After a year of being considered less than par and labeled as an improvement school, Rangeview has found its way back to the top. Schools all around Colorado are ranked based on a system called the School Performance Framework (SPF). This system is a complement of state test scores, test participation, and college readiness; all of which are essential to the success of not only Rangeview as a school but as a community. In the year 2024, our participation rate of state-mandated tests met the standard, yet we were still met with a major letdown of students who severely underperformed. Rangeviews’ achievement score did not meet standards; the mean scale score for the reading section of the SAT was 473.9 and 455.5 for math. This lit a fire in the hearts of many raiders who became determined to make a change. Subsequently, this most recent school year, our efforts have proven to pay off.
The Comeback
Through all of these efforts from staff and students alike, Rangeview finally saw a change, and it wasn’t a small one. Rangeview gained its title back as one of the only performing high schools in Aurora Public Schools. In comparison, schools such as Vista Peak Preparatory have been underperforming and have continued to be in the improvement category for three consecutive years. SAT participation went up from 80.1% to 86.9% which may not seem significant, but greatly impacts averages and the total achievement score of Rangeview. From being down and under, the school performance score made a huge jump by six points, reaching 58.5%, which got Rangeview into the performance school category, and over it by five and a half points. This is an incredible and unexpected advancement.
What Is A Performance Score?
The most important thing to understand is that performance scores are not just there for looks. The whole point of the scores is to make sure that the students of said school are actually benefiting from the education system that is implemented. If a school is below the bar of being considered a performance school, then it would “trigger increased support and oversight from the state and district, including extra funding and a structured timeline to improve performance. If a school fails to show sufficient improvement over the mandated period, it could face consequences like restructuring or closure.” This is what sets the need for progress. In the 2023- 2024 school year, we scored 52.2% points, which dropped Rangeview into the Improvement Plan category.
This struggle inspired many of our staff to implement any possible measures they could in order to enhance the skills required for students to excel outside of the classroom. Some of the things that staff believe made an impact are a crackdown on mandatory attendance to state tests and extra support in reading and writing:
SATs and Other Mandated Testing
A really huge part of being a student is the vital SAT that you take in your Junior year. Children hear about this test in middle school, but as soon as these children grow up and are of age to take the test, the trick is that it no longer matters. The truth is that it matters more than you would think, and our lack of care caused our score to drop. After being more adamant about the attendance for such tests and seeing a positive result in the turnout for the SAT and the PSAT, teachers say the scores increased with the attendance. Student participation also ensures that students and their education are properly being taken care of. The needs of students must be properly evaluated, which student participation supports. One of the English teachers, Mrs. Pratarelli, affirmed, “Our SAT scores are flat except for kids with IEPs, who did a lot better in reading and writing, which is a huge win, but a lot of it was that we made kids take the CMAS their Junior year ” This year vast improvement has been made and a large part of it was due to improvement the creak down on mandated testing and how big of a role that play in the result of the school performance score.
Extra Support in Main Subject Matter
On top of making progress in our testing results, another influence on the performance score was due to a decline in the fundamental skills for the main subjects, which are Math, English, and Science. More specifically, the student body showed “… saw growth in our science scores, math scores, and with our students with disabilities in their Reading and Writing Growth,” as stated by Principal Grosz. Things like providing students with more on-grade-level texts, as well as getting teachers to listen and learn from one another, caused the six-point jump in score.
Finally, Thank You!
An extra thank you to everyone who participated in any mandated testing last year! You are why we have improved so much and grown so much as a community. If we keep this hard work up, there is no limit on what we can do as a community. A special thanks from Principal Grosz: “ All of the staff at Rangeview thank each student who took the SAT, PSAT, and CMAS seriously last school year.” So, thank you to everyone who contributed, which is everyone, and know that your hard work is being recognized and has impacted our community positively.
