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District monitoring report shows mixed achievement, declining growth and gains in AP participation
Summary
District staff presented a monitoring report for 2022—2025 that showed modest achievement gains in some areas, increased AP participation and higher four-year graduation rates, but overall declines in student growth percentiles and an uptick in chronic absenteeism compared with earlier gains.
District data presented Oct. 22 to the Adams 12 board covered demographics, achievement, growth, AP outcomes, graduation and dropout rates, ninth-grade Fs, chronic absenteeism, discipline and Panorama survey results.
District presenter Dave (identified in the meeting by first name) summarized trends from 2021—2022 through 2024—2025. Among the demographic changes he highlighted were a 10.1% increase in students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a 4.2% decline in the white student population and a 2.7% increase in multilingual learners over that multi-year window.
On assessments, the district reported small increases in mean scale scores for some measures from 2022 to 2025 and smaller increases from 2024 to 2025. Staff noted an unusual decline in outcomes for the Asian student subgroup across achievement, growth and graduation-rate metrics and said they were investigating causes.
Growth percentiles (measured across CMAS, PSAT and SAT) declined compared with prior years; Dave noted this was the first time in several years the district was below the fiftieth percentile at elementary, middle and high school levels across math and English language arts combined. The district described the rate of growth decline as a major area of concern and the driver of recent reviews of academic strategy.
The report also reported positive trends: AP participation and the percent of students scoring a 3 or higher have increased while the four-year graduation rate improved and the dropout rate declined when compared with 2022. Ninth-grade F rates had been higher since 2022 but showed small declines in 2024—2025 for most core subjects.
Chronic absenteeism, which the presenter defined as students missing 10% or more of days enrolled, had improved early in the post-pandemic period but ticked upward in the most recent year; the district is monitoring attendance monthly and reported August attendance improved vs. the prior August.
Discipline data showed declines in in-school and out-of-school suspensions and expulsions compared with 2023—2024, but increases in incidents coded as destruction of property and marijuana violations. Staff said they are working to clarify operational definitions for some categories that were previously recorded as "other violations." A board member asked whether vape pens are coded as tobacco or marijuana; staff said vape pens are typically coded as tobacco but agreed to confirm the classification.
Panorama climate survey results for students, staff and families showed overall improvement when compared with 2021—2022 and slight improvement against 2023—2024.
Ending: Board members and staff said they view growth declines as an urgent strategic priority and described ongoing work to refine interventions and track monthly metrics.
