changes being made in Aurora might be incremental, there are reasons to be optimistic.

North Middle School is in its sixth year of low state performance ratings but was less than a point away from receiving a higher rating in 2023.

Aurora Central High School has had low ratings for more than 10 years. In its November 2019 hearing with the State Board, the school was given one year to start showing more significant improvements. But when the pandemic began, the testing and the state’s performance ratings were put on hold.

And in the most recent year, Aurora Central did not receive a rating because the district is transitioning the school into a K-12 campus. The elementary and middle school portions of the K-12 school are new and don’t have previous data to use in growth calculations.

Because of the insufficient data for a rating, Aurora Central was not yet required to face the state again. Still, the district asked for the hearing earlier than required, so the state-approved improvement plan better reflected the district’s work in the school.

State Board members said they appreciated the district being proactive in coming for a hearing before it was required to.

However, State Board members expressed concern with Aurora Central’s attendance rates, another issue identified by the district.

In the school year that just ended, Aurora Central had a 41% chronic absenteeism rate, higher than the state average of 31%.

School and district leaders said Aurora Central’s work under the community schools model is one of the ways they have tried to address attendance issues, by trying to have students and families connect to outside resources that might help.

In discussing both schools, State Board members also asked the school leaders about newcomer students. Aurora leaders said both schools have received high numbers of newly arrived immigrant students.

In Aurora Central, the school opened a newcomer center within the school in the 2020-21 school year and principal Kurtis Quig said students there are making good progress with the more intensive support.

The State Board orders will require each school to return for another hearing in front of the state after the 2026 performance ratings if they haven’t improved.

“I agree with my colleagues, this is going to be hard work,” said State Board member Angelika Schroeder. “I have the faith you’re going to do enough here to make progress.”

The Aurora district has also had a decline in its state rating this year. The district would have to face the state for its own state-ordered improvement plan if the low ratings persist for five years.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Disparities in local tax revenue for Colorado schools are growing, causing inequities and concern

2024-06-12T00:26:36+00:00

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As Colorado celebrates school funding increases meant to benefit some of the most disadvantaged districts in the state, one key issue remained unresolved this legislative session: the growing inequities created by local taxes.

Apart from state per-pupil funding, some school districts can raise several thousand additional dollars per student in voter-approved property taxes known as mill levy overrides, allowing them to boost teacher salaries and make safety improvements, for example. Other districts raise nothing extra. An attempt by state lawmakers to equalize that imbalance isn’t yet working as intended, in part because a state matching fund can’t make up for all the gaps.

Meanwhile, the imbalance is growing. In the metro area alone, the gap between how much additional revenue school districts are able to generate per student has increased by 52% in the last 10 years from $2,032 to $3,105. That’s despite a cap on the amount of money districts can raise based on a percentage of that district’s state funding.

At the bottom of the 15-district group now: Adams 14, a school district that has struggled to raise student performance. Local leaders have long pointed to the high needs students have in the low-income community, and the lack of resources schools can offer.

Adams 14 collects about $956 in additional mill levy override funds per student. On the opposite side of Denver, the Sheridan district collected more than $4,000 per student this past year, after a recent local tax measure passed.

“We know we are at a disadvantage in terms of keeping up,” said Karla Loría, Adams 14 superintendent. “We feel it.”

She said the district is struggling to keep salaries competitive with neighboring districts, which is affecting hiring and retention. The district has long struggled with staff retention. Teachers this semester staged rallies before and after school trying to push the district to offer better salaries for next year. Negotiations are ongoing, but the district is also considering trying to ask voters this November for a mill levy override to help raise more money.

The district hasn’t asked to raise local taxes in 10 years. Adams 14 voters last successfully approved a mill levy override more than 20 years ago.

Across the state, some of the inequities are even larger than in the metro area. For the 2023-24 school year, 13 Colorado districts collected more than $4,000 per student in voter-approved mill levy override funds including Aspen, Telluride, Clear Creek, and Sheridan. On the other end of the spectrum, 54 school districts never have had voters approve this type of tax, meaning they collect $0 on top of the baseline funding all districts get.

And that’s not considering other additional local funds such as bond requests that districts can ask for.

How does it work?

The amount of money districts can collect depends on a few factors. One of the largest factors is the assessed value in the community. In other words, how much property or mineral value exists in the community that would be taxed? This includes home values, but also commercial or industrial development, agricultural properties, or oil and gas. It also depends on the ability of the community to approve a ballot measure to tax themselves more.

But experts say that what that tax means to property owners varies widely.

“You’re asking vastly different questions trying to achieve the same results,” said Brett Ridgway, chief financial officer for the Lewis-Palmer school district just north of Colorado Springs.

To raise a significant amount of money for a district in a community with high assessed value, the community’s tax only has to increase slightly, so they’re likely to approve it. In communities with low assessed value, the district would have to pass a much higher tax rate just to get a small amount of money. That means the burden on homeowners feels heavier, and voters are less likely to approve it.

One way to look at the inequities is to consider the difference between assessed values in a community. Assessed values have increased in many communities, but the gaps between districts with high and low property wealth is also growing.

For the 2023-24 school year, 12 districts in Colorado had an assessed value of more than a million dollars per student, including Gilpin County where many casinos are located, Telluride, Aspen, and Garfield counties.

When looking at that assessed value per student in the metro area, Adams 12 and 27J, which covers much of Brighton, have the lowest property wealth. Adams 12′s net assessed value in 2023-24 is $4.2 billion, or about $124,633 per student. Tiny Englewood has the highest assessed value per student. Its total district assessed value is just $830 million but with few students it ends up being $389,915 per student. Denver’s net assessed value is the largest in total, at $25.1 billion, but divided per student is $301,958.

Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski wrote a letter earlier this year to the legislature, asking them to consider mill levy inequities in their school funding discussions.

His community, for example, was created as a residential suburban community, so there’s little else besides residential homes that get taxed.

His district calculated that for Adams 12 to raise enough revenue to match Boulder Valley, which has more expensive homes, and also more development, a homeowner would pay about $1,120 per year in taxes on a $500,000 home while a Boulder homeowner of a $500,000 house would pay $400 per year.

“Districts without comparable MLO revenue, including districts like Adams 14, 27J, and Adams 12, will continue to have disproportionate vacancies, greater class sizes, and fewer resources to serve these same at-risk populations in their communities,” Gdowski said in his letter to lawmakers.

He added that simply increasing per-pupil state funding “without addressing MLO inequities between districts in the metro area, will perpetuate the zip-code based funding inequities that have existed — and grown larger — through my tenure.”

In Adams 14, district leaders said they have made $7 million in cuts to central administration in an attempt to find more funding for the classrooms. But that has meant that support for schools has also decreased. Superintendent Loría said that the mental health department in the district is now down to one person.

“That adds hats to some people in the schools which makes it difficult to work in a district,” Loría said.

The district is currently doing a market analysis to evaluate if they should ask voters for a tax measure this year. What it would fund would depend on what the community wants to see, but Loría said she would like to propose more funding for mental health, security, and special education programming.

And she wants to be able to offer more competitive salaries for all staff positions, she said.

Another possible fix

The legislature tried two years ago to help the disadvantaged districts, but some say it’s not quite playing out as was expected.

Lawmakers created a program that would establish matching funds for districts, on a sliding scale. A group of financial officers from various school districts helped write a formula that considered the district’s assessed value and median home income as a way of determining how much in taxes a community reasonably should be expected to contribute to help its schools.

The state match was meant to help fill the gap between what communities can raise through mill levy overrides and what would make their extra funding more equitable with other districts.

It was also meant to provide an incentive to districts that have not asked voters to tax themselves to raise school funds, thinking that the amount they would get out of a tax measure would be too small to help the district’s budget anyway. To benefit from the program, a district has to have a mill levy override, either one approved in the past or one approved after the program was created.

But the match hasn’t yet helped any district pass a new tax measure. In part, districts are uncertain about the way the formula works, and whether the match from the state would change rapidly year to year. In one district, Widefield in Colorado Springs, the opening of an Amazon warehouse center changed the assessed value in the community from one year to the next, drastically lowering the calculation of how much the state would contribute.

Ridgway, who helped write the formula, said that it’s working just as it was designed, but that new realities in how the economies in Colorado are changing might require some tweaks. He thinks perhaps using three-year averages of assessed values might help prevent drastic changes and give districts time to adjust.

In other cases, the state match just still isn’t enough.

“The current formula has not resulted in consistent and predictable matching in its first two years of operation,” Gdowski wrote to lawmakers. “Some districts received sizable allocations in year one and are currently set to receive nothing, or almost nothing, in year 2 — and at the same time the proposed distributions for the current fiscal year call for more than 87 percent of the funds to be awarded to just four school districts in El Paso County.”

In 2022-23, the state gave $10 million to 27 districts through the program. More than half of the districts received less than $50,000 from the state.

For the 2023-24 school year, lawmakers set aside more money, $21.1 million, but only split it between 22 districts. In response to Gdowski’s concerns, the legislature also ran a second formula for the match program this month for the 2023-24 year, giving another $15.7 million to 40 districts.

The year-to-year variations make it hard, Gdowski said, to assure voters that if they pass a tax measure they will get a state match.

Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who was one of the sponsors of the bill that created the state match program, disagrees that the program isn’t working. She says the problem is that districts want more money from it.

“It’s a good idea. We got it off the ground, but we’re going to need to think more long term about how to fund it,” Zenzinger said. “I’m really excited about the possibility of strengthening it.”

The state rewrite of the school finance formula approved this session ultimately included language to create a working group to meet this fall to study possible changes to the state match program, and to analyze mill levy inequities “between neighboring districts that have differing mill levy overrides, levels of property tax bases, or demonstrated levels of local effort.”

Zenzinger said that the group may consider changes to the formula, perhaps blending the two that were used this year together, but she also wants the group to consider how the state might create a sustainable funding source for the program.

“Right now it’s up in the air,” she said.

If the program is successful in the long term, Zenzinger doesn’t expect all inequalities can disappear.

“It’s kind of the nature of our tax structure,” Zenzinger said. “Inevitably, more property wealthy districts are going to bring in more money.”

Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Democrat from Denver and former school board member, said part of the problem is that the state’s base funding for schools isn’t enough.

Ideally, she said, passing mill levy overrides should help communities pay for extras that they feel are important to them, not pay for necessities like teacher salaries.

“Districts are relying on it more for baseline budgets,” Bacon said. “That’s just because of how we fund things and we don’t have enough money. The big challenge is this lack of funding.”

Districts say the funding matters

Some critics say that what matters more than increasing funding is how the money is spent. They say lower-funded districts should spend their money more efficiently.

Ridgway said that while there is some truth to the importance of efficiencies, it’s only true when the disparities are below 10%. He said that when some districts can raise up to 30% more than their base state funding, while others have no extra money, the inequalities will be apparent.

“We can’t out-efficient that,” Ridgway said. “It’s not a question of efficiency at that point.”

Loría in Adams 14, wants her community to consider that Adams 14 is already making some academic improvements that the state has taken notice of, despite the lack of resources.

“The last couple of years we have proven we can do better,” Loría said. “More resources will ensure we can get there faster.”

Adams 14′s attorney, Joe Salazar, a former state lawmaker himself, said that the legislature has been discussing this problem for too long, and is systematically not working for low-income communities.

“We don’t see any end in sight,” Salazar said.

Chris Fiedler, superintendent of the 27J school district, agrees.

“We’re never going to tax ourselves to equal,” Fiedler said.

Fiedler is retiring this summer after decades as superintendent. Ten years ago, 27J was the district collecting the fewest dollars in mill levy overrides: just $46 per student. His district put the question to voters, failing seven times before finally passing a mill levy override in fall of 2022 that now brings in $1,118 per student, which has pulled his district out of the bottom.

Since passing the mill levy override, 27J was able to raise starting teacher salaries and give employees a 16% raise. For this coming year, they just finished negotiations and will be able to give teachers another 8% raise in pay.

“Prior to the mill levy passing, we had years we were frozen,” Fiedler said. “One time we just did a Christmas bonus of $250.”

Fiedler said teacher retention has improved already. The mill levy funding in 27J is also helping to pay for armed security in all elementary schools, other safety improvements, and to expand career and technical programs at the district’s comprehensive high schools.

“It matters, it really matters,” Fiedler said. “I am extremely grateful to our community for saying yes.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Este estudiante no pensó que iría a la universidad. Luego su familia inmigrante lo inspiró.

2024-05-28T23:37:14+00:00

Read in English.

Cuando Elmer Hernandez se graduó de su high school en Aurora en 2018, no tenía planes de ir a la universidad. No sentía que era suficientemente inteligente, dice.

Pero este mes, se graduó del Colegio Comunitario de Aurora y planea asistir a la Universidad de Colorado en Denver en el otoño para terminar su título universitario en ciencias de la computación. Y durante este último año, Hernandez—el hijo de padres inmigrantes—trabajó en dos proyectos importantes en su colegio comunitario para ayudar a que la educación sea más accesible para otros estudiantes como él y familias como la suya.

Un proyecto fue traducir al español el sitio web de la escuela para hacer que la experiencia universitaria fuera más fácil para los estudiantes, muchos de los cuales son bilingües. La otra fue ayudar a preparar el nuevo portal de la escuela para los estudiantes y el personal.

Su trabajo en los proyectos ayudó a que Hernandez se diera cuenta de que siempre había sido suficientemente inteligente para ir a la universidad. Lo que le faltaba era la valentía de superar sus temores sobre los estudios avanzados.

“Siempre quise meterme a la tecnología, pero cuando estaba en high school nunca me sentí dotado académicamente, era malísimo en matemáticas”. Hernandez dijo.

Por cuatro años después de high school, Hernandez trabajó en reparaciones automotrices. Cuando decidió regresar a la escuela e inscribirse al colegio comunitario, dijo que había estado pensando en los desafíos por los que tuvo que atravesar su familia inmigrante, y lo que pudieron lograr a pesar de los importantes obstáculos que enfrentaron.

“Eran pobres, vinieron a este país en busca de una mejor vida”, Hernandez dijo. “Mis padres, hasta el día de hoy, su inglés no es perfecto. Aparte de todo eso, mis padres lograron criarnos. Siempre nos alimentaron y todo. Mi padre [empezó] un negocio. Mi tío se convirtió en ingeniero de sistemas. Debo por lo menos poder completar la universidad. Nací en Estados Unidos y hablo dos idiomas”.

Cuando encontró esa motivación, Hernandez se decidió a triunfar.

Buscó ayuda académica en la escuela y también trabajó para devolver el favor. Su primer año, trabajó en la Oficina de Promoción Estudiantil en la escuela, conectando a estudiantes con recursos para asegurar que sus necesidades se cubrieran.

Mientras estaba trabajando en ese departamento, conoció al director ejecutivo de comunicaciones estratégicas e interacción con exalumnos. Hablando con ese líder, Hernandez aprendió sobre el plan de la escuela de traducir su sitio web al español.

El Colegio Comunitario de Aurora es una de las instituciones que atienden a hispanos en el estado, con un 33 por ciento de estudiantes que se identifican como latinos.

Michael Mestas, el coordinador de contenido digital en el colegio y quien supervisó a Hernandez durante su año de trabajo en el sitio web, dijo que el colegio quería traducir el sitio como parte de su labor de equidad.

“Teniendo una cantidad tan grande estudiantes que hablan español, querían asegurarse de que todos tuvieran acceso igualitario y no querían hacerlo como un micrositio, sabes, con tan solo un par de páginas”, mestas dijo. “Queríamos hacer [el sitio] entero”.

Aunque muchos estudiantes como Hernandez son bilingües, a veces es más fácil navegar sitios web en su lengua materna. La traducción al español también podía ser invaluable para los padres hispanohablantes de estudiantes actuales o potenciales.

Hernandez fue responsable de revisar cada página del sitio web y asegurar que las traducciones estuvieran correctas y se entendieran. Ese trabajo hizo que pensara en su familia que no habla inglés perfectamente.

“Hasta el día de hoy les cuesta tener acceso a recursos a los que quienes hablan inglés pueden [tener acceso]”, Hernandez dijo.

Agregó que hasta algunos recursos que se traducen no siempre son entendibles para las personas que hablan español como lengua materna, “así que pensé que si podíamos darles eso a los futuros estudiantes, eso sería enorme”.

Mestas dijo que Hernandez estaba motivado en su trabajo y fue alguien de quien el equipo dependió: “No solo fue trabajo para estar ocupado. Tuvo un impacto”.

Hernandez dijo que también lo hizo feliz trabajar en un proyecto para ayudar al colegio comunitario a cambiar a un nuevo portal interno para los estudiantes y el personal. El portal permite que los estudiantes tengan acceso al contenido de las clases, calificaciones, información financiera y otros servicios.

“Estoy realmente emocionado de cuando se lance”, Hernandez dijo. “Los estudiantes tendrán más facilidad para navegar por ese portal. Creo que resolvimos muchos problemas”.

En ambos casos, Hernandez pudo usar sus propias experiencias—como un hispanohablante y como un estudiante—como ventajas en su trabajo.

Al pensar en el pasado, Hernandez quiere que otros sepan que si van a la universidad, hay mucha ayuda disponible y lo único que tienen que hacer es pedirla.

“Usen los recursos al 100% de la capacidad y pidan ayudan”, Hernandez. “No tengan miedo del personal, no tengan miedo de hablar con ellos. Quizás sea incómodo, pero si pueden superar eso, la gente ahí está contenta de ayudar”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

This student didn’t think he was college material. Then his immigrant family inspired him.

2024-05-28T23:36:55+00:00

Leer en español.

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When Elmer Hernandez graduated from his Aurora high school in 2018, he had no plans to go to college. He didn’t feel smart enough, he says.

But this month, he graduated from the Community College of Aurora, and plans to attend CU Denver in the fall to finish a bachelor’s degree in computer science. And over the past year, Hernandez — the child of immigrants — worked on two major projects at his community college to help make education more accessible for other students and families like his.

One project was to translate the school’s website into Spanish to make the college experience easier for students, many of whom are bilingual. The other was to help prepare the school’s new portal for students and staff.

His work on the projects helped Hernandez realize that he had always been smart enough to go to college. What he lacked before was the bravery to overcome his fears about college.

“I always wanted to get into tech, but when I was in high school I never felt academically gifted, I was terrible at math,” Hernandez said.

For four years after high school, Hernandez worked in auto body repair. When he decided to go back to learning and enroll in college, he said he had been reflecting on the struggles his immigrant family went through, and what they were able to accomplish despite significant obstacles they faced.

“They were poor, they came to this country looking for a better life,” Hernandez said. “My parents, even to this day, their English isn’t perfect. Beside all of that, my parents were able to raise us. We were always well fed and everything. My father [started] a business. My uncle became a software engineer. I should be able to at least complete college. I was born in the U.S. and I speak two languages.”

Once he found that motivation, Hernandez was determined to succeed.

He sought academic help in school and also worked to give back. His first year, he worked in the school’s Office of Student Advocacy, connecting students to resources to ensure their needs were met.

While working in that department, he met the executive director of Strategic Communications and Alumni Engagement at the school. Talking with that leader, Hernandez learned about the school’s plan to translate the school website into Spanish.

Community College of Aurora is one of the state’s Hispanic Serving Institutions, with 33% of students identifying as Latino.

Michael Mestas, the college’s digital content coordinator who oversaw Hernandez in his year of work on the website, said the college wanted to translate the site as part of its equity work.

“Having such a large Spanish-speaking population, they wanted to make sure everyone had equal access and didn’t want to do it as a microsite, you know with just a few pages,” Mestas said. “We wanted to do the whole thing.”

Even though many students like Hernandez are bilingual, it’s sometimes easier to navigate websites in their native language. The Spanish translation could also be invaluable for Spanish-speaking parents of current or prospective students.

Hernandez was responsible for going through every page on the website and ensuring the translations were accurate and understandable. That work made him think of his family who isn’t fluent in English.

“To this day, they struggle to access resources that native English speakers can,” Hernandez said.

He added that even some resources that are translated aren’t always understandable to native Spanish speakers, “so I thought if we could give that to future students, that was big.”

Mestas said that Hernandez was driven in the work and was someone the team relied on: “It wasn’t just busywork. He made an impact.”

Hernandez said he was also happy to work on a project to help the community college migrate to a new internal portal for students and staff. The portal allows students to access class content, grades, financial information, and other services.

“I’m really excited for when that rolls out,” Hernandez said. “Students will have an easier time navigating through that portal. I think we solved a lot of problems.”

In both cases, Hernandez was able to use his own experiences — as a Spanish speaker, and as a student — as assets in his work.

Looking back, Hernandez wants others to know that if they go to college, there’s a lot of help available and all they have to do is ask.

