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DPS places 35 schools on probation

New rating system lists who's leading - and who's struggling

By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Niego Jordan, left, and Jacob Martinez work with paraprofessional Kelly Merick on a math problem during their second- and third-grade class Monday at Lincoln Montessori Elementary. Lincoln received high marks under a new ratings system.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Niego Jordan, left, and Jacob Martinez work with paraprofessional Kelly Merick on a math problem during their second- and third-grade class Monday at Lincoln Montessori Elementary. Lincoln received high marks under a new ratings system.

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Denver Public Schools on Monday released new ratings for schools under a grading system that rewards top performers with greater freedom and low achievers with tighter supervision.

More money flows to both ends of the scale - in bonuses of up to $24,000 for principals and teachers at the high end and in grants of $100,000 and more to boost struggling students at the low end.

Only 10 of the city's 146 public schools in 2007-08 earned the top rating of "Distinguished," and 52 received the second-highest label of "Meets Expectations."

More than half of Denver schools fell into the bottom two categories, with 49 schools rated "Accredited on Watch" and 35 labeled as "Accredited on Probation," or the lowest performing.

"You could simply call everybody distinguished," said DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet. "But, roughly, we think this is a decent picture of where we are.

"We're doing great here," he noted of the distinguished group, and added of the schools on probation, "We've got to really worry about these guys here."

Denver's rating system is the first in Colorado and among the first in the nation to emphasize growth, or student academic progress from one year to the next.

Other school rankings, including the state School Accountability Reports, focus on student performance on a single test or series of tests and don't track the same students across time.

"This gives our school district and our schools a way of measuring progress and lack of progress that actually makes sense," Bennet said.

"It is very heavily weighted toward growth of kids and it also looks at the progress of actual kids . . . which we think gives a much more accurate picture about what value we're adding, or not, in the school year for a child that comes to DPS."

Shining a new light

DPS released a preliminary series of rankings this past spring, so Monday's data contained relatively few surprises. The ratings are based on the past two years' state test scores, attendance rates, graduation rates and other factors.

In fact, five of the 35 schools placed on probation already are closed. Others are in the midst of major reform plans, including Horace Mann Middle School, which reopened this fall as Trevista at Horace Mann, serving preschool through grade eight.

"We were already winding up to get the work done," Bennet told school board members during a Monday night briefing.

Other schools, however, shine under the new system.

McMeen Elementary is a 610-student school in southwest Denver where many students speak Spanish and Arabic. Its poverty rate - 77 percent of children are eligible for federal lunch aid - could be used as an excuse for poor performance.

Instead, the school combines solid test scores with one of DPS' top growth rates, ranking it among the 10 best elementaries in the city.

"The key to our success is our staff," said Principal Michael DeGuire. "They are so collaborative and so committed to helping every child succeed."

He said the new system gives even his data-driven teachers some food for thought. It folds in factors such as a student survey, for example, which showed concerns about bullying.

"It's so much more comprehensive than what we've had in the past," DeGuire said.

Another school, Steck Elementary in east Denver, is among the most affluent in DPS and typically is high in test score rankings. But Monday's ratings show the school also stands out in making progress with kids.

Ratings and consequences

Schools such as Steck and McMeen now can have greater freedom in how they implement their curriculum and in how they handle their budgets.

Principals of such high-rated schools are eligible for annual bonuses of up to $24,000 per year while teachers can receive bonuses of up to $12,000 per year.

Those schools at the other end of the ratings spectrum also are receiving more dollars in the form of grants and programs.

Tom Boasberg, DPS chief operating officer, said $4.7 million is being funneled into the lowest-performing schools, including $3.1 million of savings from the spring closure and consolidation of eight schools.

The other $1.6 million comes from the refinancing of DPS' pension debt. Much of that is being doled out in $100,000 chunks to fund extra help for struggling students.

In addition, up to 30 low-performing schools are implementing the intensive literacy plan Core Matters. And eight data analysts are working with 16 schools to focus instruction where it's needed most.

Schools labeled "on watch" or "on probation" are subject to staff changes and even closure if they continue to decline. Bennet said there is no timeline attached.

Federal and state accountability systems have "done a really good job of labeling schools," he said. "What I hope is this tool . . . puts the district and the schools in a position to get better, which is the objective."

Comments

  • September 16, 2008

    4:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    LOUIE writes:

    Must have upset someone at the Rocky, they wiped all the comments clean here. Sorry whoever got mad at us!

  • September 17, 2008

    3:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    cpd writes:

    When is anyone going to learn that throwing money at schools has not and won't solve a thing. Has anyone looked at what schools did in the 40's and 50's. Kids learned then and went forward to build a great country. The education system was the envy of the world. And they did it at a fraction of the real dollars that are spent today. But no; that's old time thinking. Now we have education bonds on most elections ballots to build bigger and better schools, we are taxed more and more (see Amendment 23) to pay better, lower teacher/student ratios, feed more kids, provide counseling, etc., and large numbers of kids are learning less. Time to rise up and bash the education bureaucracy with demands for good outcomes and then throw out those who don't perform.