Press Release

CSAP Results Yield Some Progress
Among DPS Students

Academic improvement is evident among Denver Public Schools students in results released today under the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP).

The results will form a baseline for progress under new state accountability measures.

"Of course as a district we are not yet close to the level we know our students can reach," said Superintendent Jerry Wartgow. "There is progress worth noting and we need to build on that trend by using meaningful teaching strategies for those subject areas where students clearly struggled."

Among 11 sets of scores for tests administered in both 2000 and 2001, the students in DPS showed progress in seven.

Those seven included: third-grade reading scores (49 percent of students were proficient or advanced this year, up from 47 percent the previous year); third-grade Lectura (57 percent from 50 percent); fourth-grade reading (37 percent from 36 percent); fourth-grade Escritura (28 percent from 24 percent); fifth-grade mathematics (27 percent from 20 percent); and eighth-grade mathematics (13 percent from 12 percent).

Among other scores with year-to-year comparisons available, results dropped in fourth-grade Lectura (23 percent this year, down from 27 percent in 2000); fourth-grade writing (16 percent - 17 percent) and seventh-grade writing (17 percent - 21 percent).

In seventh-grade reading, scores were identical between the two years of tests (35 percent proficient or advanced). In addition, eighth-grade science scores were identical (19 percent proficient or advanced during both test years).

CSAP was administered for the first time this year in fifth-grade reading (38 percent of DPS students proficient or advanced); sixth-grade reading (36 percent); eighth-grade reading (37 percent); ninth-grade reading (34 percent); tenth-grade reading (35 percent); tenth-grade writing (23 percent); and tenth-grade mathematics (5 percent).

"Clearly we need to rethink and renew our instructional efforts in writing and mathematics," said Superintendent Wartgow. "We need to ensure that our expectations are high and that the learning techniques in use are proven ones. Our staff development for teachers needs to be organized and focused - and we will need to follow through to make sure that strategies are used. The new shape of the district organization, with four area superintendents working in the field to closely monitor each school, should lend itself to improved oversight of instruction."

Wartgow noted, however, that reading scores in middle and high schools also are unacceptably low.

Beth Celva, Director of Assessment and Testing, said new writing scores call for renewed attention. "Writing is clearly an area where we need to focus on how teachers have been trained, how writing is assessed, and how instruction is implemented," she said.

Superintendent Wartgow said individual schools that have fared well will serve as models for other schools where growth has proven difficult to jump-start.

Several scores posted by groups of minority students showed growth that outpaced progress for their classmates as a whole. Scores for black students in third grade reading grew from 39 percent proficient or above to 45 percent proficient or above - very close to the district average (49 percent). Hispanic (up three percentage points) and black seventh-graders (up six) also showed growth in seventh-grade reading.

And in fifth-grade mathematics, black student scores rose eight percentage points and Hispanic student scores climbed seven percentage points.

Overall, 75,600 CSAP scores were reported in DPS and 29 percent of those tests yielded scores that were proficient or above. That's an increase over last year's aggregate score (26 percent).

CSAP is designed to measure student achievement in relationship to the district's adopted content standards, which are at least as rigorous as the Colorado Model Content Standards. These standards are stated expectations that specify what students should know at particular points in their education. CSAP is designed to provide a series of snapshots of student achievement in reading, writing, math, and science as students move through grades 3 through 10.

Lectura and Escritura are Spanish alternatives of CSAP available only in third and fourth-grade.

Parents should consider CSAP scores for their children as one snapshot in a body of evidence to determine any child's level of academic achievement. Teacher grades, classroom tests, and scores on norm-referenced tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic of Skills also should be considered for a more complete picture of academic performance.

CSAP Results