Castle Pines North Schools Make the Grade
Colorado school report cards have been published in the local media, and across the board CPN schools performed at the top. Compared to other districts in the state, the entire Douglas County School District DCSD ranked with top performing schools in 2005.
The report is based on two different categories – overall academic performance, which measures the CSAP scores and 11th grade ACT scores for a single year; and academic growth of students, which is based on a comparison of individual CSAP results from one year to the next.
In 2005, the CPN schools ratings were as follows:
Rock Canyon High School received an “excellent” rating for overall academic performance and a “stable” in academic growth of students.
Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) received an “excellent” for overall academic performance and “stable” in academic growth of students. RHMS is the only neighborhood (non-charter) middle school in Douglas County to achieve an excellent rating.
Timber Trail Elementary received an “excellent” rating for overall academic performance and a “significant improvement” in academic growth of students.
Buffalo Ridge Elementary (BRE) in previous years, earned an “excellent” for overall academic performance, but due to a testing administration error, received a “high” rating in 2005. For academic growth the school was rated as “stable”.
The error occurred when a teacher inadvertently gave faulty instructions to students on one test question in a section of the CSAP test. Despite BRE promptly reporting the error, the Colorado Department of Education chose to nullify the entire test section resulting in a score of zero. Had the state invalidated only the question where the error occurred, BRE would have again received an “excellent” rating based on the raw test results prior to nullifying the disputed section.
To view the DCSD ONE report, which contains CSAP information and school rankings for all Douglas County Schools, go to: www1.dcsdk12.org/ResourceLibrary/theONEreport2005.pdf
