Equity must be priority * Embrace consistency and continuity in our classrooms

Many of the problems facing Greeley-Evans School District 6 may take several years to figure out and adequately fix. It has taken the district a couple decades to acquire the problems that have led to poor performances on standardized tests and to be placed on the state's accreditation watch list. Turning around that ship won't happen overnight.

But it appears to us that swift and firm action is needed to address one obvious problem: the lack of consistency in schools throughout the district.

An audit team's 37-page report on District 6 touches on this issue again and again. For example: "Students are not consistently receiving equitable educational experiences and opportunities," the audit team wrote. "There are discrepancies from school to school and classroom to classroom within the same school. This results in lower achievement levels for some students."

In our continuing "Saving Our Schools" series in today's Tribune, the problem is even more evident.

A little historical perspective is helpful. This lack of consistency apparently crept into the system over time, and the results of a more focused, consistent curriculum in District 6 likely won't produce dramatically improved test scores for several years.

Dr. Pat Sullivan of Greeley is a former District 6 school board member who went on to serve in the Colorado Legislature, where he helped write legislation that required schools to teach to standards.

After the standards and CSAP tests were established, Sullivan said District 6 dropped the ball.

"I never did feel that District 6 ever took it seriously once the standards and CSAP were created," Sullivan told the Tribune last week.

And that's where swift and firm action is necessary. Turning the attitude around starts with the District 6 leadership, and Superintendent Renae Dreier tells us that is already happening.

"We have to be relentless," Dreier said.

Relentless is right on the mark, but "we" is the key word in that sentence. The district's academic success won't change if Dreier is the only one who believes in standards.

District 6 administrators, principals, teachers, aides and parents -- as well as the community as a whole -- also must be relentless in their dedication to standards and meeting CSAP's goals. With this kind of focused and widespread passion for meeting standards, student achievement can't help but improve.

Of course, consistency in curriculum and a focus on meeting standards isn't the only solution to pull District 6 out of its accreditation watch hole. The district is in the middle of a lengthy process that will likely produce several solutions, and we look forward to seeing those details in the coming months.

But there's no reason to wait to be relentless in our commitment to standards. Dreier said the district need not wait to make up for lost time.

"It appears the train left the station a long time ago and District 6 didn't get on the track," she said.

It's time to get on the track.