Durango High School officials credited the school’s innovative math program and intensive support for students with disabilities for helping the school to meet its Adequate Yearly Progress performance targets in 2007. In addition, the percentage of students who met AYP targets in reading remains above 95 percent district-wide, and the percentage who met math AYP targets ranges from 80 percent at the high school level to 96 percent at the elementary school level. Advanced scores also improved with 38 percent of elementary students and 26 percent of middle school students scoring advanced on the CSAP math test. In reading, 14 percent of elementary students and 17 percent of middle school students scored advanced.

Durango High School’s performance on the CSAPs is one of the bright spots in 2006-07's AYP report. Last year, Durango High School failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress because too many ninth- and 10th-grade students with disabilities scored unsatisfactory on the math test.

In Fall 2005, Durango High School math teachers developed a new, one-of-a-kind math curriculum that is more closely aligned with state standards. Both ninth- and 10th-grade students were enrolled in the new program last year.

In addition, the high school eliminated all remedial math programs for struggling students, and instead, provided students with more support programs both in and out of the classroom. Special education students are now integrated into a regular math class with support from tutors, aides, and special education teachers. That way, said Freeburn, students benefit from the content knowledge that math teachers offered while getting the instructional and learning support they needed from special education teachers, aides, and tutors.

Durango High School was one of 10 district schools to meet 100 percent of its performance targets on the 2007 reading and math CSAP tests last spring. Only Escalante Middle School failed to meet all of its performance targets, but it came close, reaching 30 out of 32 targets – or 94 percent.

The district overall met 100 out of 104 targets – or 96 percent in 2007. And while both those scores may earn an “A” on a student report card, only a perfect score counts. Therefore, the district failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for a second year in a row. Durango, however, isn’t alone. It’s one of 80 school districts in the state that couldn’t meet the exceptionally high standards of No Child Left Behind.

No Child Left Behind, enacted in 2001, is a federal law that requires school districts to meet state-defined achievement targets in reading and math. Every three years, those targets are set higher, so that by 2014, the federal law expects that no student will score unsatisfactory on a standardized achievement test. Targets are set not only for a district’s entire student population, but also for subgroups of 30 students or more as defined by ethnicity, low-income status, English-language proficiency, and disability. Furthermore, one student can be counted in more than one category. For example, a low-income white student with disabilities would be counted in four different target areas – total population, white population, low-income population, and students with disabilities population. If that one student scores unsatisfactory, the district could fail four targets.

The larger and more diverse the district, the more subgroups it has. With more subgroups counted toward AYP, the more opportunity the district has to fail. The largest Colorado district to meet 100 percent of its targets is Eaton Re-2 with 80 targets. Eaton Re-2 is north of Greeley on U.S. Highway 85. Denver, Colorado Springs, and Jefferson County have the greatest number of targets to meet with 153 each.

In Colorado, AYP targets are based on the percentage of students scoring partially proficient, proficient or advanced. In addition, 95 percent of students in each subgroup must participate in CSAP testing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress. For smaller subgroups, one student’s failure to take the test may cause the district to miss its AYP targets.

That’s the case with the middle school math targets. Five out of 42 students in the English as a Second Language category did not take a middle school CSAP math test last spring. That one factor alone could have caused the district to fail AYP. Those students also counted against Escalante’s AYP scores, dropping the school’s participation rate for ESL students below 95 percent. As a result, the school failed AYP.

The district also failed to meet performance targets for students with disabilities on the middle school and high school math tests. The district’s middle school AYP targets include sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade test scores from both Miller and Escalante middle schools.

District-level high school AYP targets included ninth- and 10th-grade scores from both Durango High School and the former Excel Charter School. The district may have met the middle-school performance target if it had been allowed to appeal the results to the Colorado Department of Education. But CDE declined the appeal, because the district missed the participation target for ESL students. And finally, the district missed the overall high-school performance target for students with disabilities by two students.

Sunnyside Elementary School was named a Colorado Title I Distinguished School for Exceptional Academic Performance as demonstrated by CSAP test scores. The school received a $10,000 check from the Colorado Department of Education, which it used to improve student achievement.

Colorado nominates two Title I schools for the national award each year. One nomination is for the school that has made the most progress in closing the achievement gap. The second is for the school that shows exceptional academic performance as demonstrated by CSAP scores for two or more consecutive years. To qualify, schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind, and more than 39 percent of the student population must qualify for free or reduced lunch – the federal government’s indicator for low-income students.

Sunnyside was nominated for exceptional academic performance as demonstrated by its 2006 CSAP test scores. In reading, 100 percent of third-graders, 95 percent of fourth-graders, and 100 percent of fifth-graders scored at grade level or above; in math, all students scored at grade level or above. About 42 percent of Sunnyside’s student population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. Enrollment in 2005-06 was 132 students.

The district received a $15,000 planning grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to establish to establish the district's first-ever, school-based health center. The planning team surveyed parents, community members, and under-represented segments of the school population and formed a coalition of area health-care representatives to provide services at the center. The group developed a strategic plan to start the clinic with initial services based on student health needs and the services coalition partners can provide. The center opened in Fall 2007.

