What happens when a school district’s performance is judged on a standardized test that only 25 percent of students take? That’s what’s happening to the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school district right now.
The Cortez Journal reported in October that the district has been accredited at the second-lowest level in the Colorado Department of Education’s five-tier accreditation system. According to state law, districts and schools can spend only five consecutive years at the two lowest levels. After that, they can face consequences and state intervention.
But district superintendent Lori Haukeness says the district is appealing the state’s accreditation rating because it’s not an accurate representation of the student body’s performance as a whole. Officials want the state to increase the accreditation rating because so few students took the test. To find out how the district got here, KSJD's Austin Cope talked to RE-1 school board president Jack Schuenemeyer.
