St. Vrain program stays By Kate Larsen
Camera Staff Writer
LONGMONT — Despite a looming tight budget, the St. Vrain Valley School District staff found a way to keep its essential-skills certification program afloat.
The program — which requires students to prove eighth-grade reading proficiency to earn a diploma — is aimed at preventing students from falling through the cracks.
Three weeks ago, the announcement of a tight budget put the program in jeopardy. The district announced Wednesday at its Board of Education meeting that it has found a way to continue with the certification program on a limited budget.
"With redirected funding and creative use of federal grant money, we have found a way," said Russ Ramsey, St. Vrain's executive director of secondary education.
The program would operate on about $600,000 instead of the earlier $1.4 million estimate. The money goes toward helping students who need to improve their reading skills.
This year's sixth-grade class would be the first students required to earn the essential-skills certificate before high school graduation. Because the program is now on a limited budget, that requirement is pending board approval at a later date, Ramsey said.
Summer school for elementary and middle school students is the first step in essential skills certification and will begin this year — although with fewer locations and a $100 tuition fee. A limited number of tuition waivers will be available.
Earning the certificate requires students to score proficient or advanced on the eighth-grade Colorado Student Assessment Program reading test.
If a student did not score high enough on the CSAP, he or she could earn the certificate by proving proficiency in two out of three ways: scoring proficient on the ninth-grade Terra Nova reading test, passing a district checklist of reading skills or passing an informal reading test.
"This is the single most important thing you can do, systematically, for our kids," said Richard Weber, St. Vrain superintendent.
Contact Kate Larsen at larsenk@thedailycamera.com or (303) 473-1361.
May 23, 2002
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