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Charter school in Fort Collins best in state

Tough curriculum at Ridgeview pays off in high CSAP scores

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 14, 2005 at midnight

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A Fort Collins charter school ranks first academically in Colorado, edging out a Jefferson County high school that had held the honor for four consecutive years.

Ridgeview Classical Charter Schools barely topped D'Evelyn Senior High School in new data compiled by the state Department of Education.

Both are "opt in" schools with students selected mostly by lottery. They feature rigorous academic curriculums.

"They do a nice job," said D'Evelyn Principal Mark Hartshorne. "I have to hand it to them for their performance."

The rankings reflect scores on achievement tests administered by the state last spring under the Colorado Student Assessment Program. The data were the basis for the school report cards released last week.

The scores used to rank schools are based on the variance above or below a state average.

Ridgeview Principal T.O. Moore said the high CSAP scores reflect the school's rigorous curriculum, which includes reading in their entirety works by Shakespeare, Milton, Melville and Thucydides.

"Once they can grapple with those authors, the CSAPs aren't a very big deal," Moore said.

The K-12 school, with about 100 students at the high school level, is in its fifth year.

State education officials warned Tuesday against making fine comparisons among schools that vary widely in size and the populations they serve.

"The measure is rough," said Education Commissioner William Moloney.

That was true in Boulder, which has some of the highest- and lowest-performing schools in the state.

Boulder Valley's Arapahoe Ridge High School would be the lowest-performing middle school in the state - yes, middle school - except that it doesn't actually exist, said Jonathan Dings, the district's chief of planning and assessment.

The rating listed for the school reflects the scores of three eighth-graders who attend a program overseen by juvenile court Judge T.J. Cole.

Their CSAP scores had to be included under a school, so Arapahoe Ridge - which is actually an alternative high school - was chosen, Dings said.

Boulder Valley also had the state's best elementary school - or the best student. Only one child took the CSAP test at tiny Jamestown Elementary School in the mountains northwest of Boulder last spring, Dings said.

"Ah, but what a student," Moloney said.

Lake City Community School in Hinsdale County is also a small school and is in one of the most remote communities in the Rocky Mountains.

Only eight students took the CSAP test last spring, said Superintendent Karen Thormalen. They did well enough to boost Lake City to the No. 3 spot among high schools, behind Ridgeview and D'Evelyn.

Thormalen said she's happy about the scores, but understands that fame can be fleeting.

"We could lose all the smart ones and gain ones who score poorly," she said.

Just behind Lake City in fourth place is Boulder's giant Fairview High School, with 1,891 students.

Some of the lowest-scoring schools serve troubled youths, including Frontier High School in Fort Collins, which appears among the bottom five on both the high school and middle school list. It is run by a private contractor, who also provides social services, said Poudre Assistant Superintendent Sherry Gerner.

The Center for Discovery Learning Charter in Jefferson County was the only school to rank among the bottom five at all three grade levels - high schools, middle schools and elementary schools.

The Jeffco school board voided the school's charter last spring after several years of poor performance. The school is not open this year.

Colorado's top and bottom public schools

The state Department of Education ranks the state's schools based on student test scores

• Top elementary schools

1. Jamestown Elementary School, Boulder Valley

2. Dennison Elementary School, Jefferson County

3. Greenwood Elementary School, Cherry Creek

4. Cheyenne Mountain Elementary School, Cheyenne Mountain

5. Challenge School, Cherry Creek

• Top middle schools

1. Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy, Cheyenne Mountain

2. Challenge School, Cherry Creek

3. Delta County Opportunity School, Delta County

4. Summit Middle Charter School, Boulder Valley

5. Littleton Academy, Littleton

• Top high schools

1. Ridgeview Classical Charter Schools, Poudre

2. D'Evelyn Senior High School, Jefferson County

3. Lake City Community School, Hinsdale County

4. Fairview High School, Boulder Valley

5. The Classical Academy Charter, Academy 20

• Bottom elementary schools

1. Center For Discovery Learning Charter School, Jefferson County

2. Model Charter School, Strasburg

3. Smith Elementary School, Denver

4. Mitchell Elementary School, Denver

5. Crawford Elementary School, Aurora

• Bottom middle schools

1. Arapahoe Ridge High School*, Boulder Valley

2. Frontier High School*, Poudre

3. Center For Discovery Learning Charter School, Jefferson County

4. Escuela Tlatelolco Charter School, Denver

5. Cole Middle School, Denver

• Bottom high schools

1. New America School, Denver

2. Las Animas A+ Distance Learning School, Las Animas

3. Center for Discovery Learning Charter, Jefferson County

4. Frontier High School, Poudre

5. Life Skills Center, Colorado Springs 11

* Middle school students are counted in the high school

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