LPS students continue to outpace the Colorado state average on state assessment test scores and growth; 

Following the state trends, math scores continue to be a challenge overall; English Language Arts scores holding steady
 

Today, the Colorado Department of Education released last spring’s scores from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) tests and the PSAT/SAT. The Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) is the state’s common measurement of students’ progress at the end of the school year for students in grades three through eight in English language arts, math and science. The PSAT and SAT exams, taken by Colorado’s 9th-, 10th- and 11th-graders, are aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards and offer free, high-quality practice tools and scholarship opportunities. Ninth-graders and 10th-graders take the PSAT and 11th-graders take the SAT as the state college-entrance exam.

Student performance is based on the level of mastery of the state standards.  LPS’ curricula and instruction have been developed to align with the Colorado Academic Standards.  Ongoing classroom-level, building-level, and district-level assessments provide information about student achievement of LPS expectations. The results of these assessments help us determine the impact COVID had on student learning, meet the individual needs of students, and help us evaluate instructional programming and curriculum implementation.

What does the spring 2022 CMAS/PSAT/SAT data tell us?

• More LPS students took state assessment tests in 2022 than in 2021; far fewer students “opted out”.
• LPS students continue to outperform the state average in all areas. 
• Overall, LPS students continue to experience greater growth from one year to the next than the state average. It’s important to note that growth data this year is different than in years past as it spans multiple years in some cases.
• Overall, LPS student achievement results are on a similar trend to the state results and there are bright spots of high performance in individual schools and grade levels.
• LPS student growth in math is promising, outpacing growth at the state level and also outpacing growth in English language arts. However, the number of students scoring three or more levels below grade level in math is very small, but it is increasing. Math achievement continues to be an area of focus in LPS. 
• The majority of LPS 9th, 10th, and 11th graders who took College Board PSAT and SAT tests are on trajectory to meet college and career readiness, outpacing the state.
• LPS students overall are consistently scoring higher in English language arts than in math. English language arts scores are remaining steady.

Next steps

We are proud of our students and our teachers, as there is much to celebrate in this data. There are opportunities to replicate some of the best practices we have learned in English language arts and math. We will also carefully examine our state math scores along with other student performance data in math to determine gaps and specific areas for improvement. LPS has focused significant time and resources in math, and this data tells us that more work needs to be done. We will focus on the strategies being used to help students excel in math across the district and how we might replicate those strategies in more classrooms. We will also focus on how we can better support all school leaders and teachers as they dig into their data and make sense of it. Schools have already begun analyzing this data and are planning accordingly.

“Our teachers continue to engage in critical work during Professional Learning Communities every week. Digging into academic growth data, getting to know every child by name and need, and sharing best practices with one another is the work of PLCs,” said Assistant Superintendent of Learning Services Melissa Cooper. “Our teachers are excellent at pinpointing student needs.”