The Mancos School District is reconsidering its approach to state testing after longstanding parent opt-outs left the state without enough data to calculate a standard district performance rating.
Superintendent Audrey Hazleton told the Mancos school board on Monday, September 14 that fewer than 25 percent of students eligible participated in the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS, exams.
CMAS is Colorado's statewide standardized testing program for public school students, covering subjects including English-language arts, mathematics and science.
Colorado school districts are required to administer the exams, but state law allows parents to excuse their children from one or more of the state assessments. Schools cannot penalize students or parents for that decision.
That means districts must make the assessments available, but participation is not required for every student.
Hazleton said during the board meeting that opting out has been a common practice among Mancos families for several years. She referred to past practices surrounding the district's innovation plan, but the board discussion did not find reasons families chose not to participate.
"This designation does not carry a negative value judgment," Hazleton said. "It just simply indicates that there is not enough state data to calculate the standard performance framework."
The Colorado Department of Education releases yearly performance frameworks using measures of academic achievement, academic growth and preparation for college and the workforce. Preliminary 2026 frameworks were released in late August, with final rating expected by the end of the year.
The district's state performance history shows insufficient data ratings for each year from 2022 through 2025.
Beginning this year, Hazleton said the state is requiring districts with low participation or insufficient data to develop action plans. Mancos will also need to update its Unified Improvement Plan annually rather than using a two-year posting schedule.
The district intends to start conversations in October with teachers, students, families and the District Accountability Committee about whether its approach to state testing should change.
Mancos High School also received a "performance plan" rating, the highest of Colorado's four school plan categories, because enough students participated in PSAT and SAT testing.
Hazleton emphasized that the district also uses other assessments administered by teachers to measure student progress. Those include Measures of Academic Progress testing, early literacy assessments and evaluations developed in individual subject areas. Teachers are scheduled to review that data during a professional development day on September 25th.
The district has also introduced a new math curriculum for grades six through twelve after identifying gaps in mathematics performance. A new set of curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade has been in place for about a year.
Also on the agenda, the school board unanimously authorized a $163,000 capital-reserve expenditure for an ADA-accessible bus. District officials said the purchase was expected and included in the budget, though board discussion noted the continued rise in school bus prices.
