Thomas B. Fordham Institute - Advancing Educational Excellence

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?

November 1, 2006

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science. In addition, most states making significant achievement gains--including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas--are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results.

View the press release for this report

Contents

Colorado


 


 

Due for a Reform Makeover

Colorado is a study in contrasts, with its dusty Great Plains towns and its towering Rocky Mountains peaks, its big-city capital and its bucolic ski country. So it is too with its approach to school reform, where Colorado tends to be either a national leader or a laggard. However, this hot-and-cold approach is not getting the job done for the state's most disadvantaged students.

First the good news: when it comes to school choice, Colorado is a mile high. The state's strong charter laws-which encourage startups, permit virtual schools, and provide better funding than most states-have facilitated the establishment of more than 100 charters enrolling more than 5 percent of all kids in the state, among the country's largest ratios. In 2004, the law was further strengthened with the establishment of the Charter School Institute, which can authorize charter schools in reluctant districts. And, on the whole, Colorado's charter schools tend to be pretty effective, outperforming noncharters on state tests in fourth grade and eighth grade. Many of these excellent schools use the Core Knowledge curriculum-pushing Colorado's usage of this content-rich approach to the top of the pack.

The bad news: Colorado's implementation of standards-based reform is mediocre at best. Not much has changed since 1997, when Governor Roy Romer, a Democrat, initiated it. The state's academic standards, moreover, received a C- from Fordham Foundation reviewers for their disappointing content; and the system continues to lack real accountability measures. "Now we have standards and assessments with really weak consequences," says Phil Gonring of the Rose Community Foundation.

That charge is not entirely fair. After all, the Colorado legislature passed a law in 2000 that permits state lawmakers to reconstitute failing schools or turn them into charter schools. Under this provision, Denver's Cole Middle School was handed over to the acclaimed Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) in 2005, and only a year later was showing dramatic gains in reading and math proficiency.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act provided additional accountability, but the state chose to set its proficiency levels in reading and math at levels that are among the least rigorous in the country. This means it is relatively easy for schools to make adequate yearly progress under the law-with disastrous consequences for the achievement of poor and minority students.

Consider Colorado's performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The percentage of low-income, Hispanic, and African-American children reaching NAEP's definition of proficiency or above in reading, math, and science is almost always in the teens-or worse. Most disturbing, Colorado is one of thirteen states not to have made any statistically significant progress with these students over the past decade or so.

Meanwhile, Colorado's achievement gap between whites and Hispanics is growing in both reading and math; now that Hispanic students make up 25 percent of Colorado's public school population, these trends spell major trouble ahead for the state's economy. 

Yes, some schools and districts have made individual efforts at reform. Two high schools in Denver, for instance, have decided to raise expectations of students and adults by requiring all seniors to apply to college before they graduate.

Another promising development is Denver's experiment to attract better teachers by paying them based on performance rather than seniority. The district tested the program for four years before it requested and passed a $25 million levy to make it permanent. The program incorporates bonuses and permanent pay increases based in part on student achievement, teacher knowledge and skills, hard-to-staff positions, and annual teacher evaluations.

Gonring believes that Denver has the most progressive pay system in America and that the city is able to compensate teachers far better than any other metro district. "With the right governor we have the chance to lead the nation in this area," he says. Perhaps, but other states such as Florida and Texas are quickly catching up. Houston may already be well ahead of Denver.

Douglas County, just south of Denver, is focusing on teacher quality and has requested waivers from the state board that would allow the district to license its own teachers. A spokesperson for Douglas County said there is a need for more flexible hiring practices, especially since the district wants to offer courses, such as Arabic, that have no state endorsement categories.

The district also wants to recruit mid-career professionals into the classroom. If a professional engineer, for example, wants to teach one course a year, there is no mechanism in the state's system to allow this. "A professional who wants to maintain his day job while teaching a class isn't going to jump through a bunch of hoops," says the spokesperson. A final answer to the request is not expected until later in 2006.

Despite these promising reforms, Colorado needs to do much more to address its growing achievement gap. Why is it so hesitant? Commissioner of Education William Moloney explains that his state is devoted to "local control" in education matters.  And though a long line of governors and legislators have been active in education reform, the precarious political balance in the state has led to much gridlock, especially in recent years. Meanwhile, the task of developing education initiatives and driving change is in the hands of district superintendents.

Unfortunately, "the pool of great district administrators is not good," says Jim Griffin, who heads the Colorado League of Charter Schools. "These are tough jobs with unrealistic job descriptions. The system is set up to award seniority when really what many of these districts need are entrepreneurial go-getters. Incentives are not there to attract, create, and encourage boldness."

Moloney agrees: "Leadership is at a premium."

Indeed. Colorado is in need of leadership that welcomes rigorous standards and serious accountability, just as the state has embraced high-quality charter schools and innovations in teacher pay. Here is hoping the coming years will not be a dry season for that kind of reform.

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