“Utilize all the resources to 100% capacity and ask for help,” Hernandez said. “Don’t be afraid of the staff, don’t be afraid to talk to them. It might be awkward, but if you can push past that, people there are happy to help.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Líderes estatales demuestran una renovada confianza en el plan de Adams 14 para mejorar sus escuelas

2024-05-16T20:42:58+00:00

Read in English.

El Consejo Estatal de Educación de Colorado votó la semana pasada para permitir que Adams 14 continúe su labor de mejoras con un gerente externo parcial—una señal de que el estado confía en el progreso que este distrito escolar, por mucho tiempo en aprietos, está alcanzando.

Las nuevas órdenes marcan la primera vez en años recientes que el estado no se involucra aún más en Adams 14, sino que aprueba el plan continuo del distrito. Hace dos años, el distrito enfrentó el cierre de algunas escuelas.

Según las leyes estatales, el Consejo Estatal debe ordenar mejoras en distritos como el de Adams 14 que hayan obtenido calificaciones bajas durante más de cinco años. El Consejo Estatal votó 8 a 1 a favor del trabajo continuo de Adams 14; el integrante del consejo Steve Durham fue el único con un voto en contra.

Un integrante del consejo, Stephen Varela, dijo que deseaba poder votar para sacar totalmente al distrito de la lista de aquellos bajo vigilancia por mal desempeño.

Adams 14, un distrito al norte de Denver que es 92 por ciento latino y atiende a muchas familias con bajos ingresos, fue uno de los primeros distritos en el estado en ser identificados por el sistema debido a múltiples años con mal desempeño. A pesar de muchos planes de mejoras a corto plazo, el distrito no ha logrado mejorar sus calificaciones en más de 10 años, lo cual resultó en muchas primeras veces conforme el estado intentó involucrarse más para imponer mejoras.

La integrante del Consejo Estatal Lisa Escárcega recordó que estuvo en el panel del estado cuya tarea fue examinar a Adams 14 y recomendar una intervención estatal hace 10 años. Pero reflexionando sobre esa época, dijo: “No les hicimos justicia”.

Con el tiempo, el Consejo Estatal y el Departamento de Educación de Colorado han empezado a enfatizar el trabajo con los distritos—en lugar de estar en conflicto con ellos—como la mejor forma de alcanzar buenos resultados. La nueva filosofía enfatiza la colaboración en lugar de la crítica.

“Siento que esto ha sido un libro de inicios falsos”, Escárcega dijo. “Si dijera cuándo empezó realmente el trabajo para cambiar el rumbo en Adams 14, fue solo hace un par de años. No fue hace 10 años”.

La nueva disposición del estado dictará que el distrito siga trabajando con los socios sin fines de lucro de TNTP, antes conocidos como el Nuevo Proyecto de Maestros (en inglés: The New Teacher Project). El estado tiene que aprobar un cambio en gerentes parciales si el distrito quiere uno.

Adams City High School, la única high school integral en el distrito, la cual también ha estado bajo planes de mejoras dictadas por el estado debido a sus bajas calificaciones, ahora tendrá una orden aparte claramente establecida para continuar su labor con el grupo externo de ConnectEd. Esa labora incluye lanzar las opciones de carreras de la escuela, llamadas academias, las cuales empezaron para los estudiantes de noveno grado este año.

Los representantes en la audiencia de la semana pasada mencionaron que la calificación más reciente de la high school realmente la hubiera puesto en una trayectoria para salir de la vigilancia estatal, pero que la calificación se redujo porque menos estudiantes de los necesarios tomaron las pruebas estatales la primavera pasada. La escuela no logró alcanzar el porcentaje necesario de participación del 95 por ciento.

Líderes del distrito y de la high school le dijeron al Consejo Estatal que se sentían decepcionados porque estuvieron muy cerca de alcanzar el porcentaje pero terminaron no lográndolo. Pero dijeron que sienten optimismo de que sus mejoras resultarán en mejores calificaciones estatales el próximo otoño. Dijeron que han trabajado recientemente para asegurar que la tasa de participación no sea un problema una segunda vez.

Adams City High School ha observado avances importantes en las tasas de graduación, las cuales, según algunos estándares, superan las tasas promedio de graduación en Colorado, los líderes del distrito dijeron. Ese es un gran factor que está impulsando la calificación de la escuela.

Karla Loría, superintendenta de Adams 14, le dijo al Consejo Estatal que la labor del distrito, gran parte de la cual se enfoca en crear sistemas para monitorear datos y cómo apoyan los administradores a las escuelas, está funcionando. Agregó que es clave que el estado sea más flexible con el distrito.

“Lo que hemos establecido está produciendo resultados”, Loría dijo. “Nos gustaría continuar con esa estructura que hemos establecido”.

Durham, quien votó en contra del plan para el distrito y la high school, dijo que estaba contento de que el distrito estuviera mejorando, pero criticó el sistema estatal de educación pública en general por elogiar y aceptar continuamente mejoras graduales en lugar de presionar para que se obtengan cambios significativos y se duplique la cantidad de estudiantes que pueden leer a nivel de grado.

Aunque los datos de Adams 14 reflejan progreso y crecimiento, el porcentaje de estudiantes que cumplen con o superan las expectativas en las pruebas estandarizadas sigue siendo bajo.

La idea de aprobar el plan propuesto por el distrito para seguir trabajando con un gerente externo, pero sin transferir el control total a una entidad externa, también concordó con las recomendaciones de un panel externo que examinó el distrito y la high school.

El estado aceptó comentarios del público durante cerca de un mes antes de la audiencia de la semana pasada, pero solo recibió un puñado de comentarios, ninguno de padres o estudiantes. Los comentarios recibidos todos expresaron apoyo al distrito.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Colorado aprobó $24 millones para estudiantes inmigrantes. Aquí está lo que cada distrito escolar recibirá.

2024-05-09T23:18:10+00:00

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Una oleada de dinero único será proporcionada a 85 distritos escolares de Colorado – casi la mitad de todos los distritos del estado – este mes para ayudar a compensar los gastos de un número sin precedentes de nuevos estudiantes entrando al medio del año, principalmente de Sudamérica.

Entre octubre y el 29 de febrero, los distritos escolares de Colorado han recibido a 8.085 nuevos estudiantes por todo el estado, según los datos presentados por los distritos al estado.

El mes pasado, legisladores de Colorado aprobaron el uso de $24 millones en financiación estatal para ayudar distritos escolares que están experimentando una afluencia de nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes este año. Colorado financia las escuelas según el recuento de inscripciones a partir de octubre. Cada año hay estudiantes que se van o se inscriben en escuelas después de octubre, la financiación del distrito no es ajustada.

Pero este año, líderes de los distritos, especialmente en distritos grandes como Denver y Aurora, dijeron que el número de nuevos estudiantes que estaban recibiendo después de octubre era más grande de lo normal de años anteriores.

Para ser elegibles para la financiación, los distritos tuvieron que presentar su solicitud, junto con un registro de su recuento de inscripciones, al Departamento de Educación de Colorado. El departamento usó una fórmula aprobada por los legisladores del estado para averiguar cuánto dinero recibirá cada distrito. Nueve distritos que solicitaron no fueron elegibles para recibir dinero.

Busca cuánto dinero le toco a tu distrito, cuánto cambio en total el número de inscripciones, y cuantos estudiantes recién llegados recibieron, todo en la siguiente tabla:

Los distritos recibieron dinero en dos maneras. La primera era que había un sistema escalonado que otorgaba determinadas cantidades de dinero a los distritos basándose en el número de recién llegados que habían inscrito entre octubre y el 29 de febrero. Después, los distritos podrían calificar para dinero adicional, por estudiante si esos recién llegados resultaron aumentos netos en la inscripción del distrito.

De los 85 distritos recibiendo dinero, 39 calificaron para recibir dólares por estudiante: $4,672.03 por cada estudiante, que es menos de lo que los distritos obtuvieron por los estudiantes matriculados en octubre.

En otros casos, los distritos recibieron muchos estudiantes nuevos pero debido a la disminución general de la matrícula, su número total de estudiantes para febrero era menos de lo que era en octubre.

El distrito escolar Adams 12, por ejemplo, inscribió a 374 recién llegados, pero debido a la disminución general de la inscripción, su inscripción total disminuyó en 58 estudiantes en comparación con octubre. Eso significa que Adams 12 calificaba para los $500,000 del sistema escalonado pero no recibió ninguna cantidad por estudiante además de eso.

Los distritos recibirán sus asignaciones de fondos este mes aunque para la mayoría servirá para reembolsar el dinero que ya gastaron en la contratación de personal adicional a principios de este año.

Los líderes de distritos escolares hablaron de tener que agregar nuevos salones en algunas escuelas, requiriendo más maestros y otro personal de apoyo.

El distrito escolar de Westminster está planeando ofrecer unos programas de verano para los estudiantes recién llegados. En el distrito escolar de Harrison en Colorado Springs, un “comité de recién llegados” está desarrollando un “conjunto de herramientas para que lo utilicen los maestros”.

“Aunque estos fondos sean de una sola vez, cada cantidad pequeña ayuda proporcionar apoyo, recursos, y instrucciones que necesitan nuestros nuevos estudiantes recién llegados”, dijo Rachel Laufer, superintendente adjunta de enseñanza y aprendizaje del distrito de Harrison, en un correo electrónico sobre la financiación.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

State leaders show new trust in Adams 14’s plan for improving its schools

2024-05-09T22:32:33+00:00

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Colorado’s State Board of Education voted Wednesday afternoon to allow Adams 14 to continue its improvement work with a partial outside manager — a sign that the state trusts the progress being made by the long-struggling school district.

Wednesday’s orders are the first time in recent years that the state has not escalated its involvement in Adams 14 but rather signed off on the district’s ongoing plan. Two years ago, the district faced school closures.

Under state law, the State Board must direct improvement in districts such as Adams 14 that have had more than five years of low ratings. The State Board voted 8 to 1 in favor of Adams 14′s continued work, with board member Steve Durham as the only no vote.

One board member, Stephen Varela, said he wished he could vote to take the district off the state’s watchlist for low performance altogether.

Adams 14, a district north of Denver that is 92% percent Latino and serves many low-income families, was one of the first districts in the state to be flagged by the system for multiple years of low performance. Despite many short-lived improvement plans, the district hasn’t been able to improve its ratings in more than 10 years, leading to many firsts as the state tried to escalate its involvement in directing improvement.

On Wednesday, State Board member Lisa Escárcega recalled that she was on the state panel tasked with reviewing Adams 14 and recommending a state intervention 10 years ago. But reflecting back, she said, “We did you no service.”

Over time, the State Board and the department have begun to emphasize working with districts — rather than being in conflict with them — as the best way to achieve good results. The new philosophy emphasizes collaboration over criticism.

“I feel like this has been a book of false starts,” Escárcega said. “If I were to say when did the turnaround work really begin in Adams 14, it was just a few years ago. It wasn’t 10 years ago.”

The new state order will direct the district to continue working with nonprofit partners TNTP, formerly known as The New Teacher Project. The state would have to approve a change in partial managers if the district wanted one.

Adams City High School, the district’s one comprehensive high school, which has also been under state-ordered improvement plans for its own low ratings, now will have a clear separate order to continue its work with outside group ConnectEd on rolling out the school’s career options, called academies, which started for ninth grade students this year.

Officials in the hearing Wednesday discussed how the high school’s latest rating actually would have put it on the path to exit state oversight, but the rating was lowered because not enough students took state tests last spring. The school fell just short of the required 95% participation.

District and high school leaders told the State Board they were disheartened that they had gotten so close but ultimately missed the target. But they said they are optimistic that their improvements will result in better state ratings next fall. They said they’ve worked recently to ensure participation rate is not a problem a second time.

Adams City High School has seen a significant improvement in graduation rates, which by some measures exceed Colorado’s average graduation rates, district leaders said. That is a big factor driving the school’s rating.

Adams 14 Superintendent Karla Loría told the State Board that the district’s work, much of it focused on creating systems for tracking data and how administrators support schools, is working. She added that having the state be more flexible with the district is also key.

“What we have in place is yielding results,” Loría said. “We would like to continue with that structure that we have in place.”

Durham, who voted against the plan for the district and the high school, said he was glad the district was making improvements, but criticized the state’s public education system as a whole for consistently praising and accepting incremental improvements instead of pushing for significant change to double the number of students who can read at grade level.

While Adams 14 data shows progress and growth, the percentage of students who meet or exceed expectations on standardized tests remains low.

The idea of approving the district’s proposed plan to continue working with an outside manager, but not handing over total control to an outside entity, was also in line with recommendations by an external panel that reviewed the district and high school.

The state took public feedback for about a month prior to Wednesday’s hearing, but only received a handful of comments, none from parents or students. The comments submitted were all in support of the district.

Correction: This story was updated to correct the context of State Board member Lisa Escárcega’s quotes.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Denver West High students call for a boundary change to boost enrollment and course offerings

2024-05-08T19:00:21+00:00

After moving from a high school in Jefferson County with about 1,400 students to West High School in Denver with under 600 students, 18-year-old Kyree Romo noticed a lot of differences.

She’s happier at her new school, she said, and being around more teachers and students of color makes her feel seen.

But there are challenges for her and other students at West High, too.

Students at West say their school doesn’t have as many course offerings or clubs as larger schools. For instance, West doesn’t have a robotics class or club. It doesn’t have lots of business classes, language options, or art classes. And next year, West is losing more teachers as its enrollment declines.

To help reverse that trend, the students have a request for Denver Public Schools: Reevaluate the boundaries that determine which students are assigned to West.

“Outdated district boundaries result in less students, less teachers, less classes,” Romo said. “This directly impacts students and equitable access to the opportunities that we deserve.”

However, district officials say a boundary change for West wouldn’t make much difference.

Unlike generations ago, a school’s enrollment isn’t just a matter of which students live in its boundary. For more than a decade, DPS has encouraged, and in some areas mandated, families to choose any school in their neighborhood or the entire district.

Supporters of the school choice system say it allows families to choose schools that best fit their children’s needs. Critics say choice has contributed to school segregation and is not accessible to all families because the district doesn’t always provide transportation for students.

Critics of school choice also believe it has created a cycle where schools that have declining enrollment — whether it’s due to academic issues, gentrification, or demographic changes — have a tougher time attracting students and recovering. Denver schools are funded per student, and fewer students means less money to hire teachers and offer a variety of classes. It’s hard for a school to attract more students when families and students notice that it has few resources.

The West students aren’t giving up. Students say that they know some families in west Denver choose to enroll in other schools, in part because they’re drawn to the wider course variety. But students say the draw of West is the unity of the school and the relationships.

“Here, you have teachers asking you about your life,” Romo said.

Recent recommendations also suggest a look at boundaries

West High is one of Denver’s oldest schools, and has a long history of student activism that goes back to student walkouts protesting racism in the late 1960s. In recent years, students successfully advocated to reunify the school after it was split into two smaller schools in an attempt to boost test scores. The reunified West High opened in 2021.

Even with the consolidation, enrollment is now under 600 students, down from about 800 in the fall of 2018. The vast majority of the students are from low-income families: 94% are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.

Last month, West High students asked the Denver school board for a new system that regularly evaluates district boundaries to keep up with changing demographics in the city, and as a way to give students at West the opportunity to have more resources. DPS hasn’t done a districtwide reevaluation of school boundaries in decades.

The same recommendation was included in a recent report commissioned by Denver Public Schools called the La Raza Report, and was among many recommendations to improve the education of Latino students in the district. West was one of the few schools called out by name in the 22-page executive summary of the report.

“Consider redrawing boundaries for West High School — develop a benefit/cost analysis strategy,” the report says. It also recommends that the district “assess the impact of transportation options” at West and at Lincoln High School in southwest Denver.

To study the impact declining enrollment has had on their school, the West students compared the course offerings at West with what other Denver high schools offer. For example, East High School, which serves an adjacent zone, has more than 2,000 students, and offers nine business and marketing classes, while West offers zero.

“We believe we deserve the same amount of educational opportunities as any other school,” Romo told the board.

Declining enrollment is an issue facing many schools across the country and in the metro area. Nearby, Jeffco Public Schools closed more than 20 schools in the last couple of years, saying that because schools are funded on a per-student basis, schools couldn’t afford to provide equitable resources and programming with low enrollment.

Denver closed three district-run schools last spring, two in west Denver, and several charter schools have closed on their own due to declining enrollment. But the district has so far avoided closing large numbers of district-run schools.

West students hope DPS doesn’t resort to just closing small schools like West, but rather can find a way to distribute students differently and balance out enrollment.

Denver students say the boundary issue is about equitable opportunities.

When asked if the district is considering the students’ request, a spokesperson for the district said students can already opt to enroll anywhere in the district, no matter where they live.

“The most recent data shows that there are a number of students who live within the existing boundary but use their school choice option to attend other schools. Changing a school’s boundary has little impact on a family’s decision on the school their student attends,” the spokesperson said.

Students are also talking about transportation issues

For students at West, learning to advocate for themselves is just as important as anything else they’re learning in school. The boundary issue is their priority this year, but they are trying to solve other problems too, while learning to be brave enough to speak up.

In Denver, for example, school enrollment and transportation go hand in hand.

For many families who use school choice, the district doesn’t provide transportation at all. It’s up to families to get their children to school. For students who attend their boundary schools, the district provides yellow bus service only at elementary and middle schools. For high schools, including West, the district pays for students to take the public RTD buses.

That can sometimes make for a long commute to school. Students want a boundary evaluation to consider their transportation issues.

Elizabeth Calzada, an 18-year-old senior, said she lives in the Barnum neighborhood within the West High School boundary. When she’s not able to catch a ride to school, she takes the public RTD bus, which is an hour commute to school each way.

Waking up early enough to catch the public bus makes going to school difficult on some days, Calzada said. And RTD sometimes doesn’t feel safe. Incidents on the bus involving people fighting or pulling weapons have made her late to school.

There are problems for students who drive to West, too. Among other things, students have also reached out to the city, asking for more parking space.

The West campus is just across from the city’s Sunken Gardens Park, and students say the limited parking spots directly in front of the school are often occupied by city trucks, construction workers, or parkgoers, leaving many students to park on side streets in the neighborhood, where they frequently get parking tickets.

They’re waiting for a call back from Denver city officials to talk about the issue.

A lack of district transportation also affects students’ educational opportunities. Romo said West tries to connect students to college classes and career prep opportunities, but many of the programs are off campus. That is a challenge for students who don’t drive.

Anahi Garcia, a 17-year-old junior, is one of the students asking the district to change West’s boundary. She’s speaking up because she’s seen the difference student advocacy can make.

When Garcia first came to West as a freshman, and started participating in leadership classes, she and other students helped push the school to mostly eliminate its dress code, which restricted the colors students could wear, and whether girls could wear cropped shirts.

Not having a dress code hasn’t led to problems, Garcia said.

“It was like a good feeling to have to know that you’re capable of doing big things if you actually care about it,” Garcia said.

Garcia said she hopes changing West’s boundary and boosting enrollment would allow the school to offer more concurrent-enrollment courses that let students earn college credit while in high school. Garcia said she’s taken some concurrent-enrollment college courses already, but said West doesn’t offer as many as other, larger high schools.

She’s not sure what she’ll want to do after high school, but having more opportunities to explore different things while in high school might be helpful, she said.

Romo said students at West didn’t want to get into drafting school boundaries themselves. She said students know there’s probably a lot to it, but students hope that adults take up the task for the sake of equity.

Calzada said it has taken a lot of work for students like her to be comfortable speaking to city and district leaders about their concerns. Now, students want those adults to listen.

“We actually discussed this stuff. It came from us,” Romo said. “Listen to us. If you’re a school district and you serve students, listen to your students.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

In need of more bilingual teachers, Denver looks to recruit and support international candidates

2024-05-06T17:06:32+00:00

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When Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero was invited to a panel by the government of the Dominican Republic last year to showcase the school district’s approach to bilingual education, he said dozens of teachers there asked him how they could work for him.

Marrero said he came back to Denver excited that he may have helped recruit 30 new teachers to fill bilingual teaching vacancies. But despite their enthusiasm, only a handful of those teachers are now working in Denver Public Schools, he said.

Marrero asked the district’s human resources team to look into why. Many teachers said they felt making the switch was a big risk and they didn’t have enough support, Marrero said.

So this school year, Denver Public Schools launched the International Educators Institute to provide not only professional, but also personal support to new international teachers. The institute will help teachers from other countries figure out where to live, understand finances and credit, and provide other social or emotional support. It will also train teachers to help them earn more credentials and to understand how Denver’s school system works.

Denver Public Schools has enrolled thousands of new students who have recently immigrated from South America. Although the International Educators Institute wasn’t created because of that influx of students, it makes the work more important, Marrero said. In addition, the district is under a court order guiding how it teaches students who aren’t yet fluent in English. Meeting that order requires a large number of bilingual teachers, but there are always vacancies.

