Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs schools finished well above state Colorado Student Assessment Program averages that were released Wednesday.

"We are very pleased with how we did overall. It's important to remember these are very rigorous tests with high standards," said Kelly Stanford, director of content standards for the Steamboat Springs School District.

Grades 3 through 10 took the CSAPs this year.

The scores reflect consistency and improvement in teaching methods and practices.

"Our kids are showing improvement in the last few years," said John DeVincentis, principal of Strawberry Park Elementary. "The teachers work hard and plan a lot. It's good to see the hard work pay off."

District scores were highest in reading, ranging from 74 percent to 90 percent proficiency. The state reading average is from 59 percent to 72 percent.

Strawberry Park continued to have high reading scores this year. The third-grade proficiency was at 92 percent, fourth grade was at 89 and fifth grade was at 87.

DeVincentis said Strawberry Park is working on ways to improve students' skills in math. Although Strawberry Park received an 80 percent proficiency in math for fifth-graders, it was one of the lowest scores for the school.

Overall, Strawberry Park scored higher than Soda Creek.

Soda Creek Principal Judy Harris said she has been working with DeVincentis to align the curriculum between both schools.

"Achievement at Soda Creek has always been exceptional," Harris said. She said in working with DeVincentis, the goal is to develop consistent learning standards in each school and classroom.

Harris said she will use the scores to concentrate on subjects needing improvement but doesn't want to neglect other areas of the curriculum not tested in the CSAPs.

Soda Creek had a high level of proficiency in reading, and the fourth-grade writing scores increased from 53 percent to 76 percent proficiency.

"I'm proud of all of our teachers that build all the skills that show up. We have found some keys in fourth-grade curriculum," Harris said.

Steamboat Springs Middle School performed well in writing, science and math.

Middle School Principal Tim Bishop said the school has had trouble increasing the math and science scores over the past two years. This year, however, the scores jumped significantly, with the eighth-grade math scores increasing from 54 percent to 60 percent proficiency and the science score increasing to 78 percent proficiency from 63 percent. Bishop said he is thrilled with the outcome.

The seventh-grade reading scores dropped from 89 percent proficiency to 74 percent.

"We need to look at what we did different," Bishop said. He said the CSAP is a starting point for evaluating the effectiveness of a program.

For all schools, math scores were the lowest but still higher than the state average.

This year the 10th-grade math scores increased from 18 percent proficiency to 38 percent. In addition to the increase in math proficiency, the 10th-grade writing proficiency increased from 62 percent to 71 percent. The high school had reading scores consistent with the previous year, and overall students performed extremely well in comparison to the state averages.

All the principals and teachers are anxiously awaiting the more detailed CSAP reports that break down how individual students performed as well as give detailed information on areas students either struggled or did well in.