Results
Prior to joining the Aurora Public Schools, Dr. Rodríguez served as superintendent of schools for the Roaring Fork School District, serving 5,800 students across 14 schools in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, and Basalt, Colorado. Below he shares some academic successes from the 2022-23 school year.
Every spring all public school districts in Colorado administer the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) to all 3rd-8th grade students in language arts and mathematics. One can say that CMAS is every 3rd-8th grade students' annual "big race." There are five performance levels that a student can achieve:
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Does Not Yet Meet Expectations (650-699)
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Partially Met Expectations (700-724)
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Approached Expectations (725-749)
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Met Expectations (750-799)
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Exceeded Expectations (800-850)
In 2023, only 43.7% of students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts (ELA) and 32.9% in mathematics. As with most school districts across Colorado, these performance levels are lower than pre COVID results. Even more concerning than the fact that less than half of all students in Colorado are meeting or exceeding expectations on CMAS are the differences in achievement between white students and Students of Color.
Across Colorado, in 2023, only 26% of Hispanic students and 27.7% of Black students met or exceeded expectations on ELA while 55.6% of white students did; in mathematics 16.1% of Hispanic students, 16.8% of Black students, and 44% of white students met or exceeded expectations.
This graphic shows the 30 largest school districts in Colorado from largest (Denver) to smallest (Roaring Fork) and their respective changes in percentages of students meeting or exceeding expectations from 2019 (pre COVID) to 2022 (post COVID).
As indicated in this graphic, Roaring Fork had the 4th largest decrease in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on English language arts at 6.3% during this time.
In stark contrast to the graphic above, this graphic demonstrates that Roaring Fork had the largest increase in students meeting or exceeding expectations from 2022 to 2023 (+3.1%).
This graphic demonstrates that from 2022 to 2023, Roaring Fork had the greatest decrease in the percentage of students in the lowest performance band, does not yet meet expectations (-5.4%).
The Colorado Department of Education’s District Performance Framework assigns ratings based on student achievement and growth on state assessments, graduation rates, drop-out rates, college entrance exams, and college matriculation exams.
There are 5 ratings:
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Red / Turnaround
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Orange / Priority Improvement
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Yellow / Improvement
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Green / Accredited
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Blue / Distinction
The color of the bar for each district is their 2023 rating.
Roaring Fork earned a green rating in 2023, which was an improved rating from 2022, and increased by 4.3% (which was the second highest change across the 30 largest districts in Colorado).
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13 districts earned more points
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2 districts earned an improved rating
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25 districts maintained their rating
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15 districts are rated green or blue
