2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 22 - Education
General and Administrative
Article 11 - Accreditation
Part 2 - State Accountability
§ 22-11-207. Accreditation categories - criteria - rules

(1) The state board shall promulgate rules to establish accreditation categories that shall include, but need not be limited to:

(a) "Accredited with distinction", meaning a school district or the institute meets or exceeds the statewide targets or targets annually set by the school district or the institute or exceeds statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a performance plan as described in section 22-11-303;

(b) "Accredited", meaning a school district or the institute meets statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a performance plan as described in section 22-11-303;

(c) "Accredited with improvement plan", meaning the school district or the institute is required to adopt and implement an improvement plan as provided in section 22-11-304;

(d) "Accredited with priority improvement plan", meaning the school district or the institute is required to adopt and implement a priority improvement plan as provided in section 22-11-305; or

(e) "Accredited with turnaround plan", meaning the school district or the institute is required to adopt, with the commissioner's approval, and implement a turnaround plan as provided in section 22-11-306.

(2) The state board shall promulgate rules establishing objective, measurable criteria that the department shall apply in determining the appropriate accreditation category for each school district and the institute, placing the greatest emphasis on attainment of the performance indicators. At a minimum, the rules shall take into consideration:

(a) A school district's or the institute's level of attainment of the statewide targets on the performance indicators and the targets annually established by the school district or the institute, including the levels of attainment of the individual district public schools or the institute charter schools in meeting their annual targets;

(b) A school district's or the institute's level of attainment of the performance indicators compared with statewide attainment of the performance indicators;

(c) The length of time during which a school district or the institute has been unable to meet the statewide targets or its own targets;

(d) The improvements, changes, and interventions a school district or the institute implements to improve its performance if it is not meeting the statewide targets or its own targets;

(e) The improvements, changes, and interventions a school district or the institute implements in any public school of the district or institute charter school that is required to adopt an improvement, priority improvement, or turnaround plan pursuant to section 22-11-210;

(f) The progress a school district or the institute makes in improving its performance and in moving closer to meeting the statewide targets and its own targets;

(g) The performance of students enrolled in the school district's or institute's alternative education campuses, taking into account the unique purposes of the campuses and the unique circumstances of and challenges posed by students enrolled in the campuses; and

(h) The school district's or the institute's compliance with the other requirements specified in the accreditation contract.

(3) In promulgating rules pursuant to this section, the state board shall use clear, understandable language to describe the accreditation categories and the levels of attainment of the performance indicators, with the goal of providing a high degree of transparency in the accreditation process.

(4) (a) The state board by rule shall specify how long a school district or the institute may remain in an accreditation category that is below accredited; except that the state board shall not allow a school district or the institute to remain at accredited with priority improvement plan or below for longer than a total of five consecutive school years before removing the school district's or the institute's accreditation as provided in section 22-11-209.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4), for purposes of calculating whether a school district or the institute is accredited with priority improvement plan or below for longer than a total of five consecutive school years, the department shall exclude the 2015-16 school year, during which the department does not assign accreditation ratings as provided in section 22-11-208 (1.5), from the calculation and shall count the 2016-17 school year as if it were consecutive to the 2014-15 school year.