Colorado should start considering the career and college prep that students take, stop counting at-risk students more than once, and expand testing in other languages for annual school and district ratings.

Those are among the 30 recommendations made by the 1241 task force, a group created by lawmakers in 2023 to examine the state’s accountability system.

The recommendations were presented to the state Board of Education on Wednesday. Some of the recommendations will require a board vote to implement, while others would require legislative action.

State board members asked some questions Wednesday about the recommendations but were asked by the education commissioner, Susana Cordova, to hold most of their thoughts for a discussion at their December meeting. Most board members said the recommendations seemed like good changes.

For example, one recommendation is that the state should work to expand testing options in other languages.

State board members questioned if testing students in their native language makes sense when they aren’t being taught in that language or if their year’s learning is better assessed in English, the language of their instruction.

The state’s school accountability system, in use since 2009, mostly uses standardized test scores to rate schools and districts. High schools also are rated on their graduation rates and on how many students move on to postsecondary options.

Schools can earn one of four ratings, while districts can earn one of five. State law dictates that schools or districts that earn one of the bottom two ratings for five years in a row must be placed on a plan for improvement under state orders. The state also is limited in what improvements it can order, but can escalate to closing a school, turning it into a charter school or ordering a district to reorganize.

Last year Adams 14, which has had the lowest ratings for more than 10 years, was ordered to reorganize. Recommendations

• Students who fall into subgroups such as students with disabilities, English learners or those who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch should be combined into one “super subgroup,” for one evaluation.

• Students with disabilities should continue to be counted in that group for two years after no longer needing services, aligning with how students learning English are followed after services are no longer provided.

• Individual student results should be made available to families as soon as possible, even before a public release of data.

• The state should revisit the weights it gives to each piece considered in these ratings every five years, with help of experts, to try to move away from having strong correlations to student demographics.

Chalkbeat Colorado is a nonprofit news organization covering education issues.