Pueblo School District 60 Information 2007/08

Overview
Pueblo School District 60 primarily serves the youth within the city of Pueblo. There are approximately 17,700 students served by 37 schools: 22 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, 5 high schools and 4 charter schools.

The profile of the student body reflects 65% minority students and 64% of the students qualifying for free and reduced lunch programs. We are teachers, support personnel, administrators, school board members, parents and community members concerned about improving student learning.

Our goals are to: improve student achievement for ALL students; improve teacher effectiveness; promote continuous professional development and build leadership effectiveness.

And collectively we have built an impressive track record. Dr. John Covington became the new superintendent for District 60 in July. Pueblo School District 60 has been recognized repeatedly by President Bush, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Lynn Cheney and Governor Owens for our success in closing the ‘achievement gap’ for minority and lower-economic students.

As part of her annual address to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on September 21, 2005 pointed to Pueblo School District 60 as a model that other districts should emulate in ‘closing the achievement gap’ for all students.

Secretary Spellings noted “We’re on the right track. I see it in places like Pueblo Colorado, where its poorest schools posted a 20 point gain in fourth grade reading scores since they started testing every year. In the 2003/04 results of the requirements for the No Child Left Behind education act, District 60 is second in AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) among the Colorado’s largest school districts – second to Boulder by only 1 percentage point.

Of the 126 targeted goals set for District 60 for AYP, the district met 123 or 98%. Of the largest districts in Colorado only Boulder scored higher with 99%. District 60, however, has a much higher ratio of minority students and students eligible for free and reduced lunch. District 60 hen had a 63% minority student ratio and a 63% free and reduced lunch ration. Boulder by comparison had a 21% minority and 13% free and reduced lunch profile.

The bottom line is that District 60 scored only 1% behind Boulder – yet with nearly five times the number of free and reduced and three times the number of minority students. In the March 2004 issue of U.S. News and World Report, which focused on public education progress on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, District 60 and Beulah Heights Elementary School were featured as “Schools of Excellence’ in reporting how certain Title 1 schools are making a difference for students.

Bradford and Columbian Elementary schools were recently recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools by President Bush and joined Baca Elementary as Pueblo’s second and third Blue Ribbon Schools. Sunset Park received the John Irwin School of Excellence and Irving and Fountain Elementary schools were awarded the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award.

In recent years Carlile and South Park Elementary schools were the recipient of the Regional Title 1 Distinguished School while Beulah Heights and Bessemer Elementary schools won the prestigious National Distinguished Title 1 School award. Individual staff achievement has also been recognized with 3 District 60 principals receiving high honors as Colorado Principals of the Year: in 2004 Alan Nelms as principal at Heaton Middle School and in 2003 Dr. Kathy DeNiro as principal for Corwin Middle School and Dr. Keith Owen as principal at Beulah Heights Elementary.

In 2003 then superintendent Dr. Joyce Bales and Dr. Keith Owen were one of only eight districts and schools invited by President Bush to the White House for the anniversary of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

In a report by the national Education Trust 20 schools in Colorado were identified as being high performing while having high minority and high poverty student populations – 6 of those 20 schools were in District 60! In the most recent state assessment testing (CSAP) District 60 has shown an overall Hispanic gain of 50% in students scoring ‘proficient and above’ compared to other students whose scores averaged a 28% increase.

District 60 Hispanic students show a gain of 45% over other Hispanic students in Colorado. Eight of the nine D60 schools that exceeded the state average on all CSAP tests had 50% or more students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Four elementary schools exceeded the state average on all 2006 CSAP tests: Belmont, Cesar Chavez Academy, Heritage and Sunset Park while one middle school exceeded the state on all tests: Goodnight.

Title 1 schools have made an astonishing 389% increase in 4th grade writing over 10 years and a 109% increase in 4th grade reading over 10 years – these are the two tests given over the longest period of time.

This significant student improvement has engendered a sense of trust in the District which has resulted in the single largest investment to support the youth of Pueblo – a $98 million bond program to improve the District’s aging school facilities. The bond program was recently completed on time and under budget – which enabled many additional needs to be addressed.
 

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