DCSD Earns Highest District Accreditation Rating
“Accredited with Distinction” awarded by CDE
The Douglas County School District (DCSD) continues its work to reinvent and transform American education in the best interest of its students. The work of many talented, pioneering teachers and leaders has resulted in DCSD earning the highest accreditation rating from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) – Accredited with Distinction.
DCSD was last rated Accredited with Distinction in 2009. DCSD has received the Accredited rating for the past four years.
“After four years of hard work by our incredible staff reinventing American education by focusing on and transforming their classrooms to align what is best for all students in the 21st century, we are pleased to see the district has earned the highest school district rating available from CDE,” said DCSD Superintendent Liz Fagen.
The District Performance Framework (DPF) accreditation process places value on academic growth and success in preparing students for college and career readiness. The process was launched by Senate Bill 09-163.
DCSD is the only school district over 30,000 students in Colorado to earn an Accredited with Distinction rating this year.
Districts are rated on a five-tier system:
- AccreditedwithDistinction
- Accredited
- Accredited with Improvement Plan
- Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan
- Accredited with Turnaround Plan
“We have encouraged our staff, who have been under a lot of pressure associated with high-stakes, state-mandated testing and accountability systems for years, to do what is right for children – to resist the obvious temptation to teach to the test because we know that this is not best for students, and we are glad to see that doing what is right seems to be one factor that has contributed to a higher rating for our district,” said Fagen.
Source: News Release
