CBCS receives highest marks on state’s annual report card

“High” and “excellent”

The state’s 2007 School Accountability Report was released on Wednesday, December 5 and the Crested Butte Community middle and high schools received "excellent" marks, the state’s highest rating.

Community School elementary grades 1 through 5 received an overall ranking of "high."
The Colorado Department of Education issues academic "report cards" for all public schools each year in December. The report is meant to give parents and the community a statewide measurement on a school’s overall academic performance and improvements.
It also provides a grade-by-grade review of a school’s academic performance in reading, writing and math on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), a staff breakdown by grade, teacher-to-student ratio, and professional experience of the teachers and salaries.
The ratings for overall academic performance are excellent, high, average, low or unsatisfactory.  No school in the district is rated at the unsatisfactory level.
Gunnison RE1J school district acting superintendent Jon Nelson says overall he’s pleased with the district’s performance. The Gunnison Elementary School received an "average" ranking, while the Gunnison High School and Middle School earned "high" and "average" scores, respectively.
"We’re doing well on testing, which is contributing to the ratings for high and excellent," he says. "As you take a look at it, you don’t see significant declines and we had improvement in areas, as well."
Nelson says the report card is a handy tool for parents and those who are thinking about moving into the area. With good ratings on the report card, "It makes the decision to come a lot easier," he says.
In Crested Butte, the high school showed slight declines from the previous year in academic growth—something that isn’t too alarming, according to Nelson. "It’s hard to say whether it’s a good or bad thing because you’re dealing with such a small population," he says. "A few kids can make that swing one way or another." The middle and elementary schools’ academic growth was listed as "stable."
Dr. Chris Purkiss, Director of Curriculum and Assessment said that "SAR’s are often called school or district report cards. In Crested Butte the high school has maintained an ‘excellent’ rating with regards to overall academic performance and the middle school moved to an ‘excellent’ rating this year which we are of course excited about."
Purkiss also says that, "Gunnison Middle School did move from a rating of ‘high’ to that of ‘average’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean a large drop in achievement.  We knew that some CSAP scores had declined this year even though we are above the state average in 23 of the 25 tests administered."  
School Accountability Report cards for each public school are available at the website of the Colorado Department of Education at www.cde.state.co.us.