City Schools Continue Poor Showing Overall
By John Norton, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Dec. 6–Pueblo’s middle and high schools continued to receive poor marks in an annual guide for parents issued by the Colorado Department of Education. The ratings are based on this past spring’s test scores and other factors.
The School Accountability Report, which was released Wednesday, shows that many elementary schools in the Pueblo City Schools district are doing well.
But of the six regular middle schools, three — Corwin, Risley and Freed — had low marks and showed a “significant decline” of more than 15 percent in test scores compared with their 2006 scores. Roncalli and Pitts received “average” ratings with significant decline, while Heaton was average with a decline in performance less than the 15 percent mark that’s deemed significant.
“This just serves as evidence of what we already know,” said John Covington, Pueblo City Schools superintendent. “Our elementary schools are still making adequate progress, while our biggest problem is in the middle and high schools. That’s why we’re providing the high schools with intervention and support and we’re going to be looking at the same thing for the middle schools.”
District elementary schools for the most part received high or average grades with the exception of Fountain Elementary, the only elementary school to rate a “low” rating.
Schools are rated “excellent,”"high,”"average,”"low” or “unsatisfactory.”
Covington pointed out that Fountain and Corwin are being reorganized next year as magnet schools with a rigorous curriculum, keyed to the International Baccalaureate program.
While the middle schools fared poorly, students in sixth through eighth grade at other schools did well.
At Goodnight, which has preschool through sixth grade, the upper grades were rated high with no change. Bessemer was ranked average with a significant decline and charter school Cesar Chavez Academy received a high rating with a decline.
Six elementary schools received high ratings and 17 were average. Improvement was marked at Beulah Heights, Carlile and Morton.
Covington said that last year, only one elementary school made improvement.
At the high school level, Centennial and South were rated average and Central and East were low. Dolores Huerta Preparatory High, a charter school, was the only one with a high rating.
No schools in the city district scored excellent ratings.
School accountability reports are meant to be used by parents to compare the performance of their schools and, if necessary, find alternatives.
More details on each school is available from the state education department Web site.
ON THE NET
Colorado Department of Education www.cde.state.co.us/
How Pueblo’s schools are rated
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
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