Students of the Adams 14 school district in Commerce City made big news at the beginning of the year when they walked out of school to demand a permanent principal and a better education at their low-performing high school.
The school was one of a dozen that was facing state action because of consistent low ratings. It had a track record of instability with several principals that came and went over the last few years, but to improve the school, district and state officials created a plan for more changes.
As part of the plan, the district would contract with an Arizona-based company to provide new resources and training for teachers.
Another part of the plan called for the district to create a better monitoring system of schools to track their performance throughout the year, rather than waiting for an annual state rating.
A few changes were not part of the district’s turnaround plan, but officials still cite the need for improvement in making them. This fall, the district eliminated parent teacher conference days, saying the district’s students need as much instructional time as possible and that parents can use a new online tool to track their child’s performance.
One program for parent engagement that the district touted this year was a program that trains parents to become paraprofessionals in elementary schools to help students with reading.
District leaders are also planning changes to the biliteracy plan that was started by the last superintendent. Changes to the conferences and the biliteracy classrooms have been unpopular with many parents.