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Colorado Public Education System Indicators

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Stand for Children’s goal is to create a better future for Colorado by ensuring all children get the excellent education and strong support they need to thrive. The grid below shows where we stand on several indicators of investment in K-12 education and student achievement. See the reverse for explanatory notes and data sources.




Notes

  • Rankings are for the 50 states; the District of Columbia is not included.
  • “U.S. Top 10” indicates the value for the 10th ranked state for each indicator.
  • “Publicly-funded Pre-K Access” indicates the percentage of 4-year-olds statewide enrolled in either the state-funded pre-K program, federally-funded Head Start program, or publicly funded special education pre-K program.
  • National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores range from 0 – 500.
  • Each Achievement Gap is the average difference in scores on four NAEP assessments (4th and 8th Grade Reading and Math) between the two indicated subgroups of students; the Economic Gap measures the difference between those students who qualify for the free/reduced-price lunch program and those who do not.
  • The Overall Gap is the average of the three subgroup gaps.
IndicatorData Source
Publicly-funded Pre-K Access (2007-08) National Institute for Early Education Research, The State of Preschool: 2008 State Preschool Yearbook
Average Elementary Class Size (2003-04) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2008 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 67
Average Secondary Class Size (2003-04) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES),2008 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 67
Length of K-12 School Year Education Commission of the States, 2004, Number of Instructional Days/Hours in the School Year
Current K-12 spending per $1,000 of Personal Income (2005-06) U.S. Census Bureau, Public Education Finances 2006, Table 12
K-12 Share of Total State Spending (2005-06) NCES, 2008 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 29
HS Graduation Rate (2005-06) NCES, 2008 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 106
HS Event Drop-Out Rate (2005-06) NCES, 2008 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 107
College Preparedness (2002) Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 2005, Public High School Graduation and College-Readiness Rates: 1991–2002
NAEP Scores NCES, The Nation's Report Card: State Profiles, Colorado
NAEP Achievement Gaps NCES, NAEP Data Explorer