Students meet state expectations across all grade levels in Reading, Writing and Math  

Poudre School District achieved “Accredited” status through the Colorado Department of Education’s (CDE) accountability process for the third consecutive year. The five district rating levels are: Accredited with Distinction, Accredited, Accredited with Improvement, Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with Turnaround Plan. All results are preliminary until finalized by CDE and approved by the PSD Board of Education later this year.

The CDE Performance Framework measures student outcomes in academic achievement, academic growth, academic growth gaps (growth for specific groups of students) and postsecondary/workforce readiness. It also looks at test participation. Each indicator is given a rating of Exceeds, Meets, Approaching or Does Not Meet based on the number of points earned in each area.

In 2012, PSD maintained its ratings in the four key performance indicators that are the basis of the Performance Framework Report. PSD had a “Meets”requirements rating in all areas except academic growth gaps which remained at “Approaching.”

“These ratings are a testament to the hard work and dedication of PSD staff and students,”said Interim Superintendent Dr. Nancy Wright. “The entire community should be proud of the high quality instruction happening in our classrooms and what our students are learning and achieving.”

This is CDE’s third year of implementing the revised accreditation processes that are required by the 2009 Education Accountability Act. The Performance Framework Report summarizes districts’ progress on the 2012 TCAP, CELA, dropout rates, graduation rates and the ACT.

In addition to giving PSD an overall status and rating the district in terms of the four key performance indicators, the Performance Framework Reports also indicate how each school performed on the same key performance indicators in 2012 and awards each school a plan type based on their outcomes. Possible school plan types include Performance Plan, Improvement Plan, Priority Improvement Plan and Turnaround Plan. Forty-seven of fifty PSD schools attained the Performance Plan status. At the elementary level, almost all schools maintained their performance rating and Putnam Elementary jumped from Turnaround to Performance.  Lab School dipped into Improvement.

Middle Schools demonstrated strong gains with all schools maintaining their 2011 ratings. At High School, the only school to slip in terms of accreditation ratings was Poudre School District Global Academy, due to lack of participation, not performance.

PSD continued to make strides in Post-secondary workforce, maintaining a graduation rate of 85.9%, the highest rate in 6 years and an increase from 84.7% in 2011. The dropout rate stayed steady at 1.3%. The ACT composite score jumped to 22.1 from 21.5 in 2011,  outpacing both the state and national averages.

Lastly, several schools are listed as Alternative Education Campuses, which means they are not a traditional, comprehensive school. AEC designated schools are rated on the four key performance indicators of academic achievement, academic growth, student engagement and postsecondary workforce readiness. AEC plan assignment types are the same as traditional schools.

Centennial High School and Poudre Community Academy, both of which serve transitional, mobile populations with different types of challenges than the comprehensive high schools, fall under the AEC plans, which have not been released.

The Performance Frameworks are one tool in PSD’s arsenal of resources to help students achieve. The district continues to work closely with all schools to improve student outcomes. Administration continues to refine the Unified Improvement Plan to encompass all efforts to improve teaching and learning in all classrooms. The Unified Improvement Plan will be presented to the Board of Education later this year.

For more information, review the district's  2012 Performance Framework Report and the 2012 performance plan assignments by school.