Value-Added Assessment in Colorado

In Colorado, about 40 districts (out of the 65 which have signed up) have been working for four years with Dr. William Sanders, who created a value-added assessment system for Tennessee in the early 1990's and currently provides value-added assessment services through EVASS now based in North Carolina. EVASS has been providing value-added analyses for these schools, as part of a voluntary project started by the State Department of Education. Last year, legislators approved a separate "academic growth pilot program" that will track the progress of individual students in reading, writing, and math in participating schools and districts, beginning this school year. Starting with the 2005-06 school year, the law calls for every district in the state to take part in the "academic growth program."ⁱ

School report cards will be published to assign ratings to schools. Consistently poor performing schools can be reconstituted. Colorado's plan does not reward high performing schools. Also, there is currently no pay for performance on the teacher level.

According to Education Week Quality Counts 2004, "Colorado has begun to identify its low-performing teacher education programs, measures for holding those programs accountable and making ratings public are in a relatively early stage."

One district in Colorado, Denver Public Schools, appears to be embarking on an innovative strategy to tie teacher pay to student achievement. Denver teachers have embraced a new pay plan that would stop rewarding them for years on the job and start recognizing specific skills and achievements in the classroom. Members of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association supported the proposal, written as part of the teachers' contract, by a decisive 59 percent to 41 percent.

City voters must approve a tax increase to pay for the plan. Even if the voters say yes in November 2005 to a hike that would bring in $25 million annually, significant portions of the plan must be fleshed out before it could take complete effect in January 2006.

Links to important websites

| Center for Greater Philadelphia | Operation Public Education | Theodore Hershberg |
| Home | Contact CGP | CGP Publications |