The Colorado Department of Education report cards are in.

Ninety-two percent of Douglas County district schools rated at the excellent or high levels.

The education department Dec. 9 published the eighth annual School Accountability Reports, detailing achievement and other performance and profile data for 1,998 regular and alternative schools across the state.

“These are unbelievable results,” said Jed Bowman, Douglas County executive director for learning services.

In 2001, each school was given an index number, or “raw number,” to begin a baseline for future results.

“Eight percent of schools in the state were rated at excellent,” Bowman said.

He strongly believes that all schools can become excellent.

The reports include school ratings from the Colorado Student Assessment Program and ACT results, categorized by excellent, high, average, low to unsatisfactory. CSAP assesses students in reading, writing and math state standards in third through 10th grade. The CSAP science assessment also is given in fifth, eighth and 10th grades.

Of the 74 nonalternative education campuses within the Douglas County School District, 68 schools were rated at the excellent or high levels.

Four schools in Douglas County moved up: Challenge To Excellence Charter School, average to high; Core Knowledge Charter School, high to excellent; Pioneer Elementary, average to high; and Daniel C. Oakes High School, low to average.

“It is important for me, that when a school goes up or down, that people know how sensitive the numbers are,” Bowman said.

For example, if one student in a school goes from partially proficient to proficient, it can move the school to an excellent rate.

“One school, which I will not name,” Bowman said, “Was one one-hundredth of a point between rankings.”

Three Douglas County elementary schools moved down in category ratings: Saddle Ranch, excellent to high; Wildcat Mountain, excellent to high; and Cherry Valley, high to average.

The reports also include new academic growth ratings based on date from the Colorado Growth Model. The high, typical and low growth ratings reflect the progress being made by all the students in the school toward meeting state standards for proficiency.

“We also did a great job there, too,” Bowman said.

The rating is a result of student’s percentile score when compared to academic peers across the state of Colorado.

“There were 348 schools in Colorado with a “high growth” rating, and 31 came from Douglas County,” Bowman said.

For individual school results, visit www.cde.state.co.us.

“It is important … that people know how sensitive the numbers are.”

Jed Bowman, Douglas Countyexecutive director for learning services