APS Teammates,

Welcome back to another year, the 2008-2009 school year of “Refinement”. This is the year we build greater capacity on last year’s initiatives.

The Colorado Department of Education released CSAP results yesterday, and we have great news in APS. You can read a summary of this information below.

I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you for what you do for our students. I am so honored to be your Superintendent and we are clearly validating our strategic plan with these results. I will have a chance to talk to you all on August 4th at 8:15 am via a teleconference and webinar.

I hope you all had a chance for a restful vacation. I am very excited about this year because we are going to do even greater things for our Kids.

We have “Picked up the PACE” and are now “PACESetters”. Well done Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,
John L. Barry
APS Superintendent

View a printable version of this summary.

Aurora Public Schools
2007-08 State Assessment Results and Highlights
Division of Instruction/Division of Accountability & Research

• APS posted overall gains for 2008, with the largest number of significant year to year gains by grade and subject in six years.
  • At the CDE press conference on July 29th, there were only 4 districts recognized by the Commissioner for growth and APS was one. The Governor and Lt. Gov. also recognized APS in their comments.
• APS proficiency scores have recovered to the level they were in 2002.
  • Significant: In 2002, APS had 52% fewer ELL students and 25% fewer students qualifying for free/reduced lunch-these data points make this year’s growth even more significant
• APS made this record growth in a year of incredible transformational initiatives that would rival any in the Country. APS beat the State in the following areas:
  • In overall growth we beat the State by over 1 % where last year we tied the State average
  • We beat the State in Reading, Writing, Math and Science-first time in APS history
  • In the 27 CSAP tests, we beat the State in 21 of the 27 tests for Math, Reading, Writing and Science
  • Conclusion: we are closing in on the State proficiency average
• Significant: We did not see an implementation dip in an incredible year of implementation. The losses we saw were the same as the losses at the state
• For CSAP 2007, 9 schools had an overall increase near or at 3%.
• For CSAP 2008, 21 schools had an overall increase near or at 3%
  • Arkansas, Aurora Frontier, Aurora Hills, Boston, Century, Clyde Miller, Crawford, Dartmouth, Fletcher, Jewell — 2nd year, Lansing, Laredo, Lotus, Murphy Creek — 2nd year, North, Rangeview, Sable, Quest, Tollgate — 2nd year, West, William Smith, Yale
• Gains in the percent of proficient and advanced scores were noted in each content area.
  • Elementary
    • Gr. 4 W (+7)
    • Gr. 5 W (+5)
    • Gr. 5 M (+4)
    • Gr. 5 S (+3)
  • Middle School
    • Gr. 6 R (+5)
    • Gr. 8 R (+3)
    • Gr. 8 W (+3)
    • Gr. 8 M (+5)
  • High School
    • Gr. 9 W (+3)
    • Gr. 9 M (+6)
• Losses were also spread across the content areas.
  • Gr.4 M (-3%)
  • Gr. 7 M (-5%)
  • Gr. 10 W (-5)
  • Gr. 8 S (-3)
• Gains seen across most ethnic groups were consistent with the overall district gains.
  • Conclusion: we are making progress on closing the achievement gap

View a printable version of this summary.