ICAN had initially reviewed all 24 (except Twain ES) of the complete 2006-2009 School Improvement Plans (SIPs) that were reviewed by the LPS Learning Support Team and the District Accountability Committee in November, 2006, and then submitted as excerpts (Executive Summary and Cornerstone Goal charts) to the LPS Board of Education (BoE).  Those excerpts are located on lower-level ICAN pages for elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Refer to the ICAN LPS SIPs Critique Archive2 page for initial ICAN critique and other information about those 2006-2009 SIPs.  Those SIPs are the school-based action plans for implementation of the one-page LPS Strategic Plan 2006-2011 [PDF 19KB] (approved by BoE on 9/28/06) and accomplishment of the District Achievement Goal (received and discussed by BoE on 9/14/06): "90% of all students will be on or above grade level in reading, math, writing, and science by 2011.  The achievement gap in student performance will be cut in half by 2009."

ICAN continues to believe that there will be little or no improvement in the below-grade-level performance of many LPS students as a result of the current 2006-2009 LPS School Improvement Plans.  Most are merely accreditation compliance documents with significant shortcomings.  For example, the literal sum of all SIP Student Learning and Equity/Access Cornerstone Goals is far below the District Achievement Goal.

Years later that prognosis has been confirmed with regard to the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) performance.  ICAN has tabulated the CSAP data through 2009 for each LPS school in alphabetical order by subject (reading, writing, math, and science), grade level, year administered, proficiency percentage level (Proficient plus Advanced, Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, and Unsatisfactory), and number of students tested.  We also have added a "proficiency index" that is the weighted sum of 1.5*A, 1.0*P, 0.5*PP, and -0.5*U.  CSAP Reading Grade 3 results before 2001 are historical (not converted to later scale) and should not be used for comparison with later years.  A 57-page, year-by-year, CSAP tabulation [PDF 265KB] of the district as a whole and each of the 24 LPS schools is grouped by total district, elementary schools, charter schools, middle schools, and high schools.  CSAP results for the total district [PDF 25KB] and individual schools also are available as separate files on the ICAN LPS CSAP Schools page.

The 3% overall gain in LPS CSAP proficiency during the past three years (2006 through 2009 %P+A were 70%, 71%, 71%, and 73%, respectively) was quite small compared to expectations of the District Achievement Goal (DAG) and stated targets in the 2006-2009 school improvement plans.  The CSAP portion of the five-year overall achievement gap goal was 20% (90% - 70%); therefore, the three-year "cut in half" goal was 10% gap reduction by 2009.  Information about CSAP achievement gaps for subgroups is on the ICAN LPS NCLB AYP page.

The ICAN one-page tabulation [PDF 12KB] of LPS CSAP district and schools proficiency (percent proficient plus advanced) and changes provides three-year comparisons of 2009 and 2006 performance for each subject area (reading, writing, math, and science) and the total for each school and the district.  Only two schools had total gains of at least 10% during the past three years!  Seven schools (including the two above 10%) had total gains of at least 5%; one school had total losses of at least 5%; all other schools had smaller changes.  The institutional inertia maintains the status quo and continues to prevent significant increase in student academic achievement.  Those results are not encouraging.  More information is available on the ICAN LPS Accountability page.

The ICAN one-page tabulation [PDF 13KB] of LPS CSAP district (DPI) and schools (SPI) proficiency indexes provides three-year comparisons of 2009 and 2006 performance for each subject area (reading, writing, math, and science) and the total for each school and the district.  District total DPIs for 2009 were 95.0 (up 1.4 from 2006) for grades 3-5, 92.2 (up 7.2 from 2006) for grades 6-8, 82.2 (up 1.2 from 2006) for grades 9-10, and 90.6 (up 3.6 from 2006) for grades 3-10.  School total SPIs for grades 3-5 were 10 schools up and 7 schools down; grades 6-8 were 5 up and 1 down; grades 9-10 were 2 up and 1 down; and grades 3-10 were 16 up and 8 down.

For many years citizen activist Sam Drury has stated to the LPS Board of Education that effects of the Board-approved strategic plan (core beliefs and focus areas) upon the buildings-implemented school improvement plans (using the districtwide SIP template) are uncertain.   A lot depends upon the levels of understanding of, agreement with, and commitment to the SIPs in each of the buildings.  His September 13, 2007 [PDF 45KB], August 8, 2008 [PDF 23KB], and August 22, 2009 [PDF 54KB] letters to the Board also included the following still-valid paragraph:

I believe that improvements are needed with regard to these “understanding of, agreement with, and commitment to” (UAC) concerns:

•  Board and superintendent public commitment to DAG results.
•  Central administration management of SIP preparation and evaluation.

•  Building principals and teachers UAC to DAG, SIPs, and PLCs.

  • Very few schools even mention the DAG on their school websites.
  • Very few schools have posted the SIPs on their school websites.
  • Most schools have been using some PLC concepts for years with little or no effect.
•  Use of inaccurate statements and avoidance of “bad news” disclosures.
•  Prompt transparency of DAG detailed results for credible public accountability.

Last modified: 08/27/2009

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