Accredited with Distinction
Colorado Springs regularly enjoys placement on a variety of “Best of” lists. Last year, Colorado Springs bumped Denver out of the Number 2 spot in US News and World Reports Annual Survey of Best Places to Live in the United States. Colorado Springs has regularly been in or near the Top 10 in this list. Back in 2009, Outside Magazine rated it the Number One Place to Live in The United States.
But honestly, a lot of this is clickbait. The stuff magazines produce for certain advertising revenue or to offset slow cycles.
A different list that Colorado Springs populates with an almost embarrassing number of entrants is the Colorado Department of Education’s list of School Districts Accredited with Distinction. Each year in the administration of standardized testing, District Frameworks that “measure student performance in academic achievement, academic growth, academic growth gaps and post-secondary and workforce readiness” are evaluated. Districts that score 80% or more out of the possible points on the District Frameworks receive the State’s highest recognition, Accredited with Distinction.
In 2018, The Denver/Boulder area saw two school districts make the list, Littleton 6 and Boulder Valley RE2.
In 2018, the Pikes Peak Region saw four school districts make the list:
- Academy District 20
- Cheyenne Mountain District 12
- Lewis-Palmer District 38
- Manitou Spring District 14
Cheyenne Mountain, Academy and Lewis-Palmer were all in the Top 10, and Cheyenne Mountain was rated Number One in the State.
