{"id":74092,"date":"2019-08-23T18:23:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T00:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-bayfield-schools-focus-on-improvement-after-state-testing\/"},"modified":"2019-08-24T00:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T00:23:06","slug":"ignacio-bayfield-schools-focus-on-improvement-after-state-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-bayfield-schools-focus-on-improvement-after-state-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio, Bayfield schools focus on improvement after state testing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield and Ignacio school districts received their fifth annual Colorado Measures of Academic Success scores Aug. 15. Both districts face challenges and achieved growth based on the scores.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Colorado Department of Education has released spring testing results, prompting the Ignacio and Bayfield school districts to focus on improving student growth during the coming school year.<\/p>\n

About 550,000 students in third through 11th grade took the assessments last spring in the fifth year of Colorado Measures of Academic Success testing. The scores, released Aug. 15, affect school rankings within the state, teacher assessments and more. Overall, the districts continue to see education gaps and opportunities for growth among their student populations, but they also see areas of success.<\/p>\n

After almost five years with a priority improvement ranking, Ignacio Elementary School moved into a higher ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we were shooting for, so we are very happy with our test scores,\u201d said Kathryn Pokorney, Ignacio School District curriculum and assessment director. The result comes from the state\u2019s preliminary rankings which will be finalized in December.<\/p>\n

The priority improvement ranking is second from the lowest, and it requires more monitoring from the state. The school will now enter a two-year probationary period during which it will have to maintain its higher ranking.<\/p>\n

In the Ignacio School District as a whole, student growth in math was at or above 50%, the state median in almost all student population categories. In English language arts, most growth scores were below 50%, with the lowest at 38% for fourth graders. Student growth scores track individual student achievement across time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize that we\u2019re low-performing when it comes to achievement, and we have issues there,\u201d Pokorney said. \u201cWe strive to hit the 50th percentile of growth, and we\u2019re seeing that in almost all of our categories.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Bayfield School District, educators are focused on decreasing learning gaps for historically disadvantaged populations, a need felt at the state level as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is gratifying to see such accomplishments in the performance of so many students across the state, but it is still difficult to see large groups of students who are not advancing as they should,\u201d said Katy Anthes, Colorado education commissioner, in a news release. \u201cStudents from historically disadvantaged groups are not making the gains necessary to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Bayfield School District math program, students on free-and-reduced lunch or English language learners scored around 45% of the state median growth. Students with individualized education plans scored at 29% of the median.<\/p>\n

In English language arts, students on free-and-reduced lunch or English language learners scored between 48% and 56%. Students with individualized education plans scored at 41% of the median.<\/p>\n

For students with individualized learning plans, \u201cour goal is to increase their achievement across the board,\u201d said Kevin Aten, Bayfield School District superintendent. \u201cWe\u2019re not happy with the progress of those students.\u201d<\/p>\n

In general, the district has seen good math and literacy growth, he said. However, teachers and staff are focusing on addressing those performance gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose (gaps) have been our consistent goals, and we\u2019re not wavering from that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The testing can be challenging for schools, and educators can face hurdles improving student scores.<\/p>\n

For example, a school\u2019s performance could be tied to decisions as specific as spreading testing out over time or conducting it all in one week.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The testing) feels like such a high-stakes environment. It doesn\u2019t exactly encourage risk-taking,\u201d said Bill Hesford, Bayfield Intermediate School principal. The school tried doing all of the tests in the same week, but Hesford isn\u2019t certain it was a good idea.<\/p>\n

There, students scored below 50% of the state median for math and English language arts in almost every student population category.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the main challenge around these testing situations with students at this age is getting students to do their best work in a not-so-engaging format,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Ignacio district\u2019s biggest challenge is getting more students to attend school regularly. The district\u2019s goal is to have 95% of students attending regularly. Currently, attendance hovers around 90%, depending on the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of hard work on the part of everybody \u2013 teachers, administrators, parents and students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Overall, educators emphasized that CMAS scores are one assessment during the year and one way to measure growth. The districts are doing intentional work around positive school climate and culture, social-emotional learning and responsiveness to student needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTest scores are important, but they\u2019re not everything,\u201d Hesford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of other things that schools in this part of the state are doing that don\u2019t get measured and reported.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student growth ranked in math, language arts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[731,155,1235],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield","tag-education","tag-ignacio"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74092","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=74092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74092"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}