Marrero said the work of the institute is to help fill teacher vacancies without replacing existing efforts to fill those jobs.

Denver Public Schools serves 88,200 students, 75% of whom are students of color. But among the more than 6,000 teachers, just about a third are teachers of color. If the institute is successful, he envisions a system where students have more teachers of color, and teachers can expand their careers and better their lives.

If they have to go back to their home countries, they can better help more children around the world too, he said.

“That’s what hasn’t existed ever,” Marrero said of the institute. “Just like we say we have to educate the whole student, it’s the same approach. The parallel is that we have to support the whole educator.”

To get the institute started, Marrero said DPS used $500,000 from federal COVID relief money. But the district will also invest at least $1 million from its general fund.

“We would waste way more in guest teachers, substitute coverage throughout the year, so the way I see it, that’s an investment,” Marrero said.

International teachers struggle without support

Maria Moncada Rodriguez, an international teacher from Honduras, has been in Colorado for four years, but is working in Denver schools for the first time this school year.

She said she has loved the support from her colleagues and from the institute and wished she had more of it when she initially arrived in the U.S. to work in a different school district.

Moncada Rodriguez and her husband were teachers in Honduras who ran a Montessori school for more than 20 years. But as violence in the country increased, she sought a way out. Then she won a contest that allowed her the opportunity to come teach in Colorado.

She and her husband were both supposed to get jobs, and her two children would be able to come along. But at the last minute, a new principal took over the Colorado school where she was supposed to teach and rescinded her husband’s job offer.

Maria Moncada Rodriguez, a teacher from Honduras now teaching in Denver Public Schools, in her classroom.

While her family still joined her in Colorado, it took her husband more than a year and a half to get a work permit. And during that time, Moncada Rodriguez said the family struggled financially with just her income.

“We cried almost every day,” she recalled. But she said she and her husband still gave thanks that their children were in a safe home.

But now that she’s working in Denver Public Schools, she’s been able to connect to other international teachers from various countries, through the institute, and also through the teachers union.

Recently, she said she and the other international teachers she’s met decided to start a guide for newly arrived teachers. Ideally, she said it would include information on clothing drives, financial literacy classes, help with buying a home, immigration lawyers, and more.

“We need all types of information,” she said.

It’s the same kind of help the district’s institute wants to provide.

Denver’s goal: 120 new international teachers next year

As the district has rolled out the supports and launched the institute this year, it’s also hired 64 new visa sponsored teachers for the current school year. That’s brought the total of international teachers with work visas in DPS to 234. For next school year, the district’s goal is to hire 120 new international teachers.

The district plans to use some of the institute’s $1.5 million budget on visits to other countries to help recruit and connect with teachers, but also to help staff to spend time finding resources and helping new teachers.

Finding affordable housing for teachers is a particularly important issue, but Marrero said he’s not interested in being a landlord or managing property.

“There is a healthy way to engage, but there’s also a lot to be said when you have a little bit of separation,” Marrero said. Teachers, he said, “don’t want to be under the DPS thumb.”

Still, the district is exploring relationships with developers, landlords, and city officials. This year, for example, the district was able to negotiate a lower price on a long-term lease for some teachers from the Dominican Republic.

“That’s going to be us leveraging our existing relationships and leveraging also our position,” Marrero said. “Even if it’s just a building. Saying: ‘Can we have X amount of units that we have first dibs on?’ That’s what I’m looking to explore.”

Moncada Rodriguez continues to look for resources on her own. One issue she hasn’t figured out is how to help her oldest child, who’s graduating this year, pay for college. Since her children are her dependents and she is on a sponsored visa, they can’t get work permits, and they don’t qualify for any of the financial assistance for higher education she’s learned about so far.

“Of course we aren’t asking for everything to come easy or handed to us,” Moncada Rodriguez said. “We love to work and study. But coming here and knowing our kids can’t go to university because of a lack of resources is overwhelming.”

Still, she wants other teachers considering coming to the United States to know that things can get better if they can persist. And she hopes local leaders can learn to be more supportive too.

At her school, Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, she loves that she gets to use her experience as a Montessori teacher working with students from low-income families, and that she’s valued for her Spanish language skills.

She said her fellow teachers have been helpful and supportive, and her connection to the institute means there’s always someone to answer her questions.

Moncada Rodriguez said she’s taken many Denver Public Schools training courses, including one that’s taught her how to do home visits with families of newly arriving migrant students.

“Now the only thing missing is how to get a masters degree,” she said. “I’m working on that next.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Necesitando más maestros bilingües, Denver busca reclutar y apoyar a candidatos internacionales

2024-05-06T17:05:57+00:00

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Cuando a Alex Marrero, superintendente de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, lo invitaron a un panel organizado por el gobierno de la República Dominicana el año pasado donde hablaron sobre el método de educación bilingüe del distrito escolar, dijo que docenas de maestros de ahí le preguntaron cómo podían trabajar para él.

Marrero dijo que regresó a Denver emocionado de haber ayudado a reclutar a 30 maestros nuevos para cubrir las vacantes de puestos en enseñanza bilingüe. Pero a pesar de su entusiasmo, solo un puñado de esos maestros ahora trabajan en las Escuelas Públicas de Denver (DPS, por sus siglas en inglés), dijo.

Marrero le pidió al equipo de recursos humanos del distrito que investigara el porqué. Muchos maestros dijeron que sentían que hacer el cambio era un gran riesgo y no tenían suficiente apoyo, Marrero dijo.

Por eso, este año escolar, las Escuelas Públicas de Denver lanzaron el Instituto de Educadores Internacionales para proporcionar no solo apoyo profesional sino también apoyo personal a maestros internacionales nuevos. El instituto ayudará a los maestros de otros países a encontrar un lugar donde vivir, entender asuntos financieros y de crédito, y proporcionar otros apoyo sociales o emocionales. También capacitará a los maestros para ayudarlos a obtener más certificados y entender cómo funciona el sistema escolar de Denver.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Denver han inscrito a miles de estudiantes nuevos que recientemente inmigraron de América del Sur. Aunque el Instituto de Educadores Internacionales no se creó debido a la llegada de más estudiantes, hace que el trabajo sea más importante, Marrero dijo. Además, el distrito está bajo una orden de la corte que guía la forma como les enseña a los estudiantes que todavía no dominan el inglés. Para cumplir con esa orden, es necesario tener una gran cantidad de maestros bilingües, pero siempre hay puestos vacantes.

Marrero dijo que el trabajo del instituto es ayudar a cubrir vacantes de maestros sin reemplazar los esfuerzos actuales para cubrir esos puestos.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Denver atienden a 88,200 estudiantes, el 75 por ciento de los cuales son estudiantes de color. Sin embargo, entre los más de 6,000 maestros, solo cerca de un tercio son maestros de color. Si el instituto tiene éxito, Marrero se imagina un sistema en el que los estudiantes tienen más maestros de color y los maestros pueden ampliar sus carreras y mejorar sus vidas.

Si tienen que regresar a su país de origen, también podrán ayudar mejor a más niños alrededor del mundo, dijo.

“Eso es lo que no ha existido antes”, Marrero dijo del instituto. “Igual que decimos que tenemos que educar al estudiante entero, es el mismo método. Lo paralelo es que tenemos que apoyar al educador entero”.

Para que el instituto empezara a funcionar, Marrero dijo que usó $500,000 de dinero federal de asistencia por COVID. Pero el distrito también invertirá al menos $1 millón más de sus fondos generales.

“Gastaríamos más en maestros invitados, cobertura [con maestros] sustitutos durante el año, así que desde mi punto de vista, es una inversión”, Marrero dijo.

Los maestros internacionales enfrentan desafíos sin apoyo

María Moncada Rodríguez, una maestra internacional de Honduras, ha estado en Colorado por cuatro años, pero está trabajando en escuelas de Denver por primera vez este año escolar.

Dijo que le ha encantado el apoyo de sus colegas y del instituto, y que le hubiera gustado tener más apoyo cuando llegó inicialmente a EE. UU. a trabajar en otro distrito escolar.

Moncada Rodríguez y su esposo eran maestros en Honduras encargados de administrar una escuela Montessori por más de 20 años. Pero conforme la violencia en el país aumentó, Moncada Rodríguez buscó una manera de salir. Luego ganó un concurso que le dio la oportunidad de venir a enseñar en Colorado.

Supuestamente tanto ella como su esposo iban a obtener trabajo, y sus dos hijos iban a poder acompañarlos. Pero a último minuto, un nuevo director se hizo cargo de la escuela en Colorado donde ella iba a enseñar y canceló la oferta de trabajo de su esposo.

Maria Moncada Rodriguez, una maestra de Honduras con su clase en las escuelas públicas de Denver.

Aunque su familia igual se reunió con ella en Colorado, su esposo tardó más de un año y medio en obtener un permiso de trabajo. Y durante ese tiempo, Moncada Rodríguez dijo que la familia enfrentó desafíos financieros con solo un ingreso.

“Lloramos casi cada día”, recuerda. Pero dijo que ella y su esposo igual estaban agradecidos de que sus hijos tuvieran un hogar seguro.

Pero ahora que está trabajando en las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, Moncada Rodríguez ha logrado conectar con otros maestros internacionales de varios países, a través del instituto y también a través del sindicato de maestros.

Recientemente, dijo que ella y otros maestros internacionales que ha conocido decidieron empezar una guía para maestros recién llegados. Idealmente, dijo que incluirá información sobre campañas para recolectar ropa, clases sobre conocimientos financieros, ayuda para comprar una vivienda, abogados especializados en inmigración y más.

“Ocupamos información de todo tipo”, dijo.

Es el mismo tipo de ayuda que el instituto del distrito quiere proporcionar.

La meta de Denver: 120 maestros internacionales nuevos el próximo año

A la vez que el distrito implementa sus apoyos y lanza el instituto este año, también ha contratado a 64 maestros nuevos con visas patrocinadas para el año escolar actual. Eso ha causado que los maestros internacionales con visas de trabajo en DPS sumen un total de 234. Para el próximo año, la meta del distrito es contratar a 120 maestros internacionales nuevos.

El distrito planea usar parte del presupuesto de $1.5 millones del instituto en visitas a otros países y para ayudar a reclutar a y conectar con maestros. También planea ayudar al personal para que invierta tiempo en encontrar recursos y ayudando a los maestros nuevos.

Encontrar vivienda asequible para los maestros es un asunto especialmente importante, pero Marrero dijo que no está interesado en alquilar ni administrar propiedades.

“Hay una manera sana de interactuar, pero también [es beneficioso] tener un poco de separación”, Marrero dijo. Los maestros, dijo, “no quieren estar bajo el dedo gordo de DPS”.

Sin embargo, el distrito está explorando relaciones con compañías constructoras, propietarios y funcionarios de la ciudad. Este año, por ejemplo, el distrito logró negociar un precio más bajo en un contrato de arrendamiento a largo plazo para algunos maestros de la República Dominicana.

“Eso es para que nosotros aprovechemos nuestras relaciones existentes y aprovechemos también nuestra posición”, Marrero dijo. “Aunque solo sea un edificio. Decir: ‘¿Podemos tener una cantidad X de unidades para elegir primero [que otros]?’ Eso es lo que estoy buscando explorar”.

Moncada Rodríguez sigue buscando recursos por sí sola. Un problema que no ha logrado resolver es cómo ayudar a su hija mayor, quien se gradúa este año, a pagar por la universidad. Ya que sus hijos son sus dependientes y Moncada Rodríguez tiene una visa patrocinada, no pueden obtener permisos de trabajo y tampoco reúnen requisitos para ninguno de los tipos de ayuda financiera para pagar por estudios avanzados que ella ha investigado hasta ahora.

“Aclaro que no pedimos la vida fácil ni regalada”, Moncada Rodríguez dijo. “Amamos trabajar y estudiar. Pero venir acá y saber que nuestros hijos no pueden ir a la universidad por falta de recursos, es abrumador”.

Sin embargo, quiere que otros maestros que estén pensando en venir a Estados Unidos sepan que las cosas pueden mejorar si persisten. Y espera que los líderes locales también aprendan a dar más apoyo.

En su escuela, la Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, le encanta usar su experiencia como maestra Montessori trabajando con estudiantes de familias con bajos ingresos, y que la valoren por sus habilidades con el idioma español.

Dijo que sus colegas maestros la han ayudado y apoyado mucho, y que su conexión con el instituto significa que siempre hay alguien para contestar sus preguntas.

Moncada Rodríguez dijo que ha tomado muchos cursos de capacitación con las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, incluyendo uno que le enseñó cómo hacer visitas en los hogares de familias con estudiantes migrantes recién llegados.

“Ahora solo me falta buscar cómo sacar una maestría”, dijo. “En eso estoy”.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Colorado approved $24 million for migrant students. Here’s how much each school district will get.

2024-05-03T21:44:21+00:00

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A surge of one-time money will reach 85 Colorado school districts — almost half of all districts in the state — this month to help offset costs of an unprecedented number of new students arriving midyear, mainly from South America.

Between October and Feb. 29, Colorado school districts received 8,085 newcomer students spread throughout the state, according to data submitted by the districts to the state.

Colorado lawmakers last month approved the use of $24 million in state funding to help school districts experiencing an influx of new migrant students this year. Colorado funds schools based on enrollment counts from October. Every year there are some students who leave or enroll in schools after October, and the district’s funding doesn’t get adjusted.

But this school year, district leaders, especially in large districts such as Denver and Aurora, said the number of new students they were receiving after October was much larger than in typical years.

To be eligible for the money, districts had to submit their request, along with a record of their enrollment counts, to the Colorado Department of Education. The department used a formula approved by state lawmakers to figure out how much each district will receive. Nine districts that applied were not eligible for any of the money.

Search for your district’s allocation, net enrollment change, and total new arrivals in the following table:

Districts got money in two ways. First, there was a tiered system that gave certain set amounts of money to districts based on how many new arrivals they’ve enrolled between October and Feb. 29. Then, districts could also qualify for additional money, on a per student basis — if those new arrivals resulted in net increases in district enrollment.

Of the 85 districts getting money, 39 qualified for per-student dollars: $4,672.03 for each student, which is less than districts got for students enrolled in October.

In other cases, districts received many new arrivals, but because of overall declining enrollment, their total student count by February was still lower than it was in October.

The Adams 12 school district, for example, enrolled 374 new arrivals, but because of overall enrollment declines, their total enrollment is down 58 students compared to October. That meant Adams 12 qualified for $550,000 from the tiered system, but did not receive any per-student amount in addition to that.

Districts will receive their funding allocations this month, though for most, it will serve to reimburse them for money they’ve already spent on hiring extra staff earlier this year.

School district leaders talked about having to add new classrooms in some schools, requiring more teachers and other support staff.

The Westminster school district is planning to offer some summer programming for newly arrived students. In the Harrison school district in Colorado Springs, a “newcomer committee” is developing a “toolkit for teachers to use.”

“Even though they are just one-time funds, every little bit helps us provide our newcomer students with the support, resources, and instruction they need,” Rachel Laufer, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for the Harrison district, said in an email about the funding.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Sheridan picks new superintendent after deadlocking on previous finalists

2024-04-29T23:10:17+00:00

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Sheridan’s school board voted this month to select its next superintendent: Gionni Thompson was approved in a 3-1 vote.

It was the board’s third attempt over the past year at selecting a new leader for the small school district bordering Denver.

The Sheridan school board is supposed to have five members but has had a vacant seat for more than a year now. Throughout the superintendent search process, the four sitting board members have been evenly split.

First, the district was considering appointing the sole internal candidate recommended by the outgoing superintendent. But two board members wanted to open up a national search.

The Sheridan school board voted 3-1 to select Gionni Thompson, seen here in a screenshot from his applicant video, as the next superintendent.

After launching the search and ending up with three finalists earlier this spring, the board was unable to agree to a majority vote on any candidate. So it came up with a new list of finalists.

Out of fewer than 40 survey responses the district received in this round, mostly from district staff, Thompson had the fewest points in favor.

Board President Daniel Stange and Karla Najera, who was the lone vote against Thompson, believe that the Sheridan district needs a Latino leader, perhaps one who speaks Spanish, who can advocate for Spanish-speaking parents who often feel left out. The other two board members have disagreed on the importance of that kind of representation. Thompson is not Latino.

The issue goes back to the selection of the outgoing superintendent, Pat Sandos. There again, the community was split, with many interested in another candidate they thought could be a better advocate for Spanish-speaking families.

Stange said Thompson wasn’t his first pick, but he voted for him to avoid another stalemate.

“I had heard some good recommendations for him,” Stange said. “He seems to be very knowledgeable.”

Thompson, most recently an executive director overseeing 16 schools in the Boulder Valley School District, presented himself as an experienced educator who got into the field of education after seeing the disparities. He got his doctorate of education from the University of Colorado in Denver in 2020.

Thompson described himself as the “the fifth of six kids born in Colorado to an Italian immigrant mother and an African American father.”

“As a child, I witnessed firsthand the barriers my family faced in accessing a formal education. Seeing this, I developed my commitment to ensuring that every individual, regardless of their background, has access to the life-changing power of education and the ability to fulfill their aspirations and dreams,” Thompson wrote in his materials to the board.

In his application, he boasted about improvements he helped lead among schools in the Boulder district as well as in his time as principal of Lester Arnold, an alternative high school in Adams 14.

Thompson said if selected, he would listen to the community before developing a plan.

Sheridan, a tiny district bordering Denver, enrolled just over 1,000 students this year, of which more than 77% are Hispanic and about a third are learning English as a new language. Last year’s enrollment was 1,125. The district also has a high proportion of students experiencing homelessness, this year at about 14%.

The Sheridan district must now negotiate a contract with Thompson and then vote on that.

Stange said the board hopes Thompson can start soon. Sandos’ current contract, which was described as a transition year after his retirement, goes through the end of May.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Más que estudios académicos: el modelo de escuelas comunitarias en Aurora sirve de ejemplo mientras el interés crece en el estado

2024-04-23T23:48:19+00:00

Read in English.

Cuando los hijos de Bishnu Rai empezaron a ir a la Escuela Primaria Crawford en Aurora hace cinco años, Rai al principio se sintió perdida. No era muy sociable y tenía dificultades para ayudar a sus niños, dice.

Pero gracias al modelo de escuelas comunitarias que Crawford usa, ha logrado participar más, aprender inglés, y ahora se siente lo suficientemente segura como para desarrollar un plan que empodere a otros padres inmigrantes.

La Escuela Primaria Crawford es una de seis escuelas en Aurora que usan el modelo de escuelas comunitarias. Cinco de ellas forman parte de la Zona de ACCIÓN, un grupo de escuelas cerca de la frontera con Denver con altos niveles de pobreza y una gran cantidad de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. El distrito formó un grupo con escuelas hace varios años como parte de un plan para apoyar mejor a las escuelas con necesidades similares.

En Crawford, parte del trabajo ha estado realizándose por casi 10 años, pero evolucionó conforme las escuelas de la zona se comprometieron al modelo de “escuelas comunitarias” en los últimos cinco años. El método se enfoca en usar a socios comunitarios para que aborden las necesidades integrales de las familias, con el objetivo final de asegurar que los niños enfrenten menos obstáculos socioemocionales en su aprendizaje.

En Colorado, organizaciones sin fines de lucro y el departamento de educación del estado están aumentando su enfoque para apoyar a escuelas que quieren usar el modelo de escuelas comunitarias. Algunos de estos líderes dicen que observan un potencial desaprovechado para mejorar las comunidades.

En Crawford, el 97 por ciento de los 540 estudiantes cumplen con los requisitos para recibir alimentos subsidiados, una forma de medir la pobreza. La escuela recibe a estudiantes originarios de 40 países distintos que hablan alrededor de 25 idiomas diferentes.

A través del modelo de escuelas comunitarias, Crawford trabaja con organizaciones para evaluar la vista de los estudiantes en la escuela, ayuda a los padres para que aprendan cómo continuar las lecciones en sus hogares, y reúne a las familias para que compartan sus diversas culturas. Rai también ha tomado clases de inglés, clases sobre salud y cursos de liderazgo para padres.

A los padres los incluyen en importantes decisiones de la escuela. Por ejemplo, los padres ayudaron a elegir a la nueva directora este año al participar en entrevistas y organizar un foro donde los padres les hicieron preguntas a los candidatos y completaron boletas para evaluarlos.

“Si empoderamos a nuestros padres, esto ayuda a nuestros niños”, Rai dijo. “Ellos me enseñan a elevar mi voz, cómo decir lo que pienso”.

En la Escuela Primaria Crawford, hay estudiantes originarios de 40 países distintos que hablan alrededor de 25 idiomas diferentes. La escuela celebra su diversidad.

