Accredited with Distinction – again!

For the second year in a row, the Boulder Valley School District has been Accredited with Distinction—the Colorado Department of Education’s highest honor. 

BVSD is the only Metro Denver school district to receive this designation.

“We are the only district on the Front Range to earn this distinction,” BVSD Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson shared at the Board of Education meeting on September 9. “This past year we earned more points on the district performance framework than any district has ever earned on the Front Range.”

Anderson thanked the district’s educators, saying it was thanks to their hard work.

“I am most proud of the growth that many of our sub-groups have shown in reading,” Anderson said. “Our Free and Reduced Lunch students [an indicator of poverty] and multi-lingual learners have the highest median growth percentile of any school district on the Front Range.”

Additionally, nearly every BVSD school, ranked in this preliminary phase, earned CDE’s top designation – Performance. Plus, Columbine Elementary School made progress, moving up to Improvement Plan from Priority Improvement Plan last year.

The results can be attributed to the focused work of the All Together for All Students Strategic Plan, implemented seven years ago.

“The Boulder Valley School District is the best place to learn and grow in Metro Denver,” said Superintendent Rob Anderson. “Thanks to our focus on best practices in every classroom and targeted support for the schools and students who need it, we are seeing consistent growth across the district. These results prove that in BVSD every student truly has the opportunity to succeed.”

See all of the District and School Performance Framework Results

“Our work isn’t done, but it is important that we take a moment to recognize what has been accomplished so far,” added Anderson. “Our educators are committed to this work and I know that we will continue to make strides through their outstanding efforts.”

State assessment results
Behind the state framework results has been impressive growth, shown in the state assessments, where were released by CDE in August

Students across Colorado in grades 3 through 11 participated in Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) assessments in mathematics, English Language Arts (ELA), science, and social studies, as well as high school PSAT and SAT tests last spring.

More BVSD students than ever before are meeting or exceeding Colorado’s academic standards, with the district’s students reporting gains in ELA and mathematics proficiency, especially at the middle school level.

• English Language Arts proficiency rose to 65.7% for grades 3–8, with middle school students showing a 3.8% improvement from 2024.
   
• Mathematics proficiency was 55.1% districtwide, with middle school grades improving by 3.7% and significant cumulative gains across middle school tenure in the 7th (+9.6%) and 8th grade (+14.7%) cohorts.
   
• Science proficiency improved for all tested grades (5th, 8th, 11th), though 11th-grade participation remains very low, limiting data reliability.
   
• Emerging Bilingual students showed improvement on the Colorado Spanish Language Arts assessment, though small sample sizes require cautious interpretation.
   
• High school PSAT and SAT results were mixed, showing improvements in 11-grade scores, declines in 10-grade math, and slight declines or plateauing at other subjects and grades.