Putting the Pieces Together: Educators on Colorado Academic Standards

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: Educators

on Colorado Academic Standards
Overview

The Colorado Academic Standards define what students need to know and
be able to do at the end of each grade. Standards for ten content areas —
comprehensive health and physical education; dance; mathematics; music;
reading, writing, and communicating; science; social studies; theatre; visual
arts; and world languages — were created through a yearlong process
engaging education leaders, business leaders, parents, and citizens. The
standards reflect what Colorado views as the essential skills and knowledge
students need to be successful.

About the Findings
To evaluate the implementation of the Colorado
Academic Standards, The Colorado Education
Initiative and the Colorado Department of
Education surveyed teachers and principals
in 26 districts across the state in 2014. Unless
otherwise noted, the findings presented here
reflect the percentage of teachers or principals
who agree or strongly agree.1

The results of a recent survey conducted in 26 districts by The Colorado
Education Initiative and the Colorado Department of Education suggest that,
in general, teachers have positive attitudes about the Colorado Academic
Standards, their ability to implement the standards, and the alignment of curriculum and assessments to the standards. The findings
suggest that principals are even more positive than teachers, as are teachers trained in the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)
or Math Design Collaborative (MDC). LDC offers teachers an instructional system for developing students’ literacy skills across all
subject areas; MDC provides teachers with formative lessons and professional development so that they can use evidence of learning
to adapt teaching. Despite readiness for implementation and general support, the survey results suggest that teachers need more
tools and training. In fact, the percentage of teachers reporting that they have access to tools to help them implement the standards
has decreased slightly since a similar survey was administered last year. This suggests that more emphasis should be placed on
providing teachers with effective tools, including LDC and MDC, to help implement the standards with fidelity.

Understanding and Support

“I appreciate
Overall, teachers report that they understand and support the Colorado Academic
the effort to begin to
Standards. In fact, 71 percent report that they either have a good or complete
communicate standards and
understanding of the standards, while 70 percent are supportive of the standards in their
evaluation measures as well as to
district. These percentages are even higher for principals (90 percent and 97 percent,
include teaching professionals in
respectively). However, only 53 percent of teachers report that their district has fully
their creation. I feel more confident
transitioned to the Colorado Academic Standards.
about the portions that I’ve been
able to participate in.”
– Secondary teacher

Preparation and Implementation

The majority of teachers (74 percent) and principals (93 percent) feel prepared to implement
the Colorado Academic Standards. Additionally, 76 percent of teachers have access to tools
for implementing the standards, but a slightly lower percentage of teachers (68 percent)
believe that the tools they have access to help them in their practice. The tools that teachers report using most commonly include the
Colorado District Sample Curriculum Project, various Web-based resources, and LDC (see Figure 1).2

Figure 1. Tools Teachers Use to Implement the Colorado Academic Standards

Colorado
District Sample
Curriculum
Project

40%

Web-based
resources

34%

Literacy
Design
Collaborative
tools

CDE's
Curriculum
Design tools

26%

32%

Responses have a four-point scale: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree.
In Figure 1, CDE’s Curriculum Design tools include vertical progressions, standards graphic organizer, and content connections.

1
2

1

Math
Design
Collaborative
tools

16%

CDE's
Transition
Action Plan

13%