Para apoyar el modelo es necesario tener recursos

Funcionarios del Departamento de Educación de Colorado recientemente visitaron Crawford y Boston K-8, dos de las escuelas de la zona en Aurora, como parte del trabajo que el estado está realizando para entender más cómo se implementa el modelo de escuelas comunitarias y qué recursos pueden compartirse con otras escuelas que quieran probar el mismo modelo.

Legisladores estatales en 2022 agregaron la adopción del modelo al menú de opciones de mejoras para las escuelas que figuran en la lista estatal de escuelas en observación debido a su bajo desempeño. El departamento estatal de educación ofrecía apoyo con el modelo a través de varios departamentos, pero ahora está creando un equipo enfocado solo en apoyar el modelo de escuelas comunitarias.

“Nos alegra conectar a las escuelas con recursos”, dijo Dana Scott, directora de la oficina de apoyos para estudiantes en el Departamento de Educación de Colorado. “Queremos ser un lugar donde realmente podamos crear buenas conexiones para ellas para que las escuelas no tengan que empezar de cero”.

El estado no da seguimiento a la cantidad de distritos que están usando el modelo, pero alrededor del país, algunos expertos creen que el modelo ha recibido más interés, y aún más desde el inicio de la pandemia. Hasta mientras las escuelas tuvieron que cerrar, sirvieron como centrales para albergar diversos tipos de ayuda para las familias en la comunidad, proporcionando comida, conexión a internet, pruebas de COVID, vacunas y más.

Katie Wilberding Cross, directora principal de iniciativas juveniles y educación en Mile High United Way, ayuda a liderar una coalición de organizaciones que quieren apoyar a las escuelas comunitarias. La coalición apenas empezó a reunirse en el otoño.

Dice que la idea detrás de las escuelas comunitarias es que los estudiantes tienen necesidades que pueden presentar un obstáculo para su aprendizaje, pero no se debe esperar que las escuelas sean todo para todos.

“Hay socios que [cubren] estas diversas necesidades”, Wilberding Cross dijo. “United Ways ocupan una posición singular para reunir a las personas, para reunir a estas organizaciones y sectores diferentes”.

Dijo que parte de la labor es que más distritos aprendan sobre el modelo. Es difícil saber cuánto interés existe en Colorado.

“Lo que sigo escuchando es que [está generando] mucho interés, pero es algo que todavía no se ha aprovechado totalmente”, Wilberding Cross dijo.

En el área metropolitana, Adams 14 ha recibido respaldo nacional para su intento de usar el modelo en la Escuela Primaria Central, una de las escuelas de más bajo desempeño en el distrito, la cual tiene su propio plan de mejoras que el estado ordenó. La esperanza es que el modelo termine ayudando a mejorar los logros de los estudiantes.

El distrito escolar de Harrison en Colorado Springs también usa el modelo en una de sus escuelas, y Pueblo 60 lo usa en dos de sus escuelas.

Muchas de las escuelas probablemente ya estén realizando gran parte del mismo trabajo en el que las escuelas comunitarias se enfocan, como lanzar una despensa de alimentos para las familias o asociarse con organizaciones comunitarias para proporcionar otro servicio para los estudiantes o familias. Sin embargo, no tienen la etiqueta de escuela comunitaria ni un plan con la intencionalidad que el modelo proporcionaría.

Tener un coordinador de escuelas comunitarias como parte del personal asegura que las colaboraciones les pertenezcan a las escuelas y no a un maestro o director individual que quizás se vaya, que esas colaboraciones respondan a las necesidades en la comunidad, y que les estén proporcionando algo a las familias. Con esos elementos establecidos, el trabajo tiene más probabilidad de ser exitoso y de continuar más allá de uno o dos años, los expertos dijeron.

Las escuelas que están tratando de usar el modelo de escuelas comunitarias generalmente contratan a un coordinador de escuelas comunitarias. En Crawford, Maggie Lautzenheiser-Page, la coordinadora de escuelas comunitarias, ayuda a planear e implementar los diversos programas que se ofrecen para cubrir las necesidades de la escuela, los cuales son diferentes a los programas ofrecidos en la siguiente escuela que usa el modelo.

Quienes trabajan como enlaces comunitarios con las familias de Crawford hablan múltiples idiomas y se reúnen con los padres regularmente.

“Entonces no está agobiando ni poniendo más peso en los educadores”, dijo Christa Rowland, subdirectora en la región oeste de la Coalición de Escuelas Comunitarias del Instituto de Liderazgo Educativo, un grupo nacional sin fines de lucro con sede en Washington D.C. “En lugar de eso, debe sacar [el peso]”.

El puesto de coordinador de escuelas comunitarias es clave, los líderes coinciden. La persona debe tener algo de autoridad para tomar decisiones a nivel escolar e impulsar el trabajo, Wilberding Cross dijo. El distrito debe estar de acuerdo. Y los planes deben diseñarse junto con la comunidad, evaluando las necesidades y activos existentes, los expertos dijeron.

Si una escuela está siguiendo la definición de Colorado de lo que son las escuelas comunitarias según se establece en el estatuto de Colorado, entonces debe evaluar las necesidades de la comunidad cada año.

Contratar a un coordinador de escuelas comunitarias para que implemente este modelo requiere hacer una inversión. Los expertos dicen que estudios de investigación han demostrado que la inversión puede rendir frutos con más recursos que llegan a la escuela, y mejoras en la asistencia estudiantil, en la participación de los padres y, eventualmente, en otros resultados de los estudiantes.

Aurora ha hecho algunas de esas inversiones. El distrito paga por los coordinadores de escuelas comunitarias, uno en cada una de las escuelas de la zona. El distrito también está trabajando para encontrar fondos permanentes para algunos de los otros puestos, como para coordinadores de salud comunitaria y enlaces familiares con grupos demográficos especiales que hablan diferentes idiomas.

El modelo ha ayudado a mejorar la participación de las familias y la comunidad y permitido que padres como Rai se sientan empoderados para ayudar con el aprendizaje de sus hijos. Pero, basado en las calificaciones estatales, las escuelas en la zona no han observado muchas mejoras en relación con los logros académicos de sus estudiantes. Aurora Central High School, la escuela que ha enfrentado desafíos por más tiempo en el distrito, es parte de la zona y ha continuado obteniendo bajas calificaciones estatales.

Líderes celebran otros indicadores del éxito en escuelas comunitarias

La directora de Crawford Aubri Dunkin, quien es nueva este año, dijo que la mayoría de los líderes escolares quieren que sus escuelas sean centrales para la comunidad.

“Pero esto realmente es una central”, Dunkin dijo, señalando que el modelo de escuelas comunitarias permite que la escuela apoye a los padres y los ayude a superar posibles barreras para que los estudiante asistan a la escuela con más regularidad y “listos para aprender”.

En Aurora, las seis escuelas comunitarias del distrito tienen dos clínicas de alimentos donde las familias tienen acceso a comida gratis y otra ayuda. Una madre de Crawford es una de las coordinadoras que ayudan a que los padres se conecten con la ayuda.

En Crawford, 50 padres de familia, incluida Rai, asisten regularmente a reuniones de liderazgo. Las dos clínicas de alimentos de la zona, las cuales proporcionan comida y conectan a padres con otros recursos, organizan eventos con frecuencia para distribuir alimentos locales. El año pasado, atendieron a más de 4,700 personas en los eventos. En el distrito, líderes dicen que los estudiantes cuyas familias participan están demostrando mejores resultados en comparación con aquellos cuyas familias no participan.

Y en toda la zona, “definitivamente más de la mitad de nuestras familias están asistiendo y participando en eventos de forma regular”, dijo Elizabeth Lewis, la gerenta de impacto de escuelas comunitarias en el distrito.

En Crawford, la cual recientemente recibió una gran cantidad de nuevos estudiantes migrantes, padres líderes quieren transmitir lo que han aprendido para ayudar a los nuevos padres migrantes a que participen por sus hijos, Rai dijo.

También espera mencionar otro problema más allá de la escuela: la seguridad peatonal. Dijo que las familias que van caminando a la escuela quieren que se instale una nueva señal de “alto” (también, “pare”) en una de las intersecciones más transitadas. Años atrás, los padres presionaron con éxito a la ciudad para que instalara una señal afuera de la escuela, pero ahora se necesita otro, dijo.

Los expertos dicen que ese tipo de motivación de los padres es lo que realmente crea sostenibilidad, además de un modelo que responda a las necesidades cambiantes de la comunidad.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

More than academics: Aurora’s community schools are an example as interest in the model grows

2024-04-23T23:45:27+00:00

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When Bishnu Rai’s children started school at Aurora’s Crawford Elementary five years ago, she initially felt lost. She wasn’t very social and she struggled to help her children, she says.

But thanks to Crawford’s community school model, she’s been getting more involved, learning English, and now feels confident enough she’s helping come up with a plan for empowering other immigrant parents.

Crawford Elementary is one of six schools in Aurora that are using the community schools model. Five of them are part of the ACTION Zone, a group of schools near Denver’s border that have high levels of poverty and large numbers of language learners. The district grouped the schools years ago as part of a plan to better support the schools with similar needs.

At Crawford, some of the work has gone on for almost 10 years, but evolved as the zone schools committed to a “community schools” model in the past five years. The approach focuses on using community partners to address whole family needs, with the end goal of ensuring that children have fewer social and emotional barriers to learning.

In Colorado, nonprofit organizations and the state education department are increasing their focus on how they support schools that want to use the community schools model. Some of these leaders say they see an untapped potential for improving communities.

At Crawford, 97% of the school’s 540 students qualify for subsidized meals, a measure of poverty, and students come from 40 different countries speaking about 25 different languages.

Through the community schools model, Crawford works with organizations to test students’ eyesight at school, helps parents learn how they can continue lessons at home, and brings families together to share about their various cultures. Rai also has taken advantage of English classes, health classes, and parent leadership classes.

Parents are involved in big school decisions. For instance, parents helped pick this year’s new principal by participating in interviews and hosting a forum where parents could ask questions of the applicants and fill out scorecards.

“If we empower our parents, this helps our kids,” Rai said. “They teach me how to raise my voice, how to speak up.”

At Crawford Elementary, students come from 40 different countries and speak about 25 different languages. The school celebrates its diversity.

Supporting the model takes resources

Colorado Department of Education officials recently visited Crawford and Boston K-8, two of Aurora’s zone schools, as part of the state’s work to better understand how the community schools model is implemented and what resources can be shared with other schools looking to try the same model.

State lawmakers in 2022 added adopting the model to the menu of improvement options for schools on the state’s watchlist for low performance. The state education department had some support for the model spread across various departments but now is creating a team focused just on supporting the community schools model.

“We’re happy to connect schools with resources,” said Dana Scott, director of the office of student supports for the state Department of Education. “We want to be a place where we can really create some good connections for them so schools don’t have to start from scratch.”

The state doesn’t track how many districts are using the model, but nationwide, some experts believe the model has had growing interest, and more so since the start of the pandemic. Even as schools shut down, they served as hubs for various help to families in the community, providing meals, internet, COVID tests, shots, and more.

Katie Wilberding Cross, senior director for youth initiatives and education for Mile High United Way, helps lead a coalition of organizations that want to support community schools. The coalition just started meeting in the fall.

She says the idea behind community schools is that students have needs that can be a barrier to learning, but schools should not be expected to be everything for everybody.

“There are partners that provide these different needs,” Wilberding Cross said. “United Ways are uniquely positioned to convene folks, to bring these various organizations and sectors together.”

She said part of the work is getting more districts to learn about the model. It’s hard to say how much interest is in Colorado.

“What I keep hearing is there’s a lot of percolating interest, but it’s something that hasn’t been fully tapped into,” Wilberding Cross said.

In the metro area, Adams 14 has had national support in trying to start using the model at Central Elementary, one of the district’s lowest-performing schools, which is under a state-ordered improvement plan of its own. The hope is that the model will eventually help improve student achievement.

The Harrison school district of Colorado Springs also uses the model at one of its schools, and Pueblo 60 uses it at two of its schools.

Chicago Mayor visits high school to advocate for more Sustainable Community Schools

Many more schools are likely doing much of the same work community schools focus on, such as starting a food pantry for families, or partnering with community organizations to provide another service for students or families, but they don’t have the community schools label or a plan with the intentionality that the model would provide.

Having a community schools coordinator on staff ensures that the partnerships belong to the schools and not an individual teacher or principal who might leave, that those partnerships are responsive to the needs in the community, and that they are providing something for the families. With those elements in place,the work is more likely to be successful and to continue beyond just a year or two, experts said.

Schools trying to use the community schools approach generally hire a community schools coordinator. At Crawford, Maggie Lautzenheiser-Page, the community schools coordinator, helps plan and run the various programs offered for that school’s needs, which are different than the programs offered at the next school using the model.

Family liaisons at Crawford speak multiple languages and meet with parents regularly.

“Then it’s not burdening or putting more weight on educators,” said Christa Rowland, Western regional deputy director for the Coalition for Community Schools from the Institute for Educational Leadership, a national nonprofit group based in Washington D.C. “Rather it should lift it.”

The community school coordinator is key, leaders agree. The person should have some decision-making authority at the school level to help drive the work, Wilberding Cross said. There should be district buy-in. And the plans need to be designed with the community, evaluating needs and existing assets, experts said.

If schools are following Colorado’s definition of community schools as laid out in Colorado statute, then they have to assess the community’s needs every year.

Hiring that community school coordinator to implement this model does require an investment. Experts say research has shown the investment can pay off with more resources coming to the school, and improved measures of attendance, parent engagement, and eventually, other student outcomes.

Aurora has made some of that investment. The community school coordinators, one at each of the zone schools, are district-funded. The district is working to find permanent funding for some of the other positions, including community health coordinators and family liaisons for special populations that speak different languages.

The model has helped improve family and community engagement and enabled parents such as Rai to feel empowered to help their children’s learning. But, based on state ratings, the schools in the zone haven’t seen much improvement in students’ academic achievement. Aurora Central High School, the district’s longest-struggling school is part of the zone and has continued to have low state ratings.

Leaders celebrate other measures of community school success

Crawford Principal Aubri Dunkin, who is new this year, said most school leaders want their schools to be hubs for the community.

“But this truly is a hub,” Dunkin said, noting that the community school model allows the school to support parents and help them navigate potential barriers so students come to school more regularly and “ready to learn.”

In Aurora, the district's six community schools have two food clinics where families can access free food and other help. A Crawford parent is one of the coordinators who helps set parents up with the help.

At Crawford, 50 parents, including Rai, regularly attend leadership meetings. The zone’s two food clinics, which provide food and connect parents to other resources, host regular events to give out local food. Last school year, they served more than 4,700 individuals in the events. Within the district, leaders say students whose families are engaged are showing better outcomes than those who aren’t.

And across the zone, “definitely more than half of our families are attending and participating in events on a regular basis,” said Elizabeth Lewis, the district’s community schools impact manager.

At Crawford, which recently received a large number of new migrant students, parent leaders want to pass on what they’ve learned to help the new migrant parents be involved for their children, Rai said.

She’s also hoping to raise another issue beyond her school: pedestrian safety. She said families who walk to the school want a new stop sign at one of the busy intersections. Parents years ago successfully lobbied the city to install one outside the school, but now there’s a need for another, she said.

Experts say it’s that kind of drive by parents that really creates sustainability, and a model that is responsive to the evolving needs of the community.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Más estabilidad y tiempo: panel independiente pide continuar mejoras en Adams 14

2024-04-12T21:21:14+00:00

Read in English.

Las escuelas de Adams 14 necesitan más tiempo y estabilidad para construir sobre las mejoras que han comenzado, según un panel de expertos externos.

El Panel de Revisión Estatal, un grupo de educadores externos que visitan escuelas de bajo rendimiento y reportan al estado, notó “indicadores tempranos de progreso” en el distrito escolar, pero dijo que los esfuerzos de mejora aún “no se han vuelto sistemáticos o sostenidos”.

El panel recomendó que Adams 14, y su escuela secundaria, Adams City High School, continúen con las estrategias actuales de mejora, trabajando con un grupo externo. Actualmente, el distrito trabaja con la organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Nueva York, TNTP.

“La interrupción de esta estrategia actual probablemente sería perjudicial para un sistema frágil”, se lee en las últimas recomendaciones del grupo, que fueron compartidas por el distrito el viernes.

Este año escolar, la calificación estatal de Adams 14 en 2023 mejoró de la categoría más baja, llamada “reorganización”, a la segunda más baja, llamada “mejora prioritaria”. La cantidad de puntos obtenidos por el distrito escolar aún fue ligeramente inferior a la que recibió en 2019 antes de que comenzara la pandemia.

En la calificación anterior, en 2022, Adams 14 obtuvo la menor cantidad de puntos en el sistema de calificación de todo Colorado.

Adams 14, un distrito al norte de Denver con aproximadamente 5,400 estudiantes, ha tenido durante mucho tiempo algunas de las calificaciones de calidad más bajas en el estado, y ha enfrentado numerosos presedentes con el sistema de rendición de cuentas del estado. En 2022, se ordenó al distrito reorganizarse, lo que podría haber significado el cierre de escuelas o la fusión con otros distritos, pero la comunidad luchó contra las órdenes y el estado liberó a Adams 14 de la orden en septiembre.

Pero dado que el distrito ya no está siguiendo esa orden de reorganización y aún no ha mostrado suficiente mejora para estar libre de intervención estatal, el distrito y la escuela secundaria enfrentan una nueva audiencia con la Junta de Educación Estatal en mayo.

La audiencia de la Junta Estatal considerará las recomendaciones del panel, así como los comentarios del personal del Departamento de Educación, la propuesta del propio distrito y la opinión de la comunidad.

El distrito celebró las recientes recomendaciones del panel de revisión estatal.

“Me sorprende lo que puede cambiar en dos años”, dijo la superintendente Karla Loría en un comunicado de prensa. “En 2022, el SRP creó esta narrativa de un distrito escolar fallido, un liderazgo fallido, y hizo las recomendaciones más atroces para cerrar nuestro distrito escolar. Su informe anterior resultó en litigios que llegaron a la Corte Suprema de Colorado. Derrotamos todas las recomendaciones hechas por el SRP en ese momento. Ahora, dos años después, finalmente se reconoce la cantidad de trabajo y el progreso real realizado”.

En 2022, la última vez que el estado convocó a un Panel de Revisión Estatal para proporcionar recomendaciones sobre Adams 14, el panel sugirió cerrar Adams City High School y reorganizar el distrito escolar, citando una gestión ineficaz del distrito.

Al mismo tiempo el panel visitó en la primavera de 2022, el distrito acababa de pasar meses luchando para cortar lazos con el administrador externo formal, MGT Consulting. Y aunque Loría ya había estado en el distrito durante aproximadamente un año, argumentó que no tenía la autoridad para liderar.

En ese momento, el Panel de Revisión Estatal encontró que el distrito no tenía un plan claro para avanzar y dudaban de que hubiera suficiente liderazgo para que el distrito mejorara.

Desde entonces, el distrito ha creado un nuevo plan estratégico y ha renovado el equipo administrativo del distrito, y la junta escolar ha recibido nueva capacitación para centrarse en la gobernanza de políticas.

Aunque algunos en el distrito han cuestionado la nueva administración, el Panel de Revisión Estatal de este año encontró que los líderes escolares y otros educadores con los que hablaron en el distrito tenían claras las prioridades del distrito.

Si bien el distrito pudo evitar la reorganización, en su mayor parte han continuado trabajando con el socio externo, TNTP, que fue otro requisito de la orden de la Junta Estatal en 2022.

Este año, el panel encontró que ese trabajo fue beneficioso y recomendó que continúe.

“Varias indicaciones apuntan a que esta asociación es el factor impulsor probable de los indicadores de progreso que el distrito está comenzando a experimentar”, indica el informe del panel.

El panel declaró que no recomendaría cerrar escuelas esta vez porque el distrito ha cerrado escuelas por sí mismo. Este año, el distrito cerró una escuela primaria, y ha redactado planes para continuar consolidando escuelas en los próximos años para responder a la disminución de la inscripción.

El panel también declaró que no recomendaría reorganizar el distrito en parte porque eso ya se había intentado, y el estado encontró que no estaba en el mejor interés de la comunidad.

Una opción más que el panel podría haber recomendado sería convertir las escuelas en escuelas comunitarias, una estrategia que el distrito está intentando en una escuela primaria, Central Elementary. Pero el Panel de Revisión Estatal informó que el efecto de esa estrategia aún no está claro. También señaló que el modelo requiere muchos recursos y, dado los “recursos financieros decrecientes” del distrito, no tenía sentido intentar el modelo en todo el distrito.

Los problemas financieros del distrito, aunque no son un componente significativo que el estado suele revisar, surgieron más de una vez en el informe del panel de revisión estatal esta vez.

