Feds give Colorado a break from pushing change in low-performing schools

An elementary school hallway with jackets on hooks and lunch bags on shelves, with two adults in the distance. Banners, one saying “Respect,” hang from the ceiling between lights.
With limited testing data, both the state and federal accountability systems will be on hold this year. (AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post)

Colorado will be exempt this year from federal requirements that the state identify and intervene in schools where students aren’t meeting certain academic expectations.

This week the U.S. Department of Education approved a request from the state to pause certain requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, including aspects of the federal accountability system.

The federal system focuses on how well traditionally underserved students are doing, while a separate state accountability system gives more weight to overall academic performance. Some schools that have good ratings under the state system are identified for intervention under the federal system because students with disabilities or students who are learning English, for example, are far behind their peers.

The waiver comes amid a school year filled with pandemic disruptions. Students didn’t take standardized tests in 2020, and many education officials expect participation in standardized testing to be low this year.

Colorado has significantly scaled back testing with the blessing of federal officials. Instead of taking a full suite of tests, students will take either a literacy or math test, depending on their grade level, and eighth graders will take a science test. High school students are still taking the PSAT or the SAT.

State and federal officials hope this reduced testing plan will provide enough information to assess how the pandemic affected learning, but it won’t give the fuller picture on which both the state and federal accountability systems depend.

The state accountability system is also on pause under legislation signed into law this spring.

Under the waiver, the Colorado Department of Education does not have to measure progress toward long-term goals by schools already on the federal watch list nor does it have to identify new schools for either comprehensive or targeted support. 

Colorado will also be exempt from requirements that at least 95% of students take standardized tests.

The state education department, however, will have to keep working with schools that have already been identified, as well as make publicly available information on chronic absenteeism and student access to technology and internet service.

Colorado should be prepared to return to the federal accountability system in 2022, federal education officials said.

The Latest

Biden’s Justice Department found outstanding issues in Newark’s English language learner program, but under Trump, federal oversight stopped without saying if they were resolved.

The likelihood of a strike is unclear. But if PFT leaders do call a strike of their 14,000 members, it could disrupt the opening days of the new school year. The 2025-26 school year begins August 18 for staff and August 25 for students.

The Trump administration cut the group’s funding, which supports efforts to help students and schools nationwide.

Airport officials are also considering a second child care center that would serve a wider swath of employees.

Outgoing CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said he underestimated how hard it would be to convince Mayor Brandon Johnson to release money collected in tax-increment-financing districts.

Schools received a modest increase in the state budget. But Marion County education leaders are still trying to figure out what sweeping changes to local property taxes will mean.