ALAMOSA — The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) recently released the aggregated data on school performance for the 2022-2023 school year. Results for the Alamosa School District strongly point to one major takeaway.
Remember the Strategic Plan crafted by a collaboration involving 213 administrators, parents, teachers, students, community members, and leaders?
Remember school administrators’ philosophical statements translated into actions ranging from “all means all” to a supportive response to school shootings to healthy environmental classroom conditions that support learning instead of impeding it and creations of extraordinary initiatives like the Family Center — all integrated into a larger vision where teachers and students feel valued and safe and students can be successful?
Remember the emphasis on trends in growth over time just as much — if not more than — the total score on snapshot assessments that measure a student’s performance in a given test on a given day?
Remember all of that?
It’s working.
According to results of the 2022-2023 school year recently released by the CDE, Alamosa School District was one of only 70 school districts out of 182 (38%) in the state to be accredited by CDE for school year 2022-2023.
Several factors are included in designating a school district as being accredited, including academic performance on state testing, developing a performance plan that meets a specific framework determined by CDE, compliance with that framework, and how many students participate in taking the state tests.
While student performance in many other school districts continues to struggle after the pandemic, teachers and students in schools in ASD — most notably Alamosa Elementary School (AES) 3-5 and Ortega Middle School (OMS) — have not just picked up the pace, students have grown at an increase of anywhere from 15% to 20% in a single year. And, has been consistently true for the past decade, students at Alamosa High School continued with their same strong performance.
The Strategic Plan, carried out by educators, supported by parents, and engaged in by students is working.
“We meet the students where they are,” says Superintendent Diana Jones, “and we take them as far as we can. That’s our job. And with intentional and deliberate practice, the teachers and students really dug in last year with us and committed to working the (Strategic) Plan.”
The Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) is the standardized test used in the state to measure a student’s academic success. CMAS is aligned with the state’s rigorous academic standards for Math and English Language Arts (ELA) and is designed to gauge how well students are mastering those standards and are prepared for the next grade level.
Although it sounds complicated, the matrix is basic. There are two indicators — Academic Achievement and Academic Growth. Achievement refers to students’ mastery of Math or English Language Arts now, and Growth indicates if students are learning at a rate that indicates they will achieve mastery in the future.
There are also three rating levels for Growth in both subject areas — “Meets” (learning at the pace needed), “Approaching” (getting there but not there yet) and “Does Not Meet” (significant improvement is needed.)
In interviews with the Valley Courier and statements during Board of Education meetings, both Jones and ASD Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo have consistently emphasized that growth is just as important as achievement. Achievement simply does not happen without the pre-requisite growth that’s required.
According to CDE data, 66.1% of AES 3-5 students scored at the “Meets” level for Growth in both Math and ELA. How many students took the test — i.e. Participation — was also stunning with 94.8% of students showing up to school to test.
For perspective, in the 2021-2022 school year, AES 3-5 scored 39.3 out of 100 points (39.3%) which put the school in the Priority Improvement category. This year, AES 3-5 scored in the Performance category, rocketing to 58 points out of 100 (58%). That’s a two-category jump with an 18.7% increase in scores in a single year.
Students at OMS are also on the right track for success. In 2021-2022, OMS ranked in the “Turnaround Plan” category, scoring 32 out of 100 points (32%). That designation, the lowest on the scale, signals that the school was in significant need of change and a plan needed to be developed to, as the category implies, turn things around.
That turnaround happened in 2022-2023. In a single year, OMS shot up from 32% to 46.4% landing squarely in the Improvement Plan category, reflecting an increase of 14.4% and, like AES 3-5, a full two-category jump. That is just one category below “Performance”, the top designation on the scale.
“That’s huge,” says Jones. “A two-category jump post-COVID. That’s huge!”
In terms of Growth in Math and ELA, OMS students scored in the “Approaching” range, indicating they are on their way to being on track. And, similar to AES 3-5, the participation rate was in the mid-90s percentile with 93.5% of students taking the tests.
As has become their tradition, Alamosa High School (AHS) scored well as is indicated by “Meets” standards for postsecondary and workforce readiness and an extraordinary 6-year average graduation rate of 96.9%.
“We’re working the plan that was created with parents and we’re starting to see success,” says Murillo. “We’re happy but we’re not satisfied. We look forward to partnering with parents so that we continue to have success next year and the next year after that and so on.”
“It’s important that we’re following the Strategic Plan and really focusing on those things that are academic,” says Jones. “But we’re also focused on those things that are for the whole child and for the community in creating the conditions for people to be successful. Our plan is to continue on that positive trajectory.
“And we’re so grateful,” Jones continues. “We asked parents to continue to send their students to school because we can help them so much more when the kids are right there in front of us, face to face.”
Although school has just started, according to Murillo, ASD is positioned to be successful in 2023-2024. The district is fully staffed with teachers, some who are new teachers and many who have stayed on. And reflective of the district’s commitment to the “whole child” approach, AES 3-5, OMS, and AHS all have three counselors on staff and on-site, some who are positioned to provide assistance with mental health, some who assist students in classrooms and some who provide guidance counseling, especially in high school where students are thinking about graduation and the next steps to take in their lives.
“We think it’s going to be a really good year,” Murillo says. “We’re very excited.”
