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The Colorado Department of Education has released Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) test scores from the spring of 2023.
Overall, English Language Arts (ELA) and math scores improved at the state level slightly for third to eighth grade students.
0.5% more students met or exceeded expectations in ELA and 1.4% more students met or exceeded expectations in math.
That small growth is consistent at the local level for school districts in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys.
The Aspen School District (ASD) and Roaring Fork School District (RFSD) both showed improvement in the two subjects compared to 2022 scores.
However, students from Garfield RE-2 School District (RE-2) did worse in ELA compared to last year, and fewer students met or exceeded expectations in math this year at the Garfield County School District 16 (Garfield-16).
Despite these mixed results, the four school districts are all still lagging behind pre-pandemic performance in the two subjects.
The only exception is ASD performed better in math this year compared to 2019 scores.
ASD students also scored higher than statewide averages in both math and ELA.
But a smaller percentage of students in RFSD, RE-2, and Garfield-16 met or exceeded expectations than the statewide average in ELA and math.
While this data compares school districts based on the average results of students in all grades three to eight, some grades performed better than others in different subjects.
For example, in RFSD, third graders failed to meet grade level expectations at a higher rate than 4th graders in ELA.
Achievement gaps between demographics
CMAS standardized tests provide insight into how well students in grades three to eight are meeting grade-level expectations, but they also show how racial and economic divides play into academic performance.
The 2023 results show a pronounced gap between Latino and white student achievement.
Specifically in ELA in three local school districts.
In the Roaring Fork School District (RFSD), almost a quarter of Latino students did not meet grade-level expectations. (The state refers to this demographic group as Hispanic.)
That’s compared to just 4.8% of white students.
In a press statement on Aug. 17, RFSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus Rodriguez said, “Our post-pandemic 2022 baseline assessment results clearly highlighted that our work is to narrow the difference in achievement between subgroups of students and to elevate the achievement of every single one of our students. I am proud of our talented staff for moving student achievement in the right direction across our district.”
Farther downvalley, in RE-2 and Garfield-16, the gaps are smaller between Latino and white students, but a higher percentage of students overall did not meet grade-level expectations.
In Aspen, learning gaps between racial groups are harder to measure, in part because the district is far less racially diverse compared to others in the region.
When assessing the differences in achievement based on gender, local trends were consistent with statewide data, showing female students performing better in ELA and male students performing better in math across all four school districts.
Similarly, students with individualized education programs (IEPs) and students who qualified for free and reduced lunch performed worse across districts and subjects when compared to students without these qualifiers.
School districts can share individual student performance reports with parents, and they can use overall results for informational and planning purposes.
While standardized test scores can be an indicator of academic achievement, there are limitations to this data since studies show students perform differently on different types of assessments.
