{"id":103790,"date":"2017-09-02T16:56:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-02T22:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-announces-district-is-almost-off-the-clock\/"},"modified":"2017-09-02T16:56:27","modified_gmt":"2017-09-02T22:56:27","slug":"montezuma-cortez-announces-district-is-almost-off-the-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-announces-district-is-almost-off-the-clock\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez announces district is almost \u2018off the clock\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Montezuma-Cortez school district is accredited under a two-year pathways plan for improvement, which focuses on improvement in PARCC test scores in English and math.<\/span>Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Superintendent Lori Haukeness announced Wednesday that the Montezuma-Cortez district is close to moving off the accreditation accountability clock after an estimated overall 6-point improvement.<\/p>\n

The district is 1.6 points away from moving off the clock, according to preliminary accreditation ratings released Aug. 25 by the Colorado Department of Education.<\/p>\n

Among the district\u2019s schools, Cortez Middle School, and Manaugh and Mesa elementary schools could face state intervention if preliminary ratings don\u2019t improve.<\/p>\n

The state required improvement plans after low accreditation ratings from the Colorado Department of Education in fall 2016. The district is currently accredited under a two-year pathways plan for improvement, which focuses on improvement in PARCC test scores in English and math.<\/p>\n

According to state Senate Bill 163, passed in 2009, districts and schools can spend five consecutive years at the two lowest tiers \u2014 \u201cpriority improvement\u201d and \u201cturnaround\u201d \u2014 before they face intervention from the state board. To move off the \u201caccountability clock,\u201d the district has to obtain an accreditation rating of \u201cimprovement\u201d or \u201cperformance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manaugh\u2019s rating declined from \u201cpriority improvement\u201d to \u201cturnaround.\u201d Mesa and the middle school improved their ratings from \u201cturnaround\u201d to \u201cpriority improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Districts that are out of time on the accountability clock must submit a turnaround proposal to the state. Proposals may include several options, such as district consolidation, school closures and outside consulting.<\/p>\n

Re-1 district officials have worked with the University of Virginia on a turnaround program for the past three years and plan to work with the district for the next two years. District and CDE officials, as well as state board members, agreed it\u2019s in the best interest for the district to continue working with UVA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went before the (state) board in the spring, and our pathways plan was approved for two years,\u201d Carol Mehesy, director of School Improvements and Grants, told The Journal. \u201cThey have been supporting us for three years, and now they are supporting us through this pathways plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accreditation ratings for elementary and middle schools are based on standardized state test results. Ratings for high schools are based on standardized state testing, SAT scores, dropout and graduation rates, and enrollment rates in college or technical school after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to see that the district improvement efforts and hard work of our teachers and principals are building momentum in our district as evidenced by these results,\u201d Haukeness said in the news release. \u201cWe recognize that we still have work to do and are committed to reaching a performance level of accreditation and becoming a district of excellence for our students and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado state\u2019s point system is technical, according to Mehesy. She explained in an interview that the scales do not equate to a percentile or an A, B, or C grading scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state looks at overall academic achievement and overall academic growth across elementary, middle and high school, and they look at what they call post-secondary workforce readiness, which is things like graduation, dropout rates, SAT, and what they call \u2018matriculation\u2019, which is what kids do once they get out of school,\u201d Mehesy said. \u201cSo they look at all of that data together across all the schools, and they look at it at the kid level, as in how are the kids doing, and then that rolls up into their overall ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccredited with \u2018performance\u2019 is the ultimate goal, but to get off the clock, we need to be at accredited with \u2018improvement,\u2019\u201d Mehesy said. \u201cWe are 1.6 points away from accredited with \u2018improvement\u2019 accreditation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ratings are preliminary and the districts must either affirm or challenge the ratings before they are finalized in January 2018.<\/p>\n

\n

School ratings<\/h4>\n

The Montezuma-Cortez school district\u2019s preliminary rankings, according to Carol Mehesy, director of School Improvements and Grants.
\n A school moves off the accountability clock with a rating of \u201cimprovement\u201d or \u201cperformance distinction.\u201d
\n Lewis Elementary: \u201cImprovement\u201d (no change).
\n Mesa Elementary: \u201cPriority improvement\u201d (improved from \u201cturnaround\u201d).
\n Manaugh Elementary: \u201cTurnaround\u201d (declined from \u201cpriority improvement\u201d).
\n Kemper Elementary: \u201cImprovement\u201d (declined from \u201cperformance\u201d).
\n Kiva school: \u201cPerformance\u201d (no change).
\n Battlerock school: Not rated (insufficient data).
\n Cortez Middle School: \u201cPriority improvement\u201d (improved, and is .3 points away from an \u201cimprovement\u201d rating).
\n Montezuma-Cortez High School: \u201cImprovement\u201d (improved, and is 1.7 points from a \u201cperformance\u201d rating).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

District less than 2 points from goal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-103790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103790"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=103790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}