Poudre School District: students with IEPs show typical academic growth but lag in on‑time graduation rates

Poudre School District officials told the Board of Education on Nov. 4 that students served by IEPs are making typical year‑to‑year academic growth but are graduating on time at lower rates than their peers. During an extended Integrated Services presentation, district staff said achievement and growth metrics are roughly in line with statewide outcomes, while the district’s on‑time graduation rate for students with IEPs remains below comparable districts and below the district’s overall graduation rate.

“Those numbers indicate that that group of students has got slightly more than a year’s growth in a year’s time,” said Dr. Duane Schmitz, the district’s chief institutional effectiveness officer. Dr. Schmitz told directors that growth effect‑size measures on NWEA MAP tests show students with IEPs achieved roughly a year’s growth and sometimes a bit more.

At the same time, Integrated Services Director Dr. Jody Rommel described several concrete drivers that the district has identified: students not meeting graduation requirements on time; past resource constraints that limited 18‑to‑21 services; the absence until this year of a diploma pathway for…