El otoño pasado, Adams 14 consideró poner fin a su relación con TNTP por completo, citando la necesidad de recortar su presupuesto y reconsiderar el alcance del trabajo del socio.

El informe señala que los líderes del distrito dijeron que deberían tener la flexibilidad y autoridad para revisar con quién se asocian, en qué y en qué medida. Si bien el panel reconoció los desafíos, especialmente en torno a los problemas presupuestarios, recomendó que cualquier cambio necesario aún debía pasar por el estado.

“Los cambios frecuentes y el alejamiento de las estrategias y prácticas que muestran resultados prometedores serían perjudiciales para el éxito potencial del trabajo y la integridad de la orden estatal”, indica el informe.

Traducido por Rossana Longo Better

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado cubriendo distritos escolares de K-12 y educación multilingüe. Contacte a Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado lawmakers defeat bill that would have changed charter school operations and made it easier to close them

2024-04-12T04:58:28+00:00

A bill that would have significantly changed how Colorado charter schools operate, making it simpler for local districts to close them, was defeated by state lawmakers Thursday in its first hearing.

After hours of testimony in the House Education Committee, the bill failed on a 3-8 vote.

Several Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans to defeat the bill, although some Democrats said they supported parts of the bill and would welcome a rewrite.

Students, teachers, parents, many charter school leaders, and some advocates testified against the bill for several hours.

A couple of charter leaders said their schools would not be open if it wasn’t for the current second appeals process that meant the State Board of Education had final say in allowing their school to open despite a local district’s opposition.

“Here I am eight years later with a vibrant school,” said Natalia Miller-Forrest, leader of Heritage Heights Academy in Centennial. “Honestly, I think this bill is an attack on charter schools. There’s not a part of this bill that I can get behind.”

Far fewer people spoke in support of the bill.

Rep. Lorena García, one of the bill sponsors, accused opponents of “fear mongering” by telling parents and others that the bill would cause charter schools to close. García said she encountered a mom who was going to testify against the bill because doing so would fulfill her school’s parental engagement requirement. All the mom had been told was that the bill would close her child’s charter school, García said.

When García told her more about the bill, she said the mom told her that the bill was needed and that her own child’s special education plan wasn’t being followed. But García said the mom told her she was afraid to change her testimony, or of being named in Garcia’s recounting of the conversation, because she feared retaliation for her child.

“Yes, there are great charters,” García said. “No, not all are great. The great charters that are in it for our kids will prevail.”

The bill, had it been approved, would have made a number of changes, including prohibiting charter schools from getting any of their waivers automatically. It would have allowed districts with declining enrollment to create moratoriums to prevent new charter schools from opening, and it would have allowed districts to keep a larger share of charters’ per-student funding.

Lawmakers considering different bills affecting charter schools in Colorado

Districts would also have had final say in charter school appeals, preventing the State Board of Education from being able to override local decisions. Supporters who testified in favor of the bill included teachers, parents, former students, teachers union leaders, and a lawyer and a school board member for the Adams 14 school district.

Sponsors of the bill said the proposal was meant to put charter schools on a “level playing field” with traditional district-run schools, and that the goal was accountability and transparency for families.

Rep. Tammy Story, one of the sponsors and a member of the education committee, questioned charter school leaders who testified about why the bill would harm them.

Story suggested that the bill was not meant to be a threat to charter schools that were operating good programs. She said the proposed rules about conflicts of interest and preventing personal financial gain, for example, were aimed at bad actors who probably wouldn’t show up to testify.

Some who testified against the bill said that the problems identified by sponsors weren’t unique to charter schools.

Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Republican who was filling in on the committee and voted against the bill, said that if the true intent was not to harm schools that could be doing good work, the bill should have been written in coordination with the leaders of those schools.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

More stability and time: Independent panel calls for continuing improvements in Adams 14

2024-04-05T23:34:23+00:00

Leer en español.

Adams 14 schools need more time and stability to build on improvements that have begun, according to a panel of outside experts.

The State Review Panel, a group of external educators that visits low-performing schools and reports to the state, noted “early indicators of progress” in the school district, but said improvement efforts have “not yet become systematic or sustained.”

The panel recommended that Adams 14, and its high school, Adams City High School, continue current improvement strategies, working with an outside group. Currently, the district works with the New York-based nonprofit TNTP.

“Disruption of this current strategy would likely be detrimental to a fragile system,” read the latest recommendations from the group, which were shared by the district Friday.

This school year, Adams 14′s 2023 state rating improved from the lowest category, called turnaround, to the second-lowest, called priority improvement. The number of points earned by the school district was still slightly below what it received in 2019 before the pandemic began.

In the previous rating, in 2022, Adams 14 earned the fewest points in the rating system in all Colorado.

Adams 14, a district north of Denver with about 5,400 students, has long had some of the lowest quality ratings in the state, and has faced many firsts with the state’s accountability system. In 2022, the district was ordered to reorganize, which could have meant closing schools or merging with other districts, but the community fought the orders and the state relieved Adams 14 from the order in September.

But since the district is no longer following that order to reorganize, and still hasn’t shown enough improvement to be free of state intervention, the district and high school face a new hearing with the State Board of Education in May.

The State Board hearing will consider the panel’s recommendations as well as feedback from the Department of Education staff, the district’s own proposal, and community input.

The district celebrated the state review panel’s recent recommendations.

“I am astounded at what a difference two years can make,” Superintendent Karla Loría, said in a news release. “In 2022, the SRP created this narrative of a failing school district, failing leadership, and it made the most heinous recommendations to shut down our school district. Their past report resulted in litigation that reached the Colorado Supreme Court. We defeated every recommendation made by the SRP at that time. Now, two years later, the amount of work and the real progress made is finally being recognized.”

In 2022, the last time the state convened a State Review Panel to provide recommendations about Adams 14, the panel suggested closing Adams City High School and reorganizing the school district, citing ineffective management of the district.

At the time the panel visited in spring of 2022, the district had just spent months fighting to cut ties with the formal external manager, MGT Consulting. And although Loría had already been in the district for about a year, she argued she had not had the authority to lead.

The State Review Panel at that time found that the district did not have a clear plan for moving forward and they doubted that there was enough leadership for the district to improve.

Since then, the district has created a new strategic plan and overhauled the district’s administrative team, and the school board has received new training to focus on policy governance.

Although some in the district have questioned the new administration, the State Review Panel this year found that school leaders and other educators they talked to in the district were all clear about the district’s priorities.

While the district was able to avoid reorganization, they have for the most part continued working with the external partner, TNTP, which was another requirement of the State Board’s order in 2022.

This year, the panel found that work beneficial and recommended that it continues.

“Multiple indications point to this partnership being the likely driving factor for the indicators of progress the district is beginning to experience,” the panel’s report stated.

The panel stated that it did not recommend closing schools this time because the district has closed schools itself. This year, the district closed one elementary school, and it has drafted plans to continue consolidating schools in the coming years to respond to declining enrollment.

The panel also stated that it wouldn’t recommend reorganizing the district in part because that had already been attempted, and the state found it was not in the best interest of the community.

One other option the panel could have recommended would be to turn schools into community schools, a strategy that the district is attempting at one elementary school, Central Elementary. But the State Review Panel reported that the effect of that strategy is still unclear. It also noted that the model requires a lot of resources and given the district’s “diminishing financial resources” it didn’t make sense to attempt the model districtwide.

The financial problems of the district, while not a significant component that the state usually reviews, came up more than once in the state review panel report this time.

This past fall, Adams 14 considered ending its relationship with TNTP altogether, citing a need to cut its budget and reconsider the scope of the partner’s work.

The report notes that the district leaders said they should have the flexibility and authority to review whom they partner with, on what, and to what extent. While the panel acknowledged the challenges, especially around budget problems, it recommended that any needed changes still should go through the state.

“Frequent change and movement away from the strategies and practices that are showing promising results would be disruptive to the potential success of the work and the integrity of the state order,” the report states.

Read the panel’s district report here:

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers considering different bills affecting charter schools in Colorado

2024-03-28T20:40:56+00:00

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Colorado lawmakers are once again considering changes to charter schools this legislative session, but unlike in past years, there’s now one big bill calling for a comprehensive list of changes that critics say will weaken charter schools.

Under the bill, charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run, could have to pay more to use buildings owned by school districts. School districts would be allowed to keep more of the per-student funding for charters, and they would have more control over decisions to close the schools.

Lawmakers backing the bill say it’s needed to hold charter schools accountable. But charter school supporters have called the bill “harmful.”

A separate bill seeks to pave the way for more charter schools to get local funding for construction projects.

The issues addressed in the new comprehensive bill aren’t new concerns for critics of charter schools, but this may be the first time they’re all addressed in a single bill. It may be a sign of growing division on the merits of charter schools.

Democrats control both chambers of the legislature, and both bills have Democratic sponsors. But Democrats themselves don’t always agree on charter schools. In recent years, legislators have expanded funding for state-authorized charter schools and voted down bills that would have made it easier for school districts to reject charter schools.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis founded two charter schools and is a supporter of the independently run schools. He opposes the comprehensive bill, saying it would undermine school choice.

Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Democrat from Durango, said she does perceive a widening division among lawmakers regarding charter schools, and said that while she hasn’t made up her mind about the proposed restrictions on charters, she knows she would rather see more charters and districts working together.

“Instead of writing bills, one that is all pro-charter and one that is all anti-charter, you know, we waste a lot of time doing that,” McLachlan said. “I think eventually we’re going to have to come together.”

McLachlan sponsored the other bill, to help charters get construction funds. That’s the only one that has made its way through one of the legislative chambers. The comprehensive bill on accountability still awaits its first hearing, and is already seeing considerable pushback from pro-charter school groups.

A third bill that would have required districts to report more data about how charter schools are performing compared with district-run schools was killed earlier this month.

Here’s more information about the two bills that could still pass:

One bill focuses on strengthening charter school accountability

House Bill 1363, sponsored by Democrats Rep. Lorena Garcia, Rep. Tammy Story, and Sen. Lisa Cutter would change many rules for charter schools. Among them:

Charter schools would no longer be entitled to use buildings or space owned by school districts with limits on rent, and districts wouldn’t have to share lists of available space with charters. Denver Public Schools has long shared vacant buildings with charter schools and has even housed charter schools in the same buildings as district-run schools.
School districts could retain more of the per-pupil state funding allotted to charter schools based on their enrollment, beyond the current 5% cap. Currently, the amount retained up to that cap covers administrative and overhead costs, but under the bill, districts could also keep money to cover the costs of special education services provided to the charter. This change would eat into charter schools’ budgets and could make it harder for them to operate.
Charter school applications would have to include minimum enrollment thresholds, and schools would face closure if they don’t meet them. School districts are not currently allowed to close a charter school solely because of low enrollment.
New reporting rules would require a charter school website — and a district’s enrollment website — to include information about the laws and policies waived by the charter school, such as licensure laws for teachers.
Financial conflicts of interest would be strictly prohibited for charter school board members and the for-profit management companies that are sometimes hired to operate schools.
A change in how local school board decisions are appealed would eliminate a second appeal to the State Board of Education. At times the State Board has forced school districts to open or renew charter schools they’ve initially rejected. Most recently, the state also took away Adams 14′s ability to be the only authorizer for charter schools in the district, which paved the way for two charter schools that the district rejected, to open under authorization from the state Charter School Institute.
Community members would be allowed to appeal their district’s approval of a charter school.

Proponents of the bill say it’s needed to give local communities more control and to give charter schools requirements that are similar to what district-run schools have. The organizations that have signed on to support the bill include teachers unions.

Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, said she doesn’t consider the bill anti-charter, but rather, “pro-transparency and pro-accountability.”

“We’re supporting making sure that when parents are making decisions, they have the full picture, that they know where funding is coming from, what waivers of state law are being waived. That they understand what’s happening in their schools,” she said.

She said the union also supports allowing local school boards to make more decisions about charter schools in their communities.

Charter school advocates, meanwhile, are calling the bill harmful. Education reform groups and conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity are against the bill, but so are other groups including the Douglas County school district, the Colorado Catholic Conference, El Paso County, and the Westminster Chamber of Commerce.

The Colorado League of Charter Schools condemned the bill, saying it “disrupts well-functioning systems and creates division between charter and traditional schools rather than improving public education.”

Dan Schaller, president of the league, said that the bill is frustrating because it brings up “some of the same fights of the past that don’t focus on kids.”

He said that if the bill was about accountability, it should focus on school outcomes. He also argues that some of the pieces of the bill are redundant and already addressed in law. Charter school boards, for example, are subject to the same conflict of interest laws that other school boards are, he said. And as far as being subject to closing because of declining enrollment, he said charter schools are already having to do that.

“Charters by their very nature have that self-regulating function built in,” Schaller said.

Gov. Polis’ office said in a statement: “Public charter schools are a popular option in Colorado, serving around 15% of our school-age children. This bill would weaken, rather than strengthen, school choice in Colorado and the Governor strongly opposes it.”

The other bill lets districts share tax money with more charters

In Colorado, charter schools can be authorized two ways: by a local school district or by the state Charter School Institute. House Bill 1154 would allow charter schools that are currently authorized by the Charter School Institute to ask to share in some of the proceeds of local voter-approved tax increases when they need funding for construction or building renovation projects.

Years ago, Colorado passed a law requiring that school districts share proceeds from their millage levy requests with their charter schools. But most districts took that to mean the charter schools they’ve approved, and not Charter School Institute Schools, even if those schools are physically located within their district.

The Charter School Institute currently authorizes 43 charter schools in the state, serving about 20,000 of Colorado’s approximately 880,000 students.

In some cases, lawmakers said during a hearing on the bill, charter schools approved by the state agency have not been allowed to share in that money. And even in cases where they ask to be included from the start, they have been turned down by school district administrators who often say that’s not allowed in the existing law.

The bill was modeled after a collaboration that took place in Durango.

McLachlan, the bill sponsor, said that in that community, the school district deliberately planned and included the state-approved charter schools in its tax request, and used that as a selling point for voters.

Voters in that community could be confident that all children in the community would benefit from the tax revenue, regardless of which school the children attended, McLachlan said.

The bill would not require districts to include charter schools authorized by the Charter School Institute, but aims to make it clear that districts can, if they choose to.

The bill was amended to lay out requirements on how these arrangements would take place, taking into account concerns from some lawmakers.

Those requirements include asking charter schools to show detailed plans ahead of time, and to explain why other funding sources aren’t enough for the capital projects. Then, school districts must enter into agreements with the charter schools that clarify how the bond proceeds would be shared and that specify that districts can take over the buildings to recover money owed if a charter school closes before the bonds are paid off.

The bill passed the House and has been introduced in the Senate.

Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Colorado law requires districts to share mill levy funding with district-approved charter schools, but not bond money.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Con la llegada de estudiantes nuevos al país, los maestros de inglés en Colorado se sienten abrumados

2024-03-25T18:47:36+00:00

Read in English.

Este año escolar ha sido abrumador para los maestros como Joel Mollman.

Mollman, un maestro enfocado en desarrollar el idioma inglés en la Escuela Media Hamilton en Denver, ha tenido que hacerse cargo de más responsabilidades con la creciente cantidad de estudiantes que necesitan aprender inglés.

En años anteriores, por ejemplo, su escuela quizás recibía tres estudiantes al mes que necesitaban ser evaluados para verificar su nivel de inglés. Este año, Mollman evalúa a por lo menos tres estudiantes nuevos cada semana—un proceso que tarda de una a dos horas por estudiante.

“Rápidamente puede llenar dos de mis mañanas en lugar de que esté en salones de clases”, Mollman dijo.

Alrededor del estado, los maestros en programas para desarrollar el idioma inglés describen situaciones similares.

Ya que muchas escuelas han recibo una gran cantidad de estudiantes con habilidades limitadas para comunicarse en inglés este año, el papel de estos maestros ha estado cambiando.

Tradicionalmente, estos maestros tienen la responsabilidad de evaluar a estudiantes nuevos, enseñar inglés como segundo idioma, dar exámenes de dominio del inglés, y asesorar a otros maestros en los salones de clases.

Ahora también deben apoyar a muchos estudiantes que son nuevos en el país en salones mucho más numerosos de lo normal.

A finales de febrero, siete de los distritos escolares en Colorado—Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco y Mapleton—le dijeron a Chalkbeat que más de 5,600 estudiantes recién llegados al país se habían inscrito en sus distritos, justo después del conteo de octubre.

Algunas escuelas, en particular aquellas donde tradicionalmente no han tenido muchos estudiantes de inglés, han dependido de los maestros en sus programas de desarrollo del idioma inglés para que sean el apoyo principal de los niños recién llegados al país. Algunos de los maestros dicen que están ayudando a los estudiantes y sus familias a guiarse en un país nuevo, y hasta han aceptado a un niño cuya familia estaba viviendo en un automóvil durante un episodio de varicela.

Con frecuencia, dicen, han tenido que descuidar ciertas partes de su trabajo, y promotores estatales dicen que en distritos pequeños, hasta evaluar a estudiantes para identificar sus necesidades con el idioma inglés—un paso crucial—se omite.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, presidenta de la Asociación para la Educación Bilingüe en Colorado, dijo que los distritos no tienen la fuerza laboral, y con frecuencia no saben qué hacer.

“Algunos distritos no cuentan con la experiencia necesaria”, Trinidad-Sheahan dijo. “¿Cómo hacemos llegar la capacitación a maestros que están en estos distritos rurales? Y no es solo para los asistentes de educadores y maestros. Los administradores que lideran en estos edificios no tienen un entendimiento claro de la adquisición del idioma”.

Los maestros empiezan evaluando aptitudes del idioma inglés

Cuando se sospecha que un estudiante inscrito en la escuela no habla inglés con fluidez, el distrito debe evaluarlo para identificar su nivel de fluidez y necesidades para recibir servicios. Esta evaluación debe suceder en las dos primeras semanas después de que se inscribe.

Durante un año típico, ese proceso toma el tiempo de los maestros dedicados al desarrollo del idioma inglés al principio del año escolar. Este año, con algunas escuelas recibiendo estudiantes nuevos cada semana, ese proceso ha tomado mucho más tiempo.

En la escuela Hamilton, donde Mollman también es líder del equipo multilingüe, él se ha ocupado de evaluar a todos los estudiantes este semestre. Las cifras oficiales del estado muestran que el 40 por ciento de los 700 estudiantes en Hamilton han sido identificados como estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Además de realizar las evaluaciones, Mollman tiene que apartar un par de horas por semana para preparar la documentación para el distrito. Esto requiere ingresar las calificaciones y otra información en la computadora, y tres integrantes del personal deben dar su aprobación.

El semestre pasado, otro maestro de desarrollo del idioma inglés en su equipo estaba compartiendo las responsabilidades, pero con tantos estudiantes nuevos, ese maestro tuvo que encargarse de otro salón de clases, y ya no tiene uno de sus períodos libres. Mollman se encarga de realizar todas las evaluaciones.

Cada lunes, empieza su semana preparando las pruebas, verificando los horarios que se dan a los estudiantes nuevos para asegurar que estén en sus clases correctas, consiguiendo Chromebooks si todavía no los han recibido y, a veces, haciendo llamadas mientras trata de averiguar qué tanto dominan su lengua materna los estudiantes nuevos.

Kayli Brooks, una maestra en la Escuela Primaria Tollgate en Aurora, dijo que evaluar a los estudiantes nuevos no consumía su trabajo solo porque su escuela logró obtener ayuda de los líderes del distrito, quienes asumieron las responsabilidades de ese trabajo.

Sin embargo, recuerda la cantidad de estudiantes que llegaron justo antes del período de pruebas anuales para las pruebas ACCESS—las pruebas que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés toman cada año para evaluar su progreso en el idioma. Esos estudiantes tuvieron que tomar esas pruebas con días o semanas de diferencia.

“Cada oficina o salón estaba lleno con [estudiantes] tomando pruebas”, Brooks dijo. Mencionó que fue doloroso sacar a estudiantes de sus salones y que se dieran cuenta de que tendrían que tomar otro examen en inglés en el cual no les iría bien.

Es difícil encontrar tiempo para ayudar más

Tanto Brooks como Mollman dijeron que en sus escuelas darles a los estudiantes un período de enseñanza en inglés—un práctica que la ley requiere—no ha dejado de suceder.

Pero dar ayuda a estudiantes y al personal sí se ha pausado.

Brooks, por ejemplo, dijo que solía sacar a grupos de estudiantes, como aquellos recién llegados al país, para darles enseñanza adicional en inglés, donde practicaban hablar el idioma. Solía usar esas sesiones para enseñar frases y vocabulario que quizás los estudiantes escuchaban en otras materias, como ciencias o estudios sociales, para que sintieran que podían participar más.

“Todo eso paró”, Brooks dijo. “Se detuvo abruptamente”.

