{"id":96351,"date":"2019-01-04T18:14:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T01:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-middle-school-scores-improve-in-reading-math\/"},"modified":"2019-01-04T18:14:02","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T01:14:02","slug":"ignacio-middle-school-scores-improve-in-reading-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-middle-school-scores-improve-in-reading-math\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio Middle School scores improve in reading, math"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ignacio
Ignacio Middle School staff gather in front of the school at the start of the school year. State test results have improved over 2017.<\/span>Courtesy of Ignacio Middle School<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Ignacio Middle School is celebrating a quiet victory in the middle of the school year. The school\u2019s state CMAS scores in math and English in 2018 made significant improvements over 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows high academic growth across the board,\u201d said Principal Chris deKay. \u201cOur staff understands the real need of meeting kids at their individual working level.\u201d<\/p>\n

IMS students scored 61 in English Language Arts in the spring of 2018, compared with a score of 50 for all students in Colorado. It was also a significant improvement over last year\u2019s score of 45.<\/p>\n

Math was close behind, with a score of 60, also an improvement over 2017\u2019s score of 48.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Ignacio\u2019s scores improved enough to move the district off of the \u201caccountability clock,\u201d meaning the Colorado Department of Education was no longer monitoring the district for a possible takeover by the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of professional development,\u201d said Ignacio Superintendent Rocco Fuschetto of the district-wide improvements in testing results. \u201cIt\u2019s going through the data and asking, \u2018Are the kids making progress or not?\u2019 That\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the focus on academics, there\u2019s a social and emotional component that is important for learning as well, deKay said.<\/p>\n

Particularly in middle school, students need to learn the importance of resiliency and kindness, he said. Those traits aren\u2019t measured by state tests, but they\u2019re important for student success. The district\u2019s Character Counts programs, along with a Multi Tier Support System, create an atmosphere where student success is valued.<\/p>\n

Fuschetto said the district\u2019s building program from 2012 to 2015 is an important factor in student success, as well. The new middle school building and revamped elementary and high schools are facilities the community \u2013 and its students \u2013 can be proud of.<\/p>\n

Ignacio is a small district. There are 725 students in all grades, with 190 of them at IMS. The staff works hard, but like many other small, rural districts, staff leaving for higher-paying jobs elsewhere is an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some turnover this year,\u201d deKay said.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the improving scores, all IMS staff received a new jacket this fall to thank them for their efforts in educating local students.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we\u2019ll keep going,\u201d Fuschetto said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

District credits success to professional development, student character programs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[2765],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-96351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-ignacio-school-district-11-jt"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96351","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=96351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96351"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=96351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}