Durango School District 9-R was recently recognized for the academic growth of some students in English and language arts.
Compared with 76 districts across the state, the district was in the top five for academic growth of Latino and multiracial students in English and language arts in 2016, according to a report by A plus Colorado. The report ranked districts with more than 1,000 students.
“It demonstrates some of our hard work,” district spokeswoman Julie Snider-Popp said.
The district also was in the top five for growth of students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in English and language arts.
The push toward improving writing within the district started five years ago, and it was integrated across other subjects so students would have more opportunity to practice those skills, Snider-Popp said.
The district added staff at the middle and high school levels over the last five years to do interventions for those who were not performing at grade level.
The interventions are more targeted to the student’s needs, she said.
Each school decides which specialists to hire or retain each year. For example, the district may hire staff members to help students who are learning English.
“It really is in their hands because they are intimate with their school, and they’re intimate with their students and their staffing needs,” Snider-Popp said.
The district also has teachers who work as coaches for other teachers across the district, and these roles evolve every year, Snider-Popp said.
Graduation rates were another highlight for Durango. The district increased its four-year graduation rate by 10 points from 73 percent to 83 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to recently released numbers.
The district did not rank high for improvements in math or for the academic growth of its students on free and reduced-price lunch.
The district is focusing on math, and it has a teacher focused on helping other teachers develop math lessons.
The nonprofit A Plus Colorado put out the report to help state lawmakers and districts across the state see which districts are doing the best work with students of different ethnicities and incomes, said Executive Director Van Schoales.
“Sometimes the averages mask what may be going on in that particular school district,” he said.
The research-focused organization did not find any patterns associated with rural versus urban school districts, he said.
“There weren’t any strong patterns. We saw high performers in every part of the state,” he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