En semanas recientes, conforme la cantidad de estudiantes nuevos ha ido aminorando, Brooks empezó a reunir nuevamente a algunos grupos pequeños de estudiantes.

“Están tan contentos”, Brooks dijo. “Quieren aprender. Les enseñé la semana pasada sobre [cómo abogar por sí mismos] de forma básica: Necesito agua. Necesito ir al baño. Necesito comida”.

Sin embargo, no está haciendo tanto como le gustaría. Y no ha podido ayudar a otros maestros en su escuela. En Tollgate, dijo, alrededor del 60 al 75 por ciento de los estudiantes se consideran estudiantes de nivel 1 que están aprendiendo inglés. Esto significa que no dominan el inglés para nada.

“Tenemos un poco más de la mitad de cada salón de clases lleno con estudiantes que no hablan inglés, así que la mitad de sus estudiantes están entendiendo lo que [los maestros] dicen”, Brook dijo. “Nuestro equipo quiere—y debería—apoyar a los maestros y ofrecer desarrollo profesional sobre esto. Solo ha sido una época tan abrumadora que no es algo que esté sucediendo”.

Trinidad-Sheahan dijo que los distritos necesitan permitir que los maestros dedicados a desarrollar el idioma inglés asesoren a otros maestros, para que así las responsabilidades de enseñarles a los estudiantes se compartan.

En las escuelas con un gran número de estudiantes bilingües emergentes, dijo, los asesores de enseñanza deben ser aquellos maestros con experiencia ensenándoles a estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Mollman dijo que en su escuela de Denver, su equipo está tratando de ayudar a los maestros que enseñan otras materias, pero “seguimos tratando de decidir cuál es la mejor forma de hacer esto”.

En otros años en su escuela, los maestros quizás formaban parejas con estudiantes nuevos y otros estudiantes que también hablaran el mismo idioma. Pero con tantos estudiantes nuevos, incluidos algunos que hablan español y otros que hablan árabe, a veces no es posible.

También está tratando de que los maestros modifiquen cómo califican a los estudiantes que todavía no hablan inglés. Pero sigue siendo un desafío.

“Algunos maestros son muy buenos para adaptarse”, Mollman dijo. “Algunos han tenido bastantes desafíos con eso, y todavía no hemos encontrado la solución perfecta”.

Los maestros tampoco se sienten preparados

Hasta los maestros que tienen experiencia trabajando con estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como un idioma nuevo dicen que este año a veces no se sintieron preparados.

Dakota Prosch es una maestra que enseña inglés en Academia Ana Marie Sandoval en Denver, donde enseña a estudiantes de cuarto, quinto y sexto grado en una escuela Montessori de lenguaje dual. Durante un año típico, sus estudiantes ya casi son bilingües totalmente. Debido al modelo de aprendizaje de la escuela, y por ser una escuela especializada, la mayoría de los estudiantes de cuarto grado han estado en la escuela desde kindergarten.

Pero este año, por la gran cantidad de estudiantes migrantes en Denver, la escuela ha tenido que aceptar estudiantes nuevos. Eso significa que Prosch ahora trabaja con estudiantes que acaban de llegar al país y no hablan nada de inglés.

“No tenemos ningún material para estudiantes que no hablan inglés”, dijo.

En febrero, el distrito proporcionó algunos materiales que se usan en centros para estudiantes recién llegados, pero Prosch quisiera haber recibido antes esos recursos. Por lo menos 30 minutos al día, separa a los estudiantes nuevos para trabajar con ellos en habilidades para desarrollar el inglés.

“Esencialmente hay dos salones de clases en uno”, Prosch dijo. “No puedo ofrecer la misma enseñanza”.

La mayoría de sus estudiantes usualmente están analizando texto. Prosch intenta que sus estudiantes nuevos hagan lo mismo, pero muchos solo están tratando de aprender lo que es una oración y “cómo poner su lengua entre sus dientes” para aprender los sonidos que hacen las diferentes combinaciones de letras.

Sin embargo, Prosch dijo, “son niños realmente maravillosos y estoy muy contenta de tenerlos”. Es un sentimiento que también comparten otros maestros.

Legisladores están hablando sobre un plan que les daría fondos adicionales a algunos distritos escolares para estudiantes nuevos en el país que se hayan inscrito después del conteo de octubre cuando los fondos escolares se determinan.

Mollman está de acuerdo con que más recursos ayudarían.

En este momento, dijo, las escuelas como la suya están tomando decisiones difíciles, como elegir entre traer a un segundo maestro al programa de desarrollo del idioma inglés (ELD, por sus siglas en inglés) o a otro maestro de ciencias. En su escuela, este año, agregaron a un nuevo maestro de ELD para ayudar en un salón que tenía más de 40 estudiantes.

“Fue una decisión bastante fácil este año, pero eso impactó a uno de nuestros equipos más seriamente que a otros”, Mollman dijo.

Pero hasta sin fondos, los maestros dicen que sus roles deben adaptarse para cubrir las necesidades de los estudiantes.

“El objetivo es asegurar que todos nuestros estudiantes logren el éxito sin importar si están aprendiendo el idioma o no”, Mollman dijo.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Colorado will allow some of this year’s new migrant students to skip state tests

2024-03-22T22:39:54+00:00

Some students who are new to the U.S. and enrolled in Colorado schools after the official October count will not have to take any standardized tests this spring.

That’s according to new guidance issued recently by the Colorado Department of Education.

The department changed the guidance as school districts are seeing unprecedented numbers of new students who are new to the country. Teachers have described various challenges they’ve faced trying to educate migrant students, and the students are unlikely to do well on standardized state tests given in English. As of February, the Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton districts told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 newcomer students after October count.

Denver Public School leaders told their school board this week that in their case, the majority of students new to the country will fall into that category to be exempt from testing.

Colorado students who are identified as new to the country and have no or limited proficiency in English already are exempt from taking standardized English reading and writing tests for at least their first year of school. Before the new guidance, they were expected to take standardized math and science tests with accommodations.

This spring, if students are new to the country, have no or little English fluency, enrolled after October count, and had limited or interrupted schooling before arriving, they can also skip the math and science tests.

Limited or interrupted schooling includes not attending school for six consecutive school calendar months prior to Colorado enrollment or having two or more years of missed schooling compared to similarly aged students in the U.S. Students who had limited school options in their home country because of war, civil unrest, or needing to travel a long distance to an available school could also qualify for that designation.

Students who have not had interrupted schooling will still be expected to take math and science tests with accommodations. Their participation will count toward overall participation rates, but their scores will not be factored into school ratings for state or federal accountability systems.

Colorado tests students in third through 11th grades. CMAS English and math tests are given to students in third through eighth grade. Science tests are only given to students in fifth, eighth, and 11th grades. In high school, students take the PSAT in ninth and tenth grades, and the SAT in 11th grade.

Families can always opt students out of tests.

In Colorado, this year’s spring testing window begins April 8, after most districts come back from spring break.

Reporter Ann Schimke contributed to this report.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Amid influx of students new to the country, English development teachers in Colorado feel overwhelmed

2024-03-20T23:44:05+00:00

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Leer en español.

This school year has been overwhelming for teachers like Joel Mollman.

As an English language development teacher at Hamilton Middle School in Denver, Mollman has had to take on more work to keep up with the growing number of students who need help learning English.

In previous years, for example, his school might have only received three students a month who needed to be screened for English fluency. This year, he screens at least three new students each week — a process that takes one to two hours per student.

“It could quickly take up two of my mornings where I could be in classrooms,” Mollman said.

Across the state, English language development teachers describe similar scenarios.

As many schools have experienced an influx of new students with limited English skills all year, their roles have been changing.

Traditionally, these teachers are tasked with screening new students, teaching English as a second language, administering English fluency tests, and coaching other classroom teachers.

Now they must also support many students who are new to the country in much larger classes than typical.

As of the end of February, seven of Colorado’s districts — Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton — told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 students new to the country after October count.

Some schools, in particular ones where there haven’t traditionally been large numbers of English learners, have relied on their English language development teachers to be the main support for children new to the country. Some of the teachers describe helping students and their families navigate a new country, and even taking in a child whose family was living in a car, during a bout of chickenpox.

Often, they say, certain parts of their job have fallen to the wayside, and state advocates say that in small districts, even screening students to identify their English needs, a crucial step, gets skipped.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education, said districts don’t have the manpower, and often don’t know what to do.

“The expertise is lacking with some of the districts,” Trinidad-Sheahan said. “How do we get training to the teachers that are in these rural districts? And it’s not just on the paraeducators and teachers. The administrators leading these buildings do not have a clear understanding of language acquisition.”

Teachers start by testing for English fluency

When a student who is suspected of not being fluent in English is enrolled in school, the district is required to screen them to identify their language level and needs for services. That screening is supposed to happen within two weeks of enrollment.

In a typical year, that occupies time in the beginning of the school year for English language development teachers. This year, with some schools receiving new students every week, that process has taken up a lot more time.

At Hamilton Middle, where Mollman is also team lead for the school’s multilingual team, he’s taken on the role of screening all students this semester. Official state numbers show 40% of Hamilton’s 700 students have been identified as English learners.

In addition to administering the tests, Mollman has to block off a few hours per week to do the paperwork for the district. That requires entering scores and other information into the computer, and three school staff members to sign off.

Last semester, another English language development teacher on his team was sharing the load, but with so many new students, that teacher had to take on another class, giving up one of her free periods. Mollman now does all the screening.

Each Monday, he starts his week preparing for testing, double-checking the schedules given to new students to make sure they’re in the right classes, tracking down Chromebooks if they haven’t received them, and sometimes making calls as he tries to figure out what proficiency the new students have in their native language.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, said screening new students didn’t consume her job only because her school was able to get help from Aurora district leaders who stepped in to do that work.

But she recalls how many of the students arrived just before the annual testing window for ACCESS tests, the tests English learners take each year to measure their progress in English fluency. Those students had to take both tests within days or weeks.

“Every office or room was filled with testing,” Brooks said. She said it was heartbreaking to pull students and have them realize they had to take yet another English test they wouldn’t be able to do well on.

It’s hard to find time to help more students

Both Brooks and Mollman said that in their schools, giving students a block of English language instruction — a legally required practice — has not stopped.

But other help for students and staff has.

Brooks, for instance, said she used to pull groups of students such as those new to the country out of class for extra English instruction where she would let them practice speaking. She used to cater those sessions to phrases and vocabulary the students might encounter in other content classrooms such as science or social studies so they might feel more able to participate.

“All of that stopped,” Brooks said. “It came to an absolute screeching halt.”

In recent weeks, as the number of new students has slowed, she started back on a rhythm of reconvening some small groups of students.

“They are so happy,” Brooks said. “They want to learn. I taught them last week some basic advocacy: I need water. I need the bathroom. I need food.”

Still, she isn’t doing as much as she would like. And she hasn’t been able to help other classroom teachers in her school. At Tollgate, she said, about 60% to 75% of students are considered level 1 English learners, which means they don’t have any English fluency.

“We have a little over half of every classroom filled with students who don’t speak English, so half of their students are understanding what they say,” Brooks said. “Our team wants to — and should be — supporting teachers and having professional development around this. It’s just been such an overwhelming time that it’s not something that’s happening.”

Trinidad-Sheahan said districts need to allow English language development teachers to coach other teachers so the responsibilities for teaching students gets shared.

At the schools seeing an influx of emerging bilingual students, she said, instructional coaches should be teachers with experience in teaching English learners.

Mollman said at his Denver school, his team is trying to help other content teachers, but “we’re still trying to figure out the best way to do this.”

In other years, at his school teachers may have paired new students with other students who also speak the same language. But with so many new students, including some who speak Spanish and others who speak Arabic, it’s not always possible.

He’s also trying to get teachers to adapt how they grade students who don’t yet speak English. But it’s all a challenge.

“Some teachers are very good at adapting,” Mollman said. “Some have really struggled with it and we haven’t quite found the solution.”

Teachers feel unprepared for student needs

Even teachers who have experience working with students learning English as a new language say they’ve felt unprepared at times this year.

Dakota Prosch, is an English language teacher at Academia Ana Marie Sandoval in Denver, where she teaches fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students at the dual language Montessori school. In a typical year, her students are already close to fully bilingual. Because of the school model, and being a magnet school, most students by fourth grade have been in the school since kindergarten.

But this year, because of the large numbers of migrant students in Denver, the school has had to accept new students. It means Prosch is now working with students who have just arrived in the country and speak no English.

“We don’t have any materials for students who don’t speak English,” she said.

In February, the district provided some materials used at newcomer centers, but Prosch wishes she had gotten those resources sooner. For at least 30 minutes a day, she pulls aside the new students to work with them on some English development.

“There’s essentially two classes in one,” Prosch said. “I cannot deliver the same instruction.”

Most of her students are usually analyzing text. She tries to have her new students do that too, but many are just trying to learn what a sentence is and “how to put their tongue between their teeth” to learn the sounds different letter combinations make.

Still, Prosch said, “they’re really awesome kids and I’m really glad to have them.” It’s a sentiment echoed by other teachers.

Lawmakers are discussing a plan that would give some school districts additional funding for the students new to the country who have enrolled after October count when school funding is set.

Mollman agrees that more resources would help.

Right now, he said, schools like his are making tough decisions, such as choosing between bringing in a second English language development teacher or another science teacher. At his school, this year, they added a new ELD teacher to relieve a class that had more than 40 students.

“It was a pretty easy decision this year, but that then impacted one of our teams more severely than others,” Mollman said.

But, even without funding, teachers say their roles have to adapt to meet the needs of students.

“The goal is to ensure all of our students are successful regardless if they’re language learners or not,” Mollman said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

New report lays out roadmap for improving how Hispanic students in Denver are educated

2024-03-19T19:43:31+00:00

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Unequal resources across schools, a lack of Latino teachers and leaders, and a “perpetual undervaluing” of Latino culture are among the barriers facing Hispanic students, families, and staff in Denver Public Schools, a new report found.

Called the La Raza Report and released publicly Tuesday, the report was commissioned by the district to identify barriers and opportunities in the community, and to understand their impact.

The Denver school district, the largest in the state, has more than 45,000 students who identify as Hispanic or Latino — 51.8% of all students. The population had been increasing but started declining at the start of the pandemic. The report also highlights that gentrification has shifted the population within the city and contributed to resegregation.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said at a press conference Tuesday that nothing in the report was surprising. Data on student outcomes over the years has been heavily reported. He said the report gives the district a roadmap to help students feel like their voices are heard.

“It was painful to hear or read, I should say, the lived experience of some of our Latino students who, even amongst their Latino groups, really expressed a lack of sense of belonging,” Marrero said. “That was painful, that was painful, because it’s something that is a reality.”

The Denver-area company that wrote the report, the Multicultural Leadership Center, LLC, spent months conducting focus groups, research, surveys, and other analysis.

Research on the district spanned a 15-year period, from 2008 to 2022. The research group put together 51 focus groups with over 600 participants to capture student, family, and teacher perspectives. It also conducted a survey with over 3,000 participants.

The work does not include perspective on the recent influx of migrant students into the school system because the research predated it.

In one of the more pointed sections, the report authors identified “the brown ceiling” as a barrier the district should better understand.

“Included in the brown ceiling is the finding that employees feel that the district, rather than capitalizing on its human capital to ensure equity and excellence for Latino students, frequently requires that Latinos ‘act white,’ ignore their Latino cultures and suppress the cultural assets they bring to the district,” the report states.

The report also identified cultural resilience and the persistence of various community groups as a strength that has led to positive changes in the district. Some of those changes, like curriculum and programs for culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and more opportunities for students to become bilingual, will help new Spanish speaking migrant students arriving recently, the report said. Previous generations had to fight for such opportunities, it notes.

The report concludes with 35 recommendations for the school district and the city. The recommendations range from systemic, including asking the city to help plan for a continued influx of immigrant families and students, to specifics that call for reviewing transportation options for West and Lincoln high schools.

The recommendations also note the district must find a better way to ensure that resources to schools in the district are being equitably distributed.

“We really hope that this is a chance for DPS and the City and County of Denver to be able to say we now know where we’re going,” said Steve DelCastillo, the Multicultural Leadership Center’s principal investigator. “We’re at a crossroads, we’re going to make the right decisions, and years from now people are going to look back and say that was a differentiating point for DPS and most importantly, for the Latino community.”

Marrero said he expects to take up the recommendations that relate to the district.

First steps will be to hire someone within the next week or two to lead the district’s newly launched Latinx success team, he said. The position will help the district dig deeper into the recommendations.

Among the recommendations:

For the district: To coordinate with local foundations, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions to establish student tutoring programs funded by Denver employers.
For the district: To work with the city and the Regional Transportation District, or RTD, to develop a transportation system for students and families who need it, “even in those areas where providing such a service may not be cost-effective but is socially just.”
For students: To develop a strategy for increasing recruitment and participation in the Seal of Biliteracy program, which allows students to learn and demonstrate proficiency in English and another language. The seal is awarded at graduation and is meant to show colleges and employers that the student has demonstrated proficiency in two languages. Given that many DPS students already speak more than one language, the report says this program should be promoted more.
For parents: To develop a districtwide bilingual parent leadership institute focused on understanding the DPS educational system and the roles parents can play in the children’s education, including working with teachers and administrators. The institute must also include a multicultural component, including parents of color who “can use this venue to work on the issues related to cultural conflicts within groups and among the various cultural groups.”
For teachers: To expand the pool of Spanish-speaking teachers from various subject matter areas and to increase opportunities for concurrent enrollment, which allows students to simultaneously earn high school and college credit.
For school leaders: To establish a Latino Leadership Pipeline and a Latino Leadership Mentorship Program. Another recommendation is to consider redrawing the boundaries for West High School and to periodically review all boundaries to account for gentrification and other population shifts.
For the central office: Cultural sensitivity and cultural competence training for all central office employees. “Staff have reported overt and covert racist remarks,” the report states.

Read the report below:

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the last name of Steve DelCastillo.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Inside a Colorado bill to provide extra funding to school districts serving migrant students

2024-03-16T00:37:32+00:00

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All Colorado school districts that have enrolled any migrant students since the Oct. 1 school funding cutoff date would get extra money — between $15,000 and $750,000 per district — under a draft bill approved unanimously on Friday by the powerful Joint Budget Committee.

But districts where the new arrivals have caused a net increase in students — meaning the district has more students now than on Oct. 1 — would get the most extra money. Those districts could get as much as an additional $4,500 for every newly arrived student.

The bill allocates $24 million to be distributed by May 31 to districts that have enrolled what it calls “new arrival students,” or students who moved to the United States less than a year ago, are not proficient in English, and are attending a U.S. school for the first time.

The city of Denver alone has served more than 39,000 new arrivals from Venezuela and other South American countries since it began keeping track more than a year ago, including families with children who have enrolled in public schools.

The details of how the $24 million would be doled out are somewhat complicated. First, there is a tiered system of lump sum payments to school districts based on the number of new arrival students they’ve enrolled since the October count. Districts would get:

$15,000 if they’ve enrolled between one and five new arrival students
$30,000 if they’ve enrolled between six and 10 new arrival students
$75,000 if they’ve enrolled between 11 and 30 new arrival students
$125,000 if they’ve enrolled between 31 and 50 new arrival students
$200,000 if they’ve enrolled between 51 and 100 new arrival students
$400,000 if they’ve enrolled between 101 and 200 new arrival students
$550,000 if they’ve enrolled between 201 and 500 new arrival students
$750,000 if they’ve enrolled 500 or more new arrival students

On top of that, districts with a net increase in enrollment would get $4,500 per student. Here’s where it gets complicated: Districts with a net increase would either get $4,500 for each migrant student they’ve enrolled or $4,500 per student based on the net increase, whichever is lesser.

If the $24 million isn’t enough to cover the costs, the bill says state officials can reduce the $4,500 per student to a lower dollar amount. If calculations show there will be leftover money, state officials could increase the $4,500 to a higher dollar amount.

State Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who sits on the budget committee, said in a text message that she’s happy that the bill could provide relief for districts statewide that are dealing with a “very out of the ordinary influx of new to country students arriving.”

Lawmakers have been working on the bill for over a month, debating various ways to dole out the $24 million. Sirota said the tiered funding proposal acknowledges districts incur fixed costs to educate any and all newly arrived students.

Friday’s vote by the budget committee finalized the language of the bill, but it has yet to be filed for consideration by the full Colorado General Assembly.

“I know my colleagues, our school districts, and our educators are going to be very excited to shepherd this bill across the finish line in the coming weeks,” Sirota said.

The funding is less than what school districts get for each student enrolled on Oct. 1: $10,614 on average. However, budget committee members wanted to earmark the $24 million to provide some relief for districts struggling with the extraordinary influx — money the districts would never get otherwise. (Students who stay enrolled next year will be factored into the school funding formula, and school districts will get money for those students.)

