While the Roaring Fork District Re-1 schools are celebrating overall academic growth among students from 2024 to 2025, serious concerns still exist over a large achievement gap for students who are in the process of learning English.

As a whole, the district — which includes schools in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and Basalt — saw its accreditation rating improve from “Accredited with Improvement” last year to the higher “Accredited” rating, based on state testing done in the spring, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) reported recently.

All but two schools in the district achieved a “Performance” rating this year — a marked improvement from last year when five of the district’s 14 schools (including two charter schools) were given the second-tier “Improvement” rating. 

Data is not yet available for the district’s alternative Bridges High School, while Glenwood Springs Elementary School dropped to the third-tier “Priority Improvement” rating following the 2025 testing, according to the CDE report.

“We’ve been in ongoing conversations about how they are responding and addressing this,” RFSD Assistant Superintendent Stacey Park said during a presentation of the performance frameworks to the school board on Sept. 10. 

A response plan is expected to be presented to the board in the next month, she said.

The district and school performance data is compiled by the CDE and reported to school districts across the state in late August or early September. The data is based on various types of standardized testing for elementary, middle and high school students conducted in the spring. The tests measure proficiency in English language reading and writing, math and, for certain grade levels, science.

Dropout and graduation rates, which also improved for RFSD, are also factored into the measures. A breakdown of the data can be found in Park’s memo to the board for last week’s meeting, and on the district’s web-based Strategic Plan Dashboard. It also includes data from the district’s own in-year measures and other school and district performance information.

The district continues to grapple with a large gap in achievement between white and Latino students, and especially those students who are on an English language-learning track. While the district strategic plan has addressed the issue and outlined goals for improvement going back several years, that gap — about a 39-40% difference between white and Latino students on average — has gone largely unchanged. 

School board member Kenny Teitler emphasized during last week’s board meeting that it must remain a district priority to close the gap.

“While we’re doing the right things academically, we still need to focus on what we need to change, and what kinds of things we need to put in motion that are going to help close that gap,” he said. 

In looking at the overall academic improvement, “It’s a time for celebration,” he said, “but also a pause to say there are still specific things that we need to address.”

A leading Latino advocacy group in the Roaring Fork Valley, Voces Unidas, also criticized the district for allowing the achievement gap to continue without any improvement.

“The data suggests that Latino students are still not getting consistent grade-level instruction, much less catching up the two or three grades they are currently behind before getting to high school,” Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas, said in a Sept. 10 press release. “We need results, not excuses, because the status quo — and this pace — are unacceptable.” 

District Superintendent Anna Cole responded via email to the Sopris Sun that “persistent and significant gaps” exist across multiple subgroups, not just between white and Hispanic/Latino students, but for students from low-income families and students with disabilities.

“These are difficult and complicated student academic outcomes and do not yet meet the ambitious goals we’ve set in our five-year strategic plan,” Cole said. 

“We caution against making broad generalizations about student outcomes,” she said, noting that the tests are administered in English, while nearly 45% of the student population who identify as Hispanic are currently receiving English Language Development (ELD) services, and are not yet proficient, nor on par with native English speakers. 

Latino students who improved in their English proficiency beyond the need for continued ELD services have closed that achievement gap to within 7-10 points of white students, Cole also noted.

Overall, any measure that shows only 28-37% of students, regardless of ethnicity and language proficiency, meeting or exceeding grade level expectations, is not acceptable, she said. That’s the case in several academic areas, and also a key focus for the district. 

“We recognize the significant student academic growth and achievement gaps evident in our student outcome data and appreciate the engagement and accountability that partners and our community provide,” Cole said. “Our mission is to ensure that all students develop the enduring knowledge, skills and character to thrive in a changing world — we haven’t achieved that yet.”

The latest school and district performance gains are a move in the right direction, Cole said.

“Although we have much farther to go, we are on the right track,” she concluded.