Graduates are not Failing

Claim: 73% of D49 graduates are failing

In May, and the first week of June, D49 celebrated the graduating class of 2023. At each commencement ceremony, a member of the D49 Board of Education (including Ivy Liu) certified that the graduates had met all standards established by the Colorado Department of Education and District 49.

Simultaneously, Director Liu and other critics of District 49 were aggressively reasserting and publishing the falsehood that 73% of our graduates are failing.

It is unclear how a member of the D49 BoE can, with integrity, stand at a graduation podium and certify that all students have met all requirements while on the same day claim that 73% of D49 graduates are failures.

The oft repeated claim is based on a wildly uninformed interpretation of CDE’s indicator for Postsecondary Workforce Readiness (PWR) as it is displayed on CDE’s school performance dashboard. 

Misusing dashboards can be dangerous. Peter Hilts, D49 superintendent, used the following illustration during the June 8 regular board meeting: 

“Several years ago, my mom borrowed an MG sports car to drive to Anchorage. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get that car over 40 miles an hour. It took her ten minutes to realize she was driving the tachometer, not the speedometer. I don’t know how fast she was going, but fortunately nobody got hurt. My point is, even an accurate dashboard, if misused, is potentially dangerous.”

Unfortunately, the repeated, full-throated misuse of poorly-construed state data by critics of D49 is hurting people. The misinterpretation of the PWR indicator is sort of like saying that because the gas gauge is half full then the car can only go half as fast. Misusing school performance data is like handing a child a running chainsaw. You don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, but you can be certain there’s going to be a lot of noise and someone’s going to get hurt.

Mr. Hilts prepared and narrated a presentation included below that explains what the CDE dashboard actually says. It clearly states why our students and parents can continue to celebrate graduation and trust that D49 teachers are launching our students to success.

• Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR)

The CDE Website: The Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness accountability indicator reflects how well schools are preparing students for college and the workforce.

• Performance Framework Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Measures

Document on the CDE Website: This resource describes the implementation of the new Higher Bar measures within the performance frameworks.

• CDE Dropout Statistics - FAQ

The CDE website has answers to the most common questions about high school dropout rates and other related materials. 

• Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) High School Diploma Endorsement Criteria

The CDE website: A PWR endorsed diploma identifies student excellence over and above a standard high school diploma. has