“This sudden influx has strained existing school infrastructure and staffing, led to overcrowded classrooms, stretched resources, and increased complexity to the student learning environment,” the bill says.

The bill also acknowledges that newly arrived students may need extra services, including English language development classes, mental health support, and more. Some may have been out of school for long stretches of time and need help catching up academically.

“New arrival students face unique challenges, including language barriers, cultural adjustments, and various academic backgrounds,” the bill says. “These unique challenges require specialized resources and support services.”

How much funding districts might get under the bill

Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools have enrolled the most migrant students since the October count, according to data obtained through open records requests.

Denver has enrolled an additional 2,340 newcomer students, and Aurora has enrolled an additional 1,366 migrant students. Denver’s numbers were as of March 4, while Aurora’s were as of Feb. 29. The bill uses Feb. 29 as the date to calculate the difference between October count enrollment and how many students districts are serving now.

Accounting for students who left the districts between the October count and those dates, Denver had a net increase of 1,025 students, while Aurora had a net increase of 727 students.

Under the legislation, Denver Public Schools would get a lump sum of $750,000 for the 2,340 newcomers it has enrolled. The district would also get $4.6 million for the 1,025 net increase based on the $4,500 per student formula.

In Aurora’s case, the district would also get $750,000. And the district would get about $3.3 million for its total increase of students since the October count.

Most other districts that have enrolled more than 100 migrant students since the October count had either a much smaller net increase or a net decrease.

For instance, as of Feb. 29, the suburban Cherry Creek School District had enrolled an additional 532 newly arrived students since the October count. But the district has had a net decrease of 41 kindergarten through 12th grade students since Oct. 1.

Greeley-Evans School District 6 had enrolled 488 more migrant students, but only had a net increase of eight K-12 students. Adams 12 Five Star Schools had enrolled 389 additional students, but its school population only grew by 42 students.

And Jeffco Public Schools and Mapleton Public Schools had net decreases, despite enrolling 382 and 140 more new arrivals, respectively.

The student influx creates financial challenges for schools across the state, Brett Johnson, chief financial officer for Aurora Public Schools, said in an interview before the bill text was approved.

“There’s a real and specific impact of these 1,200 kids who have enrolled in our schools in terms of hiring new staff, repurposing classrooms for those schools,” Johnson said. “And those are real costs that are being incurred in real time.”

The challenges remain even in districts that have net decreases in overall enrollment.

A Cherry Creek spokesperson said the district has hired six staff members since January to support the new arrivals. Three of those hires are in newcomer classes and three are cultural liaisons who provide interpretation and other support to families who do not speak English.

Correction: This story has been corrected to update the per pupil figure districts get from the state.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Denver’s Lincoln High School gets more time to improve, as State Board praises efforts

2024-03-14T01:07:09+00:00

When Colorado officials ordered Denver’s Lincoln High School to work on a turnaround plan to improve the achievement of its students, no one knew schools would be interrupted by the pandemic just a month later.

But the school pushed forward with its improvement plan, despite the switch to remote learning and a more recent influx of new students. And although the school’s test scores and state rating remained low this year, State Board of Education members praised Lincoln’s progress Wednesday and agreed to give its leaders more time to boost its rating.

So far, school leaders have completed a leadership program with the University of Virginia, created a new ninth grade academy, and rolled out new career-focused pathways for students. A program called PTECH allows students to stay in high school for a fifth or sixth year to earn an associate’s degree in business. Lincoln’s first participants are graduating this spring.

Those changes were made possible partly by Lincoln’s status as an “innovation school,” a model allowed for state-ordered improvement plans that gives the school autonomy from some district and state rules and provisions of the teachers union contract.

Lincoln was one of just two Denver schools with state-ordered improvement plans. The other, Manual High School, received an improved rating this year. If it sustains that rating for one more year, it can be freed from its state orders.

Lincoln, on the other hand, has not improved and had to have its plan reviewed this year. The state board unanimously approved a district plan on Wednesday that will keep Lincoln as an innovation school while the state monitors its progress.

If the school doesn’t manage to earn a higher state rating by 2026, then it will have to return to the state for another hearing.

When a school receives several years of low ratings, the state is obligated to order an improvement plan, which can include requiring external management, turning the school into a charter or even closing it. Recently, State Board members have stayed away from those drastic options. One alternative has been to grant innovation status.

With Lincoln, State Board members said they were encouraged that school and district leaders’ assessment of the school and its ability to improve mirrored the feedback from the community, the Colorado Department of Education staff, and an external state review panel.

“I’m constantly reminded of, we leave a school alone, great things happen,” said State Board member Angelika Schroeder. “What you’re offering is something really special.”

Under the district’s plan, Lincoln will continue to expand its offerings for workforce development while students are in high school.

The school will also focus more in the coming years on attendance. Currently, the average attendance rate at Lincoln is 83%, up from 81% last year.

Principal Antonio Esquibel said attendance rates are low among new immigrant students who are facing other challenges that make it difficult to attend school, such as housing instability.

School leaders also talked about the challenges they’ve faced most recently in supporting a rise in students who are new to the country. Lincoln High School houses one of Denver’s newcomer centers, which help students who are new to the country adjust to life in an American high school.

Esquibel said the school enrolled another six new students Wednesday.

He said the school has added staff, and is now doing an orientation every Monday for new students and their families. The orientation introduces them to Lincoln and the U.S. school system, and to living in southwest Denver.

As part of the improvement plan, the school will also expand its efforts to help all teachers accommodate their lessons for English learners through sheltered instruction, where teachers can adjust lessons to incorporate help for English learners throughout the day.

About half of Lincoln’s roughly 1,000 students are identified as English learners, but about 75% identify Spanish as their first language. With so many arriving students who are new to the country, those percentages are rising.

“Every teacher has to be a teacher of English learners at Lincoln,” Esquibel said.

The school also uses a model it calls TNLI that offers students Spanish instruction and then slowly moves toward more English instruction, allowing students to remain bilingual, Esquibel said.

“We know if given the right supports and resources, our students flourish,” he said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Apps are helping teachers communicate with families that don’t speak English

2024-03-13T22:36:31+00:00

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Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez has struggled to communicate with the teachers of her five children for years.

She’s tried to stay engaged. She’s attended meetings, gravitated toward Spanish-speaking staff, and relied on translators, including her kids, over the years.

Now, thanks to an app that McElwain Elementary, her Adams 12 school, started using this year, she’s found opportunities to engage in new ways with her youngest child’s education.

Recently, the kindergarten teacher texted her on the app, ReachWell, which allows the teacher to text in English and parents to receive the messages in their own language. The teacher told Gonzalez Gutierrez that her daughter had won a student of the month-type award and invited her to come to the school to surprise her daughter when the award was presented. The small gesture that meant so much to Gonzalez Gutierrez.

“For me it was very exciting,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It was so valuable that she was able to let me know.”

ReachWell and similar translation apps have become more common, and for some teachers, they’ve become crucial as educators work to communicate with the rising number of families that don’t speak English. The apps often allow the communications between parents and teachers to feel personal. Some teachers say it has helped parents open up about issues their child or family is having, which then helps teachers better engage with students.

In addition to seeing text from teachers in their native language on ReachWell, parents can respond in their native language and teachers see the replies in English.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, uses the app Talking Points, which also allows her to text parents. It also translates texts between parents and educators but does not require families to download an app.

“Families will share that they’re struggling with transportation, or here’s why maybe they’re acting out, or they might text me and say ‘hey this thing happened at home and I think my child is going to be really sad at school today,’” Brooks said. “It’s a huge deal. Families want to be involved in their child’s education no matter where they’re from, no matter what language they speak.”

Brooks said that since her Aurora school began using the app in 2020, she is much more successful at collecting permission forms, for example.

With migrant families who are new to the country and are “kind of overwhelmed,” she said, texting them through the app has also helped them better understand basic information they need to get their children started in school.

Communication that feels personal, through a text, is often more manageable for families than directing parents to online forms and resources, she said.

Sara Olson, principal of McElwain Elementary, said the ReachWell translation app is “a tool that provides equitable access.”

“It’s almost mind boggling to me that some of these folks have maneuvered schools for years not having access,” Olson said. “As a parent I can’t imagine not having access to the information, to the teachers. Every child and family member has a right to have that access.”

Olson said she did not have trouble having all families at her school download the app.

Zuben Bastani created the app ReachWell after he said he saw that some families at his child’s Denver school weren’t getting all the communications. He said he saw children excluded from field trips after arriving at school, unknowingly unprepared — wearing sneakers on the day of a snowshoeing trip, for example — because their families hadn’t understood the school communications.

“It became real apparent, real fast, which families were aware and showed up and which weren’t,” Bastani said.

The app is in use in many schools and districts in the metro area and across the country in places like Pittsburgh. In addition to schools, the company is also partnering with some emergency service agencies to provide emergency notifications — such as shelter-in-place or evacuation orders during natural disasters — that non-English speaking populations can receive in their home language.

Jean Boylan, a community liaison at McMeen Elementary in Denver, also uses ReachWell at her school, but said she also has used Google’s translation app on her phone to greet parents face to face as they pick up students from school. She said staff are all looking for as many ways as possible to communicate.

In her school, concerns about whether new immigrant families have access to the internet, have led staff to start printing materials too. McMeen is one of a couple dozen Denver schools that have enrolled a significant number of new students from Venezuela and elsewhere this year.

But anytime they can communicate with the ReachWell app, it saves time and energy, Boylan said.

The app helps because there are so many languages spoken by families. She said there’s a map in her office with at least 27 countries highlighted, reflecting where the school’s current families come from.

Bastani said ReachWell has found that because parents have to download the app and self-select from more than 130 languages what their preferred language is, many schools find that they’ve been undercounting how many languages their families speak.

On average, they discover 25% more languages after a few months, ReachWell leaders said.

Boylan is now working with Bastani to build out a resource page that ReachWell offers in the app for families. It may include ways for families to access help such as for food or housing.

For parents like Gonzalez Gutierrez, the personal communications they have with teachers are the most critical.

Gonzalez Gutierrez said earlier this year, she realized her kindergartener had become frustrated with an online program the school used for kids to learn math. It was causing the child stress and fear and Gonzalez Gutierrez said she didn’t know how to talk to the teacher about it — until she realized that she could text her.

Letting the teacher know what the problem was allowed them to work together to solve it.

“It’s worth it,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It’s been such a gift for me.”

This story has been updated to reflect that users do not have to download the ReachWell app to get messages through ReachWell, though the downloading the app is an option.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Aplicaciones ayudan a que los maestros se comuniquen con familias que no hablan inglés

2024-03-13T22:35:42+00:00

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Por años, Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez ha tenido dificultades para comunicarse con los maestros de sus cinco hijos.

Ha intentado mantenerse involucrada. Ha asistido a reuniones, gravitado hacia el personal que habla español, y dependido de traductores, incluidos sus hijos, a lo largo de los años.

Ahora, gracias a una aplicación que su escuela en Adams 12, la escuela Primaria McElwain, empezó a usar este año, ha encontrado oportunidades para participar de nuevas maneras en la educación de su hija más pequeña.

Recientemente, la maestra de kindergarten le mandó un mensaje de texto usando esa aplicación, ReachWell, que permite que los maestros escriban en inglés y que los padres reciban mensajes en su propio idioma. La maestra le dijo a Gonzalez Gutierrez que su hija había ganado un premio parecido a “estudiante del mes” y la invitó a ir a la escuela para sorprender a su hija cuando le dieran el premio. Fue un pequeño gesto que significó mucho para Gonzalez Gutierrez.

“Para mí fue muy emocionante”, Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo. “Fue muy valioso para mí que pudo hacerme saber”.

ReachWell y aplicaciones similares de traducción se han convertido en algo más común y, para algunos maestros, se han convertido en una herramienta esencial para comunicarse con una creciente cantidad de familias que no hablan inglés. Las aplicaciones con frecuencia permiten que los mensajes entre padres y maestros sean personales. Algunos maestros dicen que han ayudado a que los padres se abran sobre problemas que su hijo o familia está teniendo, lo cual ayuda a que los maestros interactúen mejor con los estudiantes.

Además de ver los mensajes de texto de los maestros en su lengua materna en ReachWell, los padres pueden responder en su propio idioma y los maestros ven las respuestas en inglés.

Kayli Brooks, una maestra en la escuela Primaria Tollgate en Aurora, usa la aplicación Talking Points, la cual también le permite enviar mensajes de texto a los padres. También traduce los mensajes entre padres y educadores, pero no requiere que las familias descarguen una aplicación.

“Las familias comparten que están teniendo dificultades con el transporte, o esta es la razón por la que [el estudiante] está comportándose mal, o quizás me texteen y digan: ‘Oye, esto pasó en la casa y creo que mi hijo va a estar muy triste en la escuela hoy’”, Brooks dijo. “Es algo enorme. Las familias quieren estar involucradas en la educación de su hijo sin importar de dónde sean, sin importar qué idioma hablen”.

Brooks dijo que desde que su escuela en Aurora empezó a usar la aplicación en 2020, ha tenido mucho más éxito recolectando formularios de permisos, por ejemplo.

Con familias inmigrantes recién llegadas al país y que están “bastante abrumadas”, dijo, enviarles mensajes de texto por la aplicación también las ayuda a entender mejor la información básica que necesitan para que sus hijos empiecen la escuela.

La comunicación personal, a través de un mensaje de texto, con frecuencia es más fácil de manejar para las familias que pedirles a los padres que se dirijan a formularios o recursos en línea, Brooks dijo.

Sara Olson, directora de la escuela Primaria McElwain, dijo que la aplicación ReachWell es “una herramienta que proporciona acceso equitativo”.

“Casi no logro entender cómo estas personas se han guiado por las escuelas durante años sin tener acceso”, Olson dijo. “Como [madre], no puedo imaginarme no tener acceso a la información, a los maestros. Cada niño e integrante de la familia tiene derecho a tener acceso”.

Olson dijo que no tuvo problemas para que las familias en su escuela descargaran la aplicación.

Zuben Bastani dijo que creó la aplicación ReachWell después de que vio a familias en la escuela de Denver de su hijo que no estaban recibiendo todos los mensajes. Dijo que vio a niños excluidos de excursiones cuando llegaban a la escuela sin estar preparados, sin saberlo—como usando tenis cuando había una excursión para caminar por la nieve, por ejemplo—porque sus familias no habían entendido los mensajes de la escuela.

“Fue obvio, muy rápido, qué familias estaban informadas y se aparecían y qué familias no”, Bastani dijo.

La aplicación se está usando en muchas escuelas y distritos en el área metropolitana de Denver y alrededor del país en lugares como Pittsburgh. Además de con escuelas, la compañía también se está asociando con algunas agencias de servicios de emergencia para proporcionar alertas de emergencia—como órdenes de quedarse en casa o evacuaciones durante desastres naturales—que las poblaciones que no hablan inglés pueden recibir en su lengua materna.

Jean Boylan, una facilitadora comunitaria en la escuela Primaria McMeen en Denver, también usa ReachWell en su escuela, pero dijo que además ha usado la aplicación de traducciones de Google en su teléfono para saludar a los padres en persona cuando pasan a buscar a sus estudiantes. Dijo que el personal escolar busca tantas maneras como puede para comunicarse.

En su escuela, inquietudes sobre si las nuevas familias inmigrantes tienen acceso a internet, han resultado en que el personal empiece a imprimir materiales también. McMeen es una de un par de docenas de escuelas en Denver que han inscrito a una cantidad significativa de estudiantes nuevos de Venezuela y otros lugares este año.

Pero cada vez que pueden comunicarse con la aplicación de ReachWell, ahorran tiempo y energía, Boylan dijo. La aplicación ayuda porque las familias hablan muchos idiomas diferentes. Boylan dijo que hay un mapa en su oficina con por lo menos 27 países resaltados que reflejan de dónde vienen las familias actuales de la escuela.

Bastani dijo que ReachWell encontró que, debido a que los padres descargan la aplicación y seleccionan ellos mismos su idioma preferido de una lista de más de 130 idiomas, muchas escuelas descubren que no han estado contando todos los idiomas que sus familias hablan.

En promedio, descubren 25 por ciento más idiomas después de un par de meses, los líderes de ReachWell dijeron.

Boylan ahora está trabajando con Bastani para aumentar el contenido en una página con recursos que ReachWell ofrece en la aplicación para las familias. La página incluye información sobre el acceso a recursos como comida o vivienda para las familias.

Para padres como Gonzalez Gutierrez, la comunicación personal que tienen con los maestros es esencial.

Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo a principios de este año que notó que su estudiante de kindergarten estaba frustrada con un programa en línea que la escuela usaba para que los niños aprendieran matemáticas. Estaba causándole estrés y temor a la niña, y Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo que no sabía cómo hablar con la maestra sobre eso—hasta que se dio cuenta de que podía mandarle un mensaje de texto.

Compartir con la maestra cuál era el problema permitió que trabajaran juntas para resolverlo.

“Vale la pena”, Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo. “Es un regalo para mí”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Jefferson Academy will open in Coal Creek after parents raised nearly half a million dollars

2024-03-13T02:54:03+00:00

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Parents in a far corner of Jefferson County celebrated Tuesday night after helping to raise nearly half a million dollars to secure the opening of a charter school in their community.

The board of the charter school, Jefferson Academy, voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with opening a new kindergarten through 8th grade school in Coal Creek Canyon.

“I’m voting for the motion because of the hard work that has been done and got us across that line,” said Anil Mathai, a Jefferson Academy board member. “But if we do not focus on year two, year three, this board and the system will have major stress on it. We own this. I want to make sure we aggressively move to make sure year two is financially solid with or without their support.”

The Jeffco school district had decided earlier this year to close the district-operated school after the end of the school year in May, citing unsustainably low enrollment. Since the next nearest schools for families are for many a 20-minute drive away, the district sought a charter school to take over running a school in the community.

Jefferson Academy was approved by the school district in January. But initial enrollment of 60 students and seven homeschoolers was lower than the charter school anticipated.

Schools are funded per student, and the board said the low enrollment numbers meant the school was half a million dollars short of being able to open. But before the board pulled out of plans to open in the fall of 2024, members allowed parents about three weeks to try to help raise the money.

Parents helped the charter school foundation apply for and secure several grants, ran a successful GoFundMe page for individual donations, received funding from several businesses, and put on a silent auction that raised more than $3,000.

All together, the efforts raised $10,000 more than what was needed.

Enrollment is still at 60 students, although there are now 10 homeschooled students who will be connected to the school. Parent leaders believe that once there is no longer uncertainty about the school’s opening, and the first year is successful, more families will enroll.

Although the charter board had previously discussed the idea of opening the school with fewer grades, board members have abandoned that idea for now, with the exception of cutting preschool. The school still intends to have a preschool, but has not yet secured licensing to offer that on the first day of school. It will be available when the school gets licensed, leaders said.

Parents who led the fundraising efforts also presented their ideas for other ways to make the charter school sustainable. Finding babysitters in the canyon is a challenge, they said, and so hosting a night out for parents where they could leave their children in a safe place could be another successful fundraising event, they said.

And to boost enrollment, parents suggested adding before or after school care. At least one parent in the community enrolls her children in Boulder schools close to her workplace, because the canyon school doesn’t have any after school care or activities.

Besides the fundraising, the last bit of help to open the charter came from the Jeffco school district, which agreed to allow Jefferson Academy to operate in the district-owned building for free the first year and with an adjusted cost in the second year.

The only condition was that Jefferson Academy had to decide Tuesday night to open the school and not leave families wondering any longer.

Lisa Relou, chief of staff for the Jeffco school district, told the charter board that the district is committed to helping, but that the goal is for the charter to be sustainable on its own in the long run.

Charter school board members said they also were concerned about long-term sustainability, and said they knew that opening this school in the canyon was a risk, but one that made sense.

Having so much parental involvement in fundraising means that the community “seems to be right up our alley,” one board member said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

With more Colorado students eating free meals at school, state may cut back the program

2024-03-06T00:22:37+00:00

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In the first year that Colorado is paying districts to give students free meals at school, more kids are eating than expected.

That has left the program $56.1 million short this year. And lawmakers are working on how to close the funding gap.

Colorado voters in 2022 supported creating limits on tax deductions for the state’s highest earners as a way to fund free school meals for all students. Advocates at the time said that there were families in Colorado who, due to the state’s high cost of living, were struggling financially even though they didn’t qualify for subsidized meals under federal poverty guidelines.

In calculating the cost of the program, analysts expected that about 25% more children would eat a school meal, including students who would have qualified for free meals already and those who wouldn’t.

Instead, schools this year have seen a more than 35% increase in breakfast participation, and a more than 31% increase for lunch compared with last year.

The higher-than-expected participation — and program cost — is due largely to students who previously had to pay for a school meal. In most cases, the federal government doesn’t reimburse the districts for any part of those children’s meals, leaving the state to cover those costs alone.

