AURORA | Teachers and administrators at five embattled schools in northwest Aurora got a clearer look at the schools’ pressing needs last week thanks to a new crop of reports conducted and released by Massachusetts-based research group Mass Insight.
Based on data collected last fall through interviews with administrators, teachers, students, parents and the community, the quintet of audits — formally known as school assessment reports — underscored many of the lingering issues at Aurora Public Schools as the district has scrambled to right its course.
The state has threatened to strip APS of its accreditation if the district doesn’t implement drastic changes and demonstrate marked improvements.
“I would not say that there was anything large that was new,” Lisa Escarcega, chief accountability officer of APS, said of the findings, which were first reported last week by Chalkbeat Colorado. “I do think that taking a look at these five schools that are not always grouped together and looking for themes across them was different, but the information across the individual findings was not.”
Across the five schools surveyed — Aurora Central High School, Aurora West College Preparatory Academy, Boston K-8, Crawford Elementary School and Paris Elementary — the audits pointed to familiar deficiencies. Inadequate resources for English language learners, a lack of parental involvement, insufficient teacher planning time and staff accountability were among the most pervasive reported weaknesses in the schools.
“Staff could not articulate how administration is holding others accountable to the established expectations,” Andrea Wolfe and Mallory O’Connell, the Mass Insight authors of the Aurora Central audit, wrote in their final report.
Central drew the toughest criticism in the audit, receiving failing grades in nearly all of the evaluation categories. The lone exception was in the category of “evaluation systems” in the talent management section of the audit, which referred to how well the school’s administration aligns “with state, district and union rules and regulations,” according to the report. Recommendations for the school included developing a sense of collective accountability, retooling the English language program, bolstering alternative means for earning school credits and improving new student orientation.
Central’s subpar review comes as no surprise to those familiar with the beleaguered Aurora institution, such as Van Schoales, CEO of Denver-based education policy group A+ Colorado. Schoales’ group has penned multiple reports on Central in recent years.
“The (Mass Insight) reports were really a reminder of how deep some of the challenges are in terms of improvement, particularly as it relates to Aurora Central, which I think is going to be the hardest nut for the district to crack,” Schoales said.
But instead of highlighting the well-established woes of Central and the other four schools surveyed, the audits were conducted in order to provide guidance for the struggling schools while they each prepare detailed plans as a part of APS’ innovation zone initiative. Proposed last spring, the three APS innovation zones grant special status to affected schools and trigger the easing of some state and local regulations.
“When we went through the five school readiness assessment reports and analyzed them, we came up with five general themes that schools said they would want support (with),” Escarcega said. “And we at the district said that we would want to see (the five themes) in their plans.”
Escarcega said the schools are expected to include talent management, data-curricula alignment, community engagement, international leadership and responsive support systems in their finalized plans.
The plans are expected to be made public at the APS Board of Education meeting Feb.16, although the unveiling could be delayed in order for final edits to be made, according to Escarcega. She said that new policies proposed in the plans are expected to be significant and won’t be implemented until the start of the next school year in the fall.
“Some of these changes are going to be quite large and (are) not things that you immediately implement,” Escarcega said. “They’re going to take time.”
The district entered into a contract with Mass Insight last July and has agreed to pay the research group no more than $600,000, according to APS documents. However, Escarcega said that total APS expenses with Mass Insight are expected to come in well below the $600,000 cap. The contract currently boasts a one-year term, though it does offer the option to extend an additional year if approved.
Too many APS classroom teachers come unprepared to teach. And too many students show up unprepared to learn. Not a good dynamic for success.
Which teachers? Be specific or else dump your generalities somewhere else.
Ha ha. I dump them where I please. The article mentioned “insufficient teacher planning time”. Too many teacher pretenders in the classroom.
Yes, ‘dump’ is an apt term, as in taking a . . .
But help me out here, Joe. Please explain to me why a teacher who doesn’t have enough time to plan is a ‘pretender’?
A pretender, as in winging it, concoct, improvise, ad lib, play by ear ..
I suspect you’re a retired teacher or a direct stakeholder in the public ed racket, and you’re ok with the status quo & the “don’t rock the boat” teachers’ union credo. Of course, we’re all stakeholders in regards to having an educated citizenry.
You didn’t answer my question. I didn’t ask what a pretender is. It would seem to me that if teachers want to plan their lessons, they’re not interested in winging it, as you say. They’re saying the want to do well, and without time to plan, they cannot be at their best. But I suspect you think most teachers fake it, and that’s why we don’t have good schools today. I found the article above very enlightening as to these schools’ problems and the reasons stated why they weren’t succeeding. And even teachers agreed with the findings. Perhaps you should read the article again. Or did you read it at all?
Most teachers’ contracts require 6.5 hours per day, 180 days a year plus or minus, and spring, holiday and summer breaks. Plenty of time to prepare. Teachers think of themselves as professionals, but surely not in attitude. Other professionals, such as engineers and scientists, put in the necessary time to perform their tasks. In contrast, all teachers do is whine about not having enough time to prepare. Just borrowing teachers’ most common whine … Gimme a break !
You’ve obviously never job-shadowed a real teacher. Try it some day.
I have.
Nobody will admit how illegal immigration factors in to this will they?
There is the immigration factor, both legal and illegal. US & UN agencies in coordination are re-settling thousands of refugees in Aurora from Asia (especially Burma), Africa and the Middle East. When you include our native polyglot of low achievers, you end up with the current student population of APS complete with low scores and low expectations. Indeed, time to celebrate diversity !
Well said.
Obviously you have information that none of the rest of us have. You’re right: I saw nothing about that in this article. Tell us what you know. We’re all ears.
Central has been a basketcase for about 25 years or more, even when the school was mostly black and white kids. Putting this at the feet of immigration misses the fact that this part of town hasn’t been a stable socio-economic environment for a long time, even before the immigrant population in north Aurora went through the roof. As long as this continues to be the case, Central’s going to struggle to meet any sort of state-imposed standards that are put on it.
Having the Anschutz complex on Colfax and the light rail station may eventually change this if more economically stable individuals and families associated with it end up settling in the surrounding neighborhoods, but it’s going to take some time if it does happen.
Wasn’t it the Sentinel celebrating the ‘diversity’ in Aurora a few weeks ago? What happened? Slip your minds? You can’t have it one way everytime.
Diversity? Hell! Deport all ‘dem undesirables! Let’s start with you, googoo!
“Lack of parental involvement. . .” APS shouldnt be faulted for that. Understandably both parents (if there are 2) must work but they should also be involved in their children’s education. I was a single parent, worked full time,managed to get my children to extracurricular (sp?) activities and was involved in their school activites.
My mom did so as well. I always make time to ensure my kids are getting any needed help with school whether it is homework, sports or supporting them in occasional grade disputes.
So you don’t think parental involvement is necessary for students to achieve and be successful? Most studies say the opposite.
I DO think parental involvement is necessary. did i say it wrong originally?;