How some Colorado schools are finding success with poor and minority students Platte Canyon earns special recognition in “The Outliers: The State of Colorado School Districts 2016”
By Monte Whaley | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: February 9, 2017
Platte Canyon School District hugs a twisting stretch of U.S. 285 in Park County while serving fewer than 1,000 students in a cozy atmosphere that’s occasionally interrupted by a mountain lion wandering too close to a classroom.
But the district says students and teachers stay highly focused on clear objectives for every subject. Those standards are written and posted on nearly every classroom wall and are not considered mere guidelines, said Brenda Krage, Platte Canyon’s superintendent.
Platte Canyon’s approach, which includes heavy collaboration among teachers and plenty of face-to-face interactions between students and teachers, is hailed as “trend-busting” in a new report that says many low-income or minority students are still falling by the educational wayside.
Platte Canyon earned special recognition in “The Outliers: The State of Colorado School Districts 2016,” written by A+ Colorado, a nonprofit educational advocacy group. The 31-page report identifies school districts that are best serving different student populations including students of color, students with disabilities, emerging multilingual students learning English, and low-income students.
About 32 percent of Platte Canyon’s students are free and reduced lunch eligible and its children of color population is small, “but it does show that it and these other school districts are doing something right,” said Van Schoales, CEO of A+ Colorado. “And they are doing it consistently over a long period of time.”
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