In the Cherry Creek School District, district leaders said they are serving about 32,262 meals a day on average, up from 23,317 a day last year — a 38% increase.

The state legislature’s Joint Budget Committee this week agreed to fill the $56.1 million gap this year. About $31.5 million can be covered with additional revenue that has come in from the new tax provision, but the rest will likely need to come from the state’s general fund.

The committee is also providing $100,000 this year, and $150,000 next year, for the Colorado Department of Education to hire a consultant to help come up with solutions that might keep the program on budget next school year. That effort could involve figuring out how to maximize how much money districts get from the federal government.

But lawmakers said the state will consider all options. That includes cutting the program, changing the eligibility rules for free meals, or finding new ways to pay for it, such as pulling money from the education budget.

Committee lawmakers said that changing the eligibility rules would be a last resort.

“There are a lot of families that technically don’t qualify for free or reduced lunch, but man is it a huge help to them making rent,” said Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat from Greenwood Village. “I would be really uncomfortable with anything that puts a means test back into this program.”

Bridges also said a goal of the program was to remove the stigma of eating free school meals by making them available to everyone, not just to students from low-income families.

Advocacy groups are also working on possible solutions. Anya Rose, director of public policy for Hunger Free Colorado, said the group is considering how to make the program more sustainable, including the possibility of a new ballot measure.

Without any changes to the meal program, state analysts predict Colorado will come up short by $27.8 million next year.

In addition to the universal free school meals, voters approved three grant programs that were supposed to be rolled out in the coming school years. The grants were meant to help districts with things like buying Colorado-grown food for meals, providing stipends for kitchen employees, and paying for training or equipment.

For now, those grant programs will be on hold.

Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee debated this week over whether they had a responsibility to keep the voter-approved program going, regardless of the additional cost to the state.

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said that cost calculations have changed and the state has to deal with that.

“All of these warnings were given to us before, and we ignored them,” she said.

Before the plan was put to voters, lawmakers defeated a plan to offer free school meals to all, in part because of concerns about the cost.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Teacher pay: Adams 12 may give raises for mentoring rather than graduate degrees

2024-02-29T01:22:05+00:00

Teachers in at least two Adams 12 schools could earn higher pay in a pilot program – through district-provided training and taking on new school responsibilities – instead of by completing graduate credits, the more traditional route.

Removing pay incentives for college credits is rare, but not unheard of. About 90% of districts pay teachers more for earning graduate degrees, according to one survey of large districts.

“You don’t have to go out and spend $10,000 on a graduate degree,” said Dave Lockley, president of the teachers union in Adams 12. “We believe in continuing development. We don’t know that graduate credits are the best way.”

The pilot, designed by a team of teachers, union leaders, and district leaders, would likely take place at Thornton Elementary School and Thornton Middle School, two schools that have struggled. One goal of the pilot would be to incentivize more teachers to work in and stay at the low-performing schools with high percentages of high-risk students. The pilot also incentivizes teachers to collaborate to see if it helps with raising student achievement.

The team that designed the salary pilot had considered it for years. They moved forward with plans this year after the district committed $4.5 million to try it out. If approved, it is expected to start this fall and last three to four years, but the final agreement could change those details.

As teachers have been informed, there has been some pushback.

Lockley and district leaders said teachers’ main concerns are about what new responsibilities the higher pay requires, whether that money could do more good for more schools in another way, and whether the changes devalue graduate degrees some teachers already earned.

Union and district leaders are discussing the feedback to possibly adjust the plan or decide whether to move forward with it. If they agree in negotiations to the pilot in the next couple of weeks, the school board and the full union membership will have to vote to approve it.

Myla Shepherd, chief human resources officer for Adams 12, said the team that designed the pilot recommended Thornton Elementary and Middle schools for the pilot after the district ranked all schools using five criteria the subcommittee chose, including a three-year teacher turnover average, mobility of students, and how many students qualify for subsidized lunches.

Thornton Elementary has a three-year teacher turnover rate of 38.8%. At Thornton Middle School, that rate is 33.2%. Both schools have more than 40% of their students identified as English learners, and more than 83% qualify for subsidized meals.

But, Shepherd said, the district is open to running the pilot with more schools if possible.

None of the teachers at the pilot schools would see a decrease in their salary. Most will see a raise.

The district estimates the program will cost about $500,000 to $600,000 per school, at the start, Shepherd said, because of those salary increases, and because raises might be more accessible tied to professional development instead of college credit.

“Over time that would decrease as people earn more and turn over less,” Shepherd said the district estimates.

Ultimately, part of the goal is for schools to build a staff that’s a mix of new teachers, intermediate career teachers, and some veterans collaborating and helping each other.

“That’s when a school is at its best,” Lockley said.

Salary raises will also be flattened, so that teachers can reach the maximum earlier in their careers, even though the maximum would be a lower salary than the current schedule.

But Lockley said that under Adams 12′s current salary plan, only one teacher in the district is currently at the maximum, and for most teachers, it’s unattainable. Allowing more teachers to reach a maximum salary earlier can increase their lifetime earnings, even if that maximum is smaller, he said.

Typically, Lockley said, it is white men who are more likely to climb the salary ladder in traditional schedules, because they’re more likely to have money and time to earn higher degrees.

“It just always seemed baffling to me that we force teachers to go into debt in order to see a decent pay raise,” Lockley said. “Some of our teachers can’t afford the time or the money to go get a master’s degree. My hope would be that the things we learned from this pilot, we could use to help fix these long-term inequities.”

Researchers say studies have shown that many master’s degrees earned by teachers don’t lead to better student outcomes. However, there are cases where they do, such as a math teacher in a middle or high school, who earns a master’s degree in math, or special education teachers with specialized degrees for their field.

Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Learning Policy Institute and a Stanford University professor, said that there are downfalls with district-provided training, too. They must be well-designed and closely tied to the work teachers do.

“And you can end up with the same inequities if they have to find their own time,” she said.

But the idea of incentivizing a system where veteran teachers would mentor and work with newer teachers can be promising, she said.

“There’s a lot to be said positively about the idea of having veteran teachers mentor younger educators,” Darling-Hammond said. “That does increase retention and effectiveness for the beginner teachers if you do it right.”

Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said that districts typically aren’t using money strategically when they pay more for graduate degrees that usually aren’t tied to better student outcomes.

“We need to pay teachers more for working where they’re most needed,” Peske said.

One measure that wasn’t considered by the group to choose the pilot schools, was a school’s state performance rating. Still, one of the two schools recommended, Thornton Middle School, is one of six in the district with a low rating that landed on the state’s watchlist for persistently low student test scores and other achievement deficits.

Ideally, Lockley said, he’d like to see a school improve performance in ways that show in better state ratings.

The subcommittee is still considering how to measure success, depending on the pilot’s length. Some version of student success, and teacher retention will be a part of it, Shepherd said.

“We’re trying something different to really honor and recognize the work of educators,” Shepherd said. “It will allow for attracting and retaining people in those challenging environments. And improved student achievement.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco parents are trying to keep a school in their community. They need half a million dollars.

2024-02-26T23:40:59+00:00

Writing grant requests, requesting donations from local businesses, and even starting a GoFundMe page.

That’s how some Jeffco parents are scrambling to raise more than half a million dollars to help open a charter school in a remote mountain canyon after Jeffco Public Schools announced it would close the K-8 school in Coal Creek Canyon.

The Jeffco school board voted this fall to close Coal Creek Canyon K-8 citing low enrollment and an unsustainable cost. But Jefferson Academy, the charter network that was supposed to take over the building, is now facing the same issues and may not be able to open a school there after all.

Unlike when the district closed about 20 other schools in the past couple of years and reassigned students to nearby schools, district leaders acknowledged that closing Coal Creek Canyon K-8, located near the border with the Boulder district, would be different because of the school’s remote location. So the district opened a process offering the building to a charter that might be better prepared to run such a small school.

Jefferson Academy, an existing charter school network in Jeffco, was approved to open a prekindergarten through eighth grade school in the Coal Creek Canyon building.

But now that the school may not open after all, parents are unsure of the options their children will have this fall.

Parent Ashley Allen said that the next closest district school, Three Creeks K-8, is about a 19-minute drive away in good weather.

Allen’s son has diabetes and she often has been called to come to school because her son’s blood sugar drops or his insulin pump is failing.

In those worst-case scenarios, the drive “can make for a very nervous parent,” she said.

Tim Matlick, executive director of Jefferson Academy, said the charter school had been counting on having at least 87 students, and an additional 20 for its homeschool program. When submitting the charter application, Jefferson Academy had received 95 interest forms for potential students.

So far, the school has just 60 enrollments, and seven homeschool students signed up.

Parents from the canyon went to the charter school’s board meeting last week and asked for more time to raise the money themselves.

The charter school board gave them just until its next meeting, March 12, to help raise the $550,000. Without the funds, the charter board will decide whether to scrap the plans to open.

The charter leaders are also trying to raise money. Matlick said they now have preliminary approval for a startup grant from the state department of education for about $107,000. They’re also looking at a possible grant of about $75,000 from the Denver-based Daniels Fund.

When the charter was approved by the Jeffco school board, one condition was that the Jefferson Academy network set aside $250,000 to help support the new charter in the canyon.

Matlick said there is discussion about whether that money should be used to close the $550,000 funding gap or if it should be held in reserves for other potential problems once the charter opens.

Matlick said the district has been generous. The agreement to lease the building would only cost the charter $196,000 per year, to cover district-provided maintenance including custodial staff, snow removal, and trash pickups.

All the furniture and technology in the building would be donated to the charter.

But, he said, the community’s help is going to be critical.

“We’ve got a big group working to make this happen,” said Allen, whose son is a second grader at Coal Creek Canyon K-8. She started the GoFundMe page, and set it up so that money will be refunded to donors if the school doesn’t open.

As of Monday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had just over $5,000. “Our 4 children all went to this school. It is a vital part of the Coal Creek community. Please keep this school available to the community for their children,” one donor wrote.

If grants and donations can help in the first year or two, Allen said, parents and charter leaders believe that young children in the canyon community will help enrollment grow in future years to make the school sustainable.

Allen said parents are working on proposals to ask the local Coal Creek Canyon businesses including a coffee shop, the local garage, and some restaurants to pitch in. They also plan to ask bigger businesses like Denver Water, which has trucks passing through the canyon regularly.

Still, she is worried. Three Creeks is such a large school that it would be a big change for her son. If there is no school in the canyon, Allen said, she and her husband are considering moving.

“I will say the stress feels like it’s been nonstop for two years,” Allen said.

In a letter Jefferson Academy sent to families, charter leaders said that if they do not open the school, Jeffco district leaders will meet with families the day after the charter’s board meeting to speak “about their plans for next year and what one-year programming options could be possible.”

Before getting a charter school approved to open, the district had contingency plans to keep the elementary portion of the school open for one additional year. Middle school students would have either gone to Three Creeks, or chosen remote learning facilitated within the Coal Creek building.

Jeffco district leaders declined to speak about alternative plans. Lisa Relou, chief of staff for the district, said “we are doing everything we can to support” the charter in opening.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

An existing program for migrant students can’t help schools with the current influx of new students. Here’s why.

2024-02-22T18:59:22+00:00

Some of Colorado’s most diverse school districts, including Aurora and Greeley, are used to waves of immigration bringing in new students in the middle of the year.

Recently, families from Burma have moved into Greeley, and Aurora officials recall hundreds of new students from Afghanistan after U.S. troops pulled out.

But this year, the midyear wave is even bigger, with most students arriving from Venezuela and other South American countries. And it is overwhelming some district systems.

“We’re running at 300% our normal typical average for the school year,” said Brett Johnson, chief financial officer for Aurora Public Schools, referring to the number of midyear enrollments, which are up from the typical 500 to 800 in a year.

Schools need everything from new desks and more classroom space, to more teachers, bilingual staff, and specialized teachers who can administer screening tests to determine students’ levels of English proficiency and help them learn English.

But many of the new students from South America arrived after the Oct. 1 cutoff that determines how much per-student state funding each district will get. And although government officials refer to this new group of immigrants as “migrants,” the students do not qualify for money from the federal Migrant Education Program.

What does the Migrant Education Program do?

The Migrant Education Program began in 1966 and was designed to support the children of farmworker families. To qualify for the program, students must have parents who work in agriculture, or work in the field themselves, usually in temporary or seasonal positions, and must have moved between school districts within the last three years.

Some of the children might belong to families who travel around the country following the seasonal availability of farm work. They aren’t necessarily new to the country, and many already are fluent in English. Immigration status doesn’t matter, just as it doesn’t for the students who arrived this semester. By law, all children can access free public education.

In Colorado, there were about 4,500 agricultural migrant children aged 1 through 21 this year — fewer than the thousands of new students from South America. The $7.5 million federal allocation for the state helps younger children succeed in school and focuses on keeping teens and young adults up to age 22 in school instead of dropping out to work full time.

Advocates from the program travel to farms or worksites to enroll children in the program and convince older students up to age 22 to stay in school. The program works with families, visiting their homes, supporting their mental health, and figuring out what other barriers might exist for the students to learn. The funding also pays for school supplies, tutoring, and summer programming.

“A lot of our families have needs that are pretty basic, if we just try to push education on them they’re not ready a lot of times,” said Tomás Mejia, Colorado’s director for the Migrant Education Program. “If we help them be well enough, help the parents and adults be well enough to help the kids, that can really help a lot more.”

The new South American students also need the same types of support. For both groups of students, educators say there’s a need to build trust and provide help that goes beyond the classroom.

The Greeley school district usually enrolls the largest number of agricultural migrant students in the state, and Greeley also is seeing a wave of non-agricultural migrant students. One school recently enrolled 19 new students in one day. An elementary school is now so full that teachers are starting to operate out of mobile carts, moving from room to room, instead of having a classroom.

School districts are addressing student needs

The Greeley district’s existing welcome center, which has always helped the community’s immigrant population, is playing a big role in helping the district welcome and make families feel like they belong, said Brian Lemos, director of instruction and English language development.

But the district is also relying on community partners to help families learn to use technology, learn English, and to offer help with housing or employment.

“There’s definitely unique needs,” Lemos said. “They’re new to the country. All of them have needs as far as language acquisition.”

“A lot of these students are coming to us with severe trauma,” said Theresa Myers, a spokesperson for the Greeley district. “Some of the families from Venezuela, they’ve been trying to travel for months. Our impact on our mental health services is real.”

Right now, the district has a mental health counselor at every school. But 35 counselor and social worker positions in the district were funded by ESSER dollars that won’t be available after September. Now the district is trying to figure out how to keep the much-needed positions.

Although Colorado gives school districts extra money to assist students who are learning English, most school districts say they have to use money from their general fund to cover the services they provide because that specific money isn’t enough.

And since so many of these students arrived after October 1, the districts didn’t get the money for them this year. (If students are still enrolled next fall, the districts will get money then.) In the meantime, school districts are having to hire new staff including paraprofessionals to help teachers with larger-than-normal class sizes. In Aurora, “We have several instances in which elementary schools came back from Christmas break with almost 100 more kids than before,” Johnson said.

Legislators in Colorado are drafting a $24 million proposal to give districts some funding for these midyear enrollees. It won’t be the total funding that districts usually get per student, but it might help.

State lawmakers haven’t filed the proposal, but there are promising signs it’ll pass once they do. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has said he supports sending extra funding to districts enrolling new students, and the proposal is coming from lawmakers on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which plays a major role in how the state spends its money.

Johnson said that Aurora isn’t waiting to see that money transferred before hiring needed positions or addressing needs. He hopes the state will reimburse some of the expenses if the money does come.

While leaders say they aren’t cutting budgets or making adjustments, they are starting to think ahead. Maybe that will mean having roaming teams that can go to the schools most impacted on a short term basis to deal with the work of helping students new to the country.

“The hard part is no one knows how long this phenomenon will last,” Johnson said. “We are trying to start putting in some thought in the long-term, if there’s a better system.”

For now, schools are helping new students from South America adapt.

“When a new student enrolls who is new to the country it’s also a matter of the daily school routines — it’s also teaching them the routines of a typical school day,” Johnson said.

That can take up a lot of time for school staff. But not all schools are receiving high numbers of new students. Schools near shelters, apartments or housing where agencies have helped migrants get settled are enrolling more students.

Educators say they aren’t currently thinking about transferring students to different schools to avoid overcrowded classrooms, but Greeley leaders say they have changed enrollment boundaries when schools were getting too full in previous situations. They might consider it if the enrollment boom continues.

School educators say, still, they want kids in school, they understand that children must learn and the faster they can connect them to educators, the better.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

‘Growing our readers’: How the Sheridan district has revived its once-closed high school library

2024-02-16T20:05:03+00:00

For years, the Sheridan district’s high school library was just empty space — a few shelves, no books, no staff.

Now, the library is thriving. Students hang out there during lunch or other free periods. They read, play games, and can even take a literature class.

The space has transformed from bare to buzzing.

“We just had old tables and chairs,” said Jenn Alevy, the digital teacher librarian. “Throughout the five years, our space has changed so much.”

Among the changes: new furniture, including a puzzle table hand-built by a student in the school’s former woodshop class.

While some schools are having to cut librarians or letting libraries languish as school budgets are strained and others are grappling with book bans, the Sheridan library continues to grow because of voter-approved funds passed in 2018.

Trenity Briscoe, 16, works on her book project during a class in the library at Sheridan High School.

Pat Sandos, the outgoing superintendent, had just been hired in 2018 when he decided to put the promise of school librarians into the proposed mill levy tax request. Before the tax measure, the district used about $40,000 from reserves to get the space ready.

“I just couldn’t believe we didn’t have a library at the high school,” Sandos said. “It’s the hub of the school. So much goes on there.”

When Sandos talked to people in the community, many didn’t know the 300-student high school had been left without a library after the county library pulled out of the school into its own building.

Having the county library in the district was complicated, leaders said, because it was difficult to control who was in the school building just for the public library. And, Sandos said, having the library nearby was not the same as having an in-house teacher librarian who could collaborate with teachers and build relationships with students.

That’s what Alevy has done.

“There’s so much opportunity, it’s critical,” Sandos said.

Leticia Salazar, a senior at Sheridan High School, said Alevy has helped her through many rough times, including a recent death in her family. Last semester, she was a library assistant. Now, she just hangs out at the library because she finds it a safe and peaceful place.

“She’s awesome,” Salazar said, of Alevy. “And she got me into reading.”

When Alevy was hired in 2019 after voters approved the tax request, she started reviving the library by ordering books and working on a three-year plan to create more integration between technology and learning.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, schools went to remote learning, the library shut down – and Alevy’s plan to incorporate more digital learning became a plan she had to integrate right away.

She was the go-to for teachers on any technology questions, and helped many navigate remote learning software.

Now that schools have gone back to in-person learning, she still tries to collaborate with teachers, recommending books for various lessons they plan and suggesting ways to incorporate reading or digital learning when appropriate.

Students hang out at the Sheridan High School library during lunch or other free periods, including to play games.

Maegan Daigler, the district’s executive director of assessment & technology, said the mill levy funds pay for the salaries of librarians at the district schools and funds each year are also used to help grow the library’s collection.

The goal is to grow the book collection about 10% each year as funds allow, she said.

“It’s a priority,” Daigler said.

During the time the library was closed due to remote learning, Alevy ordered digital books for students to check out, but has since found that students prefer physical copies of books to read.

The library now has more than 4,500 books, including a few hundred Spanish books, many Stephen King novels, the popular Colleen Hoover titles, and lots of manga.

For many of the Spanish books, Alevy likes to get the English and Spanish versions so students can read them side-by-side if they like. She also gets some audiobooks that can be a helpful addition when students are trying to learn English.

From left to right Students Aidan Cordova, 17, Rock Himebaugh, 17, and Isaac Rosales, 16, play the card game UNO in the library during their lunch break at Sheridan High School.

The students in newcomer classes check out lots of books, she said. About a third of the school’s 300 students are English learners.

“Students will challenge themselves when they’re picking up a book,” Alevy said. “If it gets them to read, I will buy them.”

This year Alevy started offering a new elective class, Introduction to Literature, where students read, write about what they read, and then will promote the books they read in the library.

“We’re growing our readers,” Alevy said. “It’s slowly working.”

Each of the 10 students in the class picked a theme and planned out which books they would read this semester to fit that theme.

One of the school’s most avid readers, Kaitlyn Miller, a 15-year-old sophomore, has already read six books for the class this semester. She’s focusing her project on two themes: mystical creatures, and how people feel when they lose someone they love.

As Miller described her project, she noted: “I probably need to get some more books.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the last names of Leticia Salazar and Rock Himebaugh, and to reflect that the Sheridan library has more than 4,500 books in its collection now.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.