The black trend line shows the average share of students meeting or exceeding expectations for a district with that demographic index. If dots are above the line it shows that those districts are performing better than the average district with similar demographics. If a dot is below the line it shows that those districts are performing worse than the average district with similar demographics. 

Explore more information about:

1. The Colorado Department of Education should continue to facilitate and expand opportunities for districts to convene with and learn from similar districts. In this report we highlight places where other districts might be able to turn to and find opportunities to learn from and with districts facing similar challenges. We believe the Colorado Department of Education is uniquely positioned to play a role as convener where districts that are similar can engage in dialogue to see how educators across the state are addressing the challenges they face. This would undoubtedly lead to unique learnings for the State as well. We hope that learnings from these convenings can be captured for practitioners, policymakers, and communities across the state.

2. The state and districts should be clear on what barriers to educational opportunities exist in their communities, and work to eliminate them. This report focused on identifying students experiencing homelessness in order to draw attention to the support that these students may need that are different from other students in stable housing. Understanding who our schools and districts serve is critical to ensuring that they are providing all students an equitable and excellent education. We strongly support continued focus on understanding student demographics, communities, and ensuring that the education system recognizes and supports our students’ backgrounds and experiences.

3. Colorado must direct investments in math education to rapidly increase achievement in mathematics. Over the past decade the state has made concerted efforts to build literacy in our elementary schools, knowing that this foundational tool allows students to become life-long learners. We believe that continuing to work towards increasing literacy rates is critical. However, stagnant math scores and an uncertain future of work underscore the need to invest in math education with an emphasis on raising outcomes for students across income, race and ethnicity to remove any existing achievement gaps.