More than 25 years ago, school-based health centers were introduced into schools across the nation as a way to ensure that all students receive adequate health care. School-based health centers are clinics established and operated within a public school building in cooperation with hospitals, public or private health-care organizations, licensed medical providers, public health nurses, community health centers, and community mental health centers. The centers are built upon mutual respect and collaboration between the school and the health provider to promote the health and educational success of school-aged children. Their goal is to blend medical care with preventive and psycho-social services.

A school-based health center differs from a school nurse's office because services are provided by licensed mid-level medical practitioners who can prescribe medications, perform sports physicals, administer immunizations, and other medical procedures.

Locally produced foods took “center-tray” during National School Breakfast Week in Durango School District 9-R cafeterias last spring.

District 9-R, in conjunction with the Farm-to-School association, will featured locally produced foods on the breakfast menus in March. Menu items included granola from Turtle Lake Refuge, shaved ham from Sunnyside Meats, cracked wheat cereal from Blue Horizon Farm, sausage from Cole Meats and Vegetables, and tortillas from Tortillas Mas Finas.

To continue the district’s efforts to provide students with healthy choices, Krista Garand, director of student nutrition, wanted to feature local foods during a week devoted to teaching students the importance of eating a healthy breakfast. Garand collaborates with local farmers to get more locally produced foods in the school cafeterias every day.

District 9-R promotes Farm-to-School, a national program that connects schools with local farmers with the objective of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education, and supporting small local farms. Durango School District 9-R is the only school district in the area to use local farmers’ products.

Blue Horizon Farm provide Escalante and Miller with locally produced whole-wheat flour to make bread products. The district received 14 pounds of organic greens from Turtle Lake Refuge, a local organic farm, every week for salad bars at the schools. The district also worked with Sunnyside Meats and Cole Meats and Vegetables to introduce locally produced meat products and more vegetables into the schools as well.

The district adopted a new secondary science curriculum last spring. High school students currently are required to complete 3 Carnegie units of science to graduate – the same number of units required to enter a four-year college or university in Colorado. A Carnegie unit is equal to two trimesters of work. To boost student achievement, DHS science teachers eliminated remedial science classes, and instead, provide tutorial support classes for those students who may need more time to grasp concepts in regular science classes. Science teachers are following the lead of the DHS Math Department, which eliminated all remedial classes two years ago and added tutorial support classes for students who need extra time and support to learn math. Students enroll concurrently in the regular and tutorial support classes.Science teachers also have created additional pathways for accelerated studies to encourage more students to enroll in Advanced Placement science courses during their junior and senior years.

Since 2005-06, several Durango High School committees have been working toward changes to improve the high school climate and academic programs to improve student achievement. The first year, the high school adopted a new mission and vision statement; last year, the committee worked to develop a system of communication between teachers, students, and administrators to ensure that teachers and students would be involved in any school-change decisions to fulfill the new mission.

This fall, the Committee for Strategic Change, under the leadership of new principal Diane Lashinsky, developed several models for smaller learning communities within the high school and spent December presenting the ideas to students, families, and the community. The committee hopes to keep "what's best" about Durango High School and make the experience "better" for students, families and staff.

After the Board of Education approved early release for the 2007-08 school year to give teachers time to employ Professional Learning Communities on Friday afternoons, the district spend much of the remainder of last year preparing for the new schedule. One of the biggest issues with the change was a community perception that the district's after-school child-care program, Kid Time, did not meet student needs adequately.

Libby Culver, Administrator for Special Programs, surveyed parents in Spring 2007 to find out what families wanted for their children enrolled in after-school child-care. Parents said they wanted a more structured and diverse after-school program. Culver then worked with area child- and youth-centered organizations to develop a program that allows area agencies and volunteers to provide after-school enrichment programs for students enrolled in Kid's Kamp.

Partnerships include Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Big Brothers Big Sisters of La Plata County, the Durango Arts Center, 4-H Clubs, the Children's Museum, the Discovery Museum, and many, many more.

In addition, Kid's Kamp offers services free of charge to all elementary students during the 90 minutes of early release on Fridays.

Durango School District 9-R installed a new Internet-based telephone and emergency communication system during 2006-07 to significantly improve school safety.

The new phone system uses the Internet, so the district was able to reduce the number of traditional phone lines it uses to save about $50,000 a year in phone bills and other operating costs. But the cost savings is just one of the many benefits the new phone system offers users both in and out of the district. All schools are connected, so outside calls may be transferred from school to school without the caller redialing. The phone network includes a paging system, and all schools now have full inside and outside, room-to-room paging capacity. With the new paging system, administrators or teachers can instantly communicate inside and outside with the entire school. All it takes is the touch of a key pad. That instantaneousness could save lives in case of an emergency, said Safety Coordinator Kathy Morris.
The system also includes an identification program for emergency calls. If a teacher calls 911, emergency responders will know both the school and classroom where the call originated.

In addition to the new phone system, the district adopted an employee ID badging system that requires all employees and volunteers to where a photo ID at all times. The photo IDs allow school employees and students to quickly identify strangers on campus, give law enforcement ant other response team members an easy way to distinguish between the "bad guys" and employees during a crisis, and give students an easy way to identify school staff when they need help.