New data shows Colorado schools are performing at a rate consistent with the previous year statewide, with some promising signs in Colorado Springs.

Preliminary school and district performance frameworks for the 2025-26 school year show all Harrison District 2 schools and all Colorado Springs District 11 high schools receiving the highest-performing ranks.

The frameworks, released by the Colorado Department of Education, are used to accredit districts and assign school ratings based on measures including academic achievement, academic growth and postsecondary and workforce readiness.

The levels of accreditation for districts, from lowest to highest, are “turnaround,” “priority improvement,” “improvement,” “performance” and “distinction.” The ratings for schools, from lowest to highest, are “turnaround,” “priority improvement,” “improvement” and “performance.”  

“Turnaround” and “Priority Improvement” rankings put schools on the state’s “accountability clock” or “watchlist.” After five successive years on the clock without meaningful improvement, a district may receive an improvement course of action from the Colorado State Board of Education.

This year, 55% of districts earned an “accredited” or higher rating, the same as 2025, while the number of schools earning a performance plan dropped one percentage point to 65%.

148 schools are on “performance watch,” down from 176 in the 2025 preliminary frameworks. Of those, 31 improved enough to move to “on watch” status, which puts them on a path to exit the “accountability clock” if they maintain improved performance.

Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova called the results “encouraging” in a news release.

“At the same time, we know that too many students are still attending schools that are struggling to meet their needs,” she said.

“Our job is to learn from what is working, strengthen instruction where it matters most and partner with local leaders to provide the support schools need so that every student has access to a high-quality education.”

Many El Paso County school districts kept their respective ratings from last year, while schools recently subject to state intervention showed signs of getting off the accountability clock.

Out of last year’s three districts that earned accreditation with distinction, Cheyenne Mountain District 12 and Academy District 20 maintained these rankings, while Manitou Springs District 14 joined Lewis-Palmer District 38, Calhan District RJ-1, Fountain-Fort Carson District 8 and Peyton District 23 JT as “accredited.”

D-20 and D-12 have earned the distinction every year since the designation was established during the 2008-09 school year.

“Our goal is never simply to earn a rating,” D-20 Interim Superintendent Susan Field said in a release. “The value of this information is in what we learn from it. Our school and district teams will look closely at the data, celebrate where students are succeeding and identify where we can strengthen our practices to better support every student.”

While D-11 and D-2 maintained their “improvement” rankings, some of their long-struggling schools made meaningful strides.

D-2 saw its two only watchlist schools, Otero Elementary and Panorama Middle School, improve their “priority improvement” plans to “performance” and “improvement,” respectively. Every school in the district now boasts one of these top two rankings.

“There is tremendous pride in these results, and there should be. But this is not a finish line. It is a reminder of what is possible when we stay focused on our students, learn from one another and refuse to lower expectations for any child,” D-2 Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel said in a statement to the Gazette.

“Our responsibility now is to build on this success and ensure every student has the support, encouragement and opportunity to succeed.”

Birhanzel attributed the gains to focused instruction, addressing chronic absences and using the first part of each school day to ensure that teachers are connecting with their students.

Directly to the north, D-11 saw 10 of its schools improve by at least one level, with Carver Elementary moving up three and Rogers up two. Both schools are now “performance” ranked.

“Those results are particularly encouraging because that same instructional strategy is now being implemented districtwide this school year,” D-11 spokesperson Jessica Wise told the Gazette in an email.

“The number one driver of student achievement is access to high-quality instruction. For us, that means clear instructional expectations, intensive coaching for teachers and school leaders and rapid support when students fall behind.”

Among the most notable improvements came from Mitchell High School, which moved from “priority improvement” to “improvement.” For the first time in a decade, the school is out of the two lowest performance categories and no D-11 high school is on the state watchlist.

Not every change was positive, however.

Taylor Elementary and Monroe Elementary dropped from “performance” to “priority improvement,” while James Irwin Elementary School — Howard and Madison Elementary School decreased to “turnaround.”

Additionally, Spark Online Academy and Galileo Middle School are now “priority improvement” schools, while Mann Middle School has maintained this rating from last year.

Regarding these schools, Wise said there isn’t a single explanation for why their ratings decreased.

“Performance frameworks incorporate multiple measures of achievement and growth, and the underlying data look different from school to school,” she said. “Where results are not where we want them to be, our response is to go deeper with the instructional work that is producing results.”

Wise added that D-11 plans to pursue the “request to reconsider” process for this preliminary data, which may result in rating changes before frameworks are presented to the state Board of Education.

Another district that will likely pursue this is District 49. Because the preliminary data doesn’t account for the district’s alternative education school, GOAL Academy, which accounts for nearly 7,000 students across multiple campuses in Colorado, it isn’t reflective of the district’s overall performance.

Alternative education campuses are schools that serve student populations with a higher risk of dropping out, stemming from unique circumstances and are subject to a separate accountability process that is finalized later in the fall.

Like in previous years, D-49’s rating based on preliminary results is currently “improvement,” with GOAL Academy currently ranked as “Pending AEC Framework.”

When the school’s rating has been accounted for in previous years, this year the district’s ranking has improved to “accredited.”

El Paso County’s lowest-performing district in 2026 is Hanover District 28 with a “priority improvement” accreditation, though this is an improvement over the previous year’s “turnaround” accreditation. The district is in its fourth year on the accountability clock.

School districts have until Oct. 15 to provide additional data through the “request to reconsider” process and the frameworks will be finalized by the end of the 2026 calendar year.