Business and education go hand in hand in building a community.
St. Vrain Valley School District is keeping that in mind as it works to give students an edge on life after high school, Superintendent Don Haddad said Thursday during a virtual event hosted by the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce and the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County.
The key to preparing students for a competitive global environment is to start in preschool, where the foundations of reading, math and critical thinking skills are taught, Haddad said.
Those foundations allow SVVSD students, tested in the fifth grade on state standards in reading and math proficiency, to outpace the state, he said. In the 2018-2019 school year, 48% of fifth graders statewide scored proficient or better in reading. In SVVSD, 52% achieved proficiency, according to Haddad’s presentation.
Early foundations also lead to success in high school, he said, noting SVVSD not only ranks high in graduation rates, but does so with more stringent requirements including students having to take more credits to earn their diplomas. SVVSD students must have 24.5 credits to graduate, 2.5 more than required in neighboring Boulder Valley School District, Haddad said. SVVSD also requires four math credits in Algebra 1 and higher.
SVVSD in 2020, for the first time in its history, had a 90.3% overall graduation rate, with Hispanic students also reaching an all-time high of 86.3%, Haddad said. Statewide, the four-year graduation rate was 81.9%, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
Students also can take a variety of advanced courses, with 4,327 taking an advanced placement exam in 2020 and 62.4% achieving a score of 3 or higher, based on a 5-point scale, Haddad said.
The district over the past five years has seen a 92% increase in the number of Hispanic students taking advanced placement exams, Haddad said. In that same timeframe, 50% of Black students and 53% of white students also have taken AP exams, he said.
The district’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, and Pathways to Teaching, or P-TEACH, programs also help students gain an edge for college and careers by allowing them to obtain an associate degree while completing high school, he said.
But it is not all work for SVVSD students, Haddad said. The district encourages students to get involved with at least one extracurricular activity and participation has increased student engagement by 25% over the past four years, he said.
Haddad credits that level of engagement and participation for lowering expulsion rates. In the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, the district reported zero expulsions of its more than 30,000 students.
“When we talk about equity, we mean it. Every child,” Haddad said. “Equity for us means equity. That doesn’t mean that everybody gets exactly the same thing. What it means is that everybody gets what they need to be successful.”
Equity also starts early, he said, with SVVSD offering preschool to all children “whether you can afford it or not and regardless of your opportunity,” Haddad said. The district also offers free full-day kindergarten.
“All the way through our system, we try to remove barriers,” Haddad said. “We try to make sure that every student has access to that high-quality experience.”
