The Daily Churn: Thursday

What’s churning:

Adams Five-Star school officials are hosting a media briefing this morning to explain a drop in state test scores caused by the misadministration of 6,100 exams this past spring by the Colorado Virtual Academy or COVA charter school. The district and state tossed out the exams after learning different grades and subjects were tested in the same room at the same time, an administration no-no.  It’s the largest misadministration in CSAP history – that officials are aware of anyway, said Mark Stevens, spokesman for the state Department of Education.

But the invalidation of that many tests is wreaking havoc on results for the state’s fifth-largest school district and its nearly 42,000 students. So expect Superintendent Chris Gdowski to discuss what the district’s results would have been without those 6,100 no-scores. Actual CSAP results are embargoed until Tuesday’s 10 a.m. press conference at the state Department of Education. COVA is an online school serving students from around the state but it is chartered through Adams Five-Star.

On tap today:

Cutting up the pie … The Colorado Commission on Higher Education gathers at 1 p.m. at Front Range Community College in Westminster. Among the agenda items are possible 2011-12 allocations of state aid to individual campuses, whether to take a position on tax-slashing Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101 and discussion of student fees and financial aid.

Education news from other sources