Colorado scores a "C" for making school data accessible
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The majority of states, including Colorado, are failing to provide accessible, transparent school performance data on student learning loss since COVID-19 shutdowns, a new study finds.
Why it matters: The lack of data makes it difficult for parents to choose a school for their child using state report cards mandated by federal law or to hold them accountable if they don't know the school is struggling.
The big picture: Since the pandemic, Colorado student absenteeism skyrocketed, achievement gaps grew, graduation rates fluctuated and English learner proficiency suffered.
- School closures in Colorado also exposed deep systemic inequalities in school technology access, teacher shortages and transportation. Failures to report the pandemic's lasting effects hurt efforts to address them.
Zoom in: The study by Arizona State University's Center on Reinventing Public Education released this month shows that it's difficult in most states to find pre-COVID data to compare with where students are today.
- The center developed a grading system to judge state websites and found that Colorado earned a "C" for data availability, joining about a dozen other states.
Zoom out: Thirteen states received "F" ratings, with Maine, New Mexico and North Dakota earning zero points of the 21 possible under the grading system. Just seven states got "A" grades.
Between the lines: The manipulation of data or refusal by some states and school districts to report makes it challenging to get an accurate picture of what's going on in public schools, Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the USC Rossier School of Education who led the study, tells Axios.
- "We've been doing testing and accountability for two decades, and the fact that you still have so much data that's just missing — or even if it's there, you have to have a Ph.D. in education policy — is problematic."
The other side: The Colorado Department of Education is working to make data more accessible, spokesperson Jeremy Meyer tells Axios Denver.
- It recently redesigned its website to be a "one-stop" shop for the public to view school and student performance data.
- The state is working to make the 2024 state assessments, which came out last month, available by early this week, Meyer says.