The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is quite thorough in its approach to school and district accreditation:

• According to CDE, "Colorado education is in the midst of sweeping changes in the manner by which it accredits public schools and school districts.  On July 1, 1998, House Bill 98-1267 took effect, mandating a new system of educational accreditation.  The Colorado State Board of Education adopted the Accreditation Rules based on House Bill 98-1267 in 1999.  Other legislation has also been passed which affects accreditation.  The first Annual Accreditation Reviews were completed and distributed to school districts July 1, 2002."

• The CDE website contains information on the rules, purpose, history, and process for accreditation.

On May 14, 2007 Governor Ritter signed the two-page HB07-1348 [PDF 20KB], which extended the term of initial school district accreditation contracts for an additional one year to July 1, 2008.  On May 15, 2008 the Colorado State Board of Education unanimously adopted new accreditation rules, which take effect on June 30 as noted in the May 16 news release [PDF 35KB].

All Colorado public school districts must meet the requirements of the eight-page "Administration of the Accreditation of School Districts" (aka 1 CCR 301-1) [PDF 32KB], which includes definitions [§ 1.00], the accreditation contract [§ 2.00], accreditation indicator reporting [§ 3.00], district accreditation indicators [§ 4.00], and district accreditation categories and appeals [§ 5.00].

According to 1 CCR 301-1, the basic purposes of the Colorado Accreditation Program are:

• To foster greater accountability from public schools and school districts for the betterment of public education;

• To provide a process for the State Board of Education to fulfill its constitutional responsibility for supervising the public schools of the state;

• To encourage excellence by assessing student performance in relation to state standards and assessments;

• To help all schools and school districts improve academic achievement for all students in safe schools;

• To ensure equal access to educational opportunities for every student in the state;

• To support local efforts to reform and restructure public education;

• To promote high standards, equal access, and educational opportunities for all students' academic growth;

• To develop and maintain a school and community partnership for the ongoing improvement of public education;

• To strengthen local efforts to ensure postsecondary readiness; and

• To enhance the public's understanding of school and district performance by reporting on accreditation indicators in concise, specific and comparable formats.

The prime determiner of accreditation status will be performance on CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) measurements [§ 3.02].  CDE has placed some school districts currently on Accreditation Watch, based upon a comprehensive and very thorough judgment of where the district is and what progress is being made.

CDE issues Annual Accreditation Assessment Reports for the 178 Colorado school districts.  CDE has insisted that requests for those reports be directed to each district.  However, ICAN believes that all of the CDE Annual Accreditation Assessment Reports for the 178 Colorado school districts should be posted promptly as public documents somewhere on the CDE website.  We suggest an "Accreditation Reports" or "Districts Accreditation" left-side navigation link (like the "Accountability Reports" button for the School Accountability Reports) on CDE pages.

Last modified: 06/19/2008

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