School boards and administrators have a new model that could improve the trajectory of schools and student performance. Something must change, and a major Colorado school district might have developed a formula.

School districts continue underperforming throughout Colorado, with most students failing to meet minimal expectations in the key subjects of math, English and more. The Colorado Department of Education reported last month that the number of schools and districts with good ratings in 2023 remains lower than before the pandemic.

As reported by Chalkbeat Colorado, “more schools and districts were newly identified as low performing, putting them on the state’s watchlist for low performance.”

In the mostly sad report was a glimmer of hope: “More schools and districts scored higher this year on the state’s annual performance ratings than in 2022,” Chalkbeat explains.

Colorado should have the country’s highest-performing schools, no duds among them. To achieve this, elected district officials are looking to and learning from Colorado Springs’ District 11 – the largest district in the state’s most populous county.

A few weeks ago, the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) tests showed D-11 to have radically improved outcomes in the most recent academic year.

This past week, the district unveiled the D-11 Promise scholarship, an unprecedented full ride to Pikes Peak State College for every D-11 student with a 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance record.

Those CMAS scores and Promise are the latest in a string of accomplishments since the community elected a reform-minded school board in 2021 determined to change the ailing district’s trajectory.

The state sorts schools into four categories based on their academic outcomes: “Turnaround,” “Priority Improvement,” “Improvement” and “Performance.” This year, the number of Turnaround and Priority Improvement schools in D-11 dropped from 11% and 22%, respectively, to 2% and 17%. The number of schools in the highest category, Performance, increased from 47% to 63%.

This wasn’t a standard COVID-19 bounceback. D-11 is one of only two schools out of El Paso County’s 17 to see academic improvement in English language arts and math.

Statewide, D-11 jumped up from the bottom 15% of school districts, in terms of the number of students who meet or exceed academic expectations, into the top half.

Some of the most radical improvements were seen at Mitchell High School in the Springs. Only a few years ago, Mitchell was nearly acquired by the state because of its consistently poor academic performance. Today, Mitchell is no longer a Turnaround school, and its graduation rate is on the rise.

Last year, D-11 introduced the Mitchell Promise, offering qualifying graduates free tuition to Pikes Peak State College. In May, 41 Mitchell students were awarded the scholarship. One recipient, surely speaking for most of them, described the scholarship as “life-changing.”

At a Wednesday news conference, Superintendent Michael Gaal and Board President Parth Melpakam announced that D-11 is expanding the life-changing Promise program to serve every D-11 graduate.

As of the current school year, seniors graduating from every D-11 high school are eligible for the scholarship. To qualify, they need a 2.5 GPA and a decent attendance record.

Funded by community partnerships among D-11 and the Bruni Foundation, the Dakota Foundation, the Legacy Institute and Pikes Peak State College, the D-11 Promise represents the type of philanthropic collaboration that changes generations and strengthens communities.

The D-11 Promise represents equity in action. That’s in contrast to what some might call “equity in bureaucracy,” epitomized by the costly and unproductive Department of Diversity and Inclusion, which the new board wisely dissolved shortly after taking office in 2021.

This good news is reverberating around the state – a trend that should gain momentum. At Wednesday’s state Board of Education meeting, board member Steve Durham pointed to D-11 as an example of a district that’s successfully turning itself around.

As school districts across Colorado look for ways to improve performance, they would do well to emulate D-11. Thanks to courageous leadership, innovative thinking and a laser-focus on improving academic outcomes, it means new hope for Colorado’s public schools.