3 District 11 schools under watch after ‘low performance’ on state assessments

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - District 11 leaders saying they are confident in a plan to get 3 schools out of "low-performance watch" by the Colorado Board of Education.

This comes after students from Adams Elementary School, Galileo Middle School, and Mitchell High School all placed low on student performance and growth state assessments. Each of those schools are now under priority improvement or turnaround status.

"The superintendent is very insistent that he has no plans to close schools," D11 executive director of engagement, Jessica Wise said.

Wise says these are schools that historically need more help, "We're talking about schools in neighborhoods that suffer a lot of hardship...these students are sometimes several years behind in their learning, not all students at the school, but some."

After the poor results came back, the schools and D11 Board of Education were required to create a unified school improvement plan.

After review by the Colorado Board of Education, the plan has now been approved.

However, one part of seeing academic improvement for students is having teachers there, "At schools that are lower performing, we typically see a higher staff turnover," Wise said.

D11 says they are almost to full staff in the schools under watch.

For the next year, they're focus will go towards the plan that was approved in a D11 board meeting on Wednesday.

The results of that plan will be seen when students test again in Spring 2025.