A young man walks along Colfax Avenue past a sign advertising "premium medical marijuana" at nearby Serenity Moon Wellness Center in Denver.

And what if, with the click of a mouse, you could find out how many medical marijuana dispensaries were near the schools you care about?
With the I-News Network, you can do all this.
I-News and two network partners – Education News Colorado and Health Policy Solutions – have analyzed several sets of data and interviewed dozens of school and district officials, healthcare workers and, yes, students across the state to help show you what’s happening with schools and marijuana.
What we found is alarming:

• Drug incidents in schools are up dramatically, even while suspensions for other reasons have dropped.
• Students say medical marijuana is relatively easy to get and they prefer it for interesting reasons.
• Suburban and rural districts, and even elementary students, are not immune.

You can get this in-depth information here. But you can also find it among our many media partners throughout Colorado.
In January, the U.S. Justice Department gave some medical marijuana facilities until Feb. 27 to move out of the federal drug-free zones set within 1,000 feet of all schools. The U.S. Attorney says more warnings are coming.
And more coverage of this issue is coming, too, from I-News and its partners.
We’d like to hear what questions you want answered. Feel free to post them below, or send a direct email to us.

Indispensary in Colorado Springs, which is located about a block from Palmer High School, may be one of 25 medical marijuana dispensaries targeted by federal authorities for closure.

A letter, with redactions, sent by U.S. Attorney John Walsh to 23 marijuana stores in Colorado.

“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools,” Walsh said.
Federal authorities are working to identify all marijuana stores within 1,000 feet of a school, he said, and today’s warnings “are merely a first step to address this issue.”
“The office will continue to insist marijuana stores near schools shut down,” he said.
Walsh cited data showing many school districts in Colorado “have seen a dramatic increase in student abuse of marijuana, with resulting student suspensions and discipline” since medical marijuana facilities opened.
An ongoing joint investigation by Education News Colorado, Solutions and the I-News Network found a 44 percent jump in all drug-related incidents at K-12 schools statewide over the past four years. That increase occurred from the 2008-09 school year through 2010-11.
The figures from the Colorado Department of Education don’t specify the drugs involved, but several school and health officials interviewed across Colorado attributed the increase to marijuana use.

“We’ve really seen our numbers go up,” said Judy Mueller with YouthZone, a Glenwood Springs non-profit that works to keep young offenders out of juvenile court. “It is medical marijuana that their friends or friends’ parents got. They’re telling us it’s easy to get. They’re getting it from an adult’s stash.”
The investigation also found that other dispensaries could be targeted under the crackdown. As many as 56 medical marijuana facilities in Colorado are located within 1,000 feet of a school, according to an I-News analysis of school addresses and licenses issued to more than 700 medical marijuana facilities statewide.
Today’s action sets up a potential showdown between federal and local authorities, though legal experts agree that federal law – which clearly states marijuana is illegal – trumps local law.
Federal law also imposes enhanced penalties for any drug use within 1,000 feet of a school.
State law recommends a 1,000-foot buffer between medical marijuana facilities and schools, drug rehabilitation centers and child care centers. But the law allowed local authorities to set their own rules.
So Colorado Springs, for example, allows marijuana facilities within 400 feet of schools while Denver has several closer than 1,000 feet. Those facilities have been allowed to continue operating because they opened before the state law was enacted.
Among other findings of the joint investigation:

• Up to 45 public schools are within 1,000 feet of a medical marijuana facility. The range — depending on how you measure the distance — is from 31 to 45. Because there are multiple medical marijuana facilities near some schools, the total number of medical marijuana facilities within 1,000 feet of Colorado schools is up to 56.
• Most of the schools closest to dispensaries are in Denver and Colorado Springs. For example, North High School in Denver and Palmer High School in Colorado Springs have marijuana facilities within 1,000 feet.
• Overall, 370 of the 1,692 public school buildings in Colorado lie within a mile of a medical marijuana dispensary or product infusion manufacturer. That’s 22 percent – or between one-fourth and one-fifth of all schools.

Rumored for weeks, the Colorado crackdown follows similar federal action in California.
Colorado medical marijuana industry officials had hoped that they would dodge federal enforcement because they say the state tightly regulates the marijuana industry.
Mike Elliott, executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, which describes itself as the largest and most influential group in the state, said people in the industry support regulation.
“We are looking into the situation now. We fully support keeping regulated substances out of the hands of unauthorized users and schools,” Elliott said in a written statement.
“Towards that end, MMIG is in the process of putting together, and will announce soon, the details of a public education campaign to help educate medical marijuana patients about how to keep their medicine safe and secure.”
School officials welcomed the news of a crackdown.
About the data:
The analysis compared the locations of public schools in Colorado compiled by the state Department of Education to the addresses of medical marijuana dispensaries and infused product manufacturers from the Colorado Department of Revenue using ARCview GIS software and its geocoding technology. Not all marijuana facilities could be mapped because of problems with the addresses. Duplicate schools at the same physical address were not counted twice and online schools were not included in the analysis. Using the GIS software, the analysis electronically calculated the distances between schools and marijuana addresses.

It calculated a range of schools that could be within a 1,000 feet of a medical marijuana facility since the software calculates distances between addresses and the state law measures from property line to property line.

“We are supportive of the law as written and are glad to see the U.S. Attorney enforcing the buffer zone,” said Antonio Esquibel, executive director of the West Denver Network Schools, including North High School.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, has tried to pin down the U.S. Attorney General regarding federal enforcement of medical marijuana businesses that comply with state law.
Polis released a statement today saying that he supports keeping dispensaries at least 1,000 feet away from schools.
 
“Both federal and Colorado law state that dispensaries are not allowed within 1,000 feet of schools, which is a policy that makes sense, that I support, and with which all businesses should comply,” Polis said. “The Justice Department has repeatedly made clear that dispensaries that are in compliance with state law are not an enforcement priority. Colorado’s tough system of medical marijuana regulation is the best way to keep drugs out of the hands of minors.”

National and local studies in Colorado show that marijuana use among minors is on the rise.

Dr. Chris Thurstone, who runs a drug and alcohol treatment program at Denver Health, said nearly all of the young people in his program are addicted to marijuana. He walked around East and North high schools in Denver and was shocked at the number of dispensaries located near the schools.

Thurstone can’t prove the proximity of dispensaries has caused the spike in marijuana abuse among his patients, he said, but he cited research showing teen marijuana use rises when it’s easily available, socially acceptable and perceived not to be harmful.

“There’s been lots of debate about how close to a school it should be,” Thurstone said. “Should it be 500 feet, 1,000 feet? Should we grandfather in the people who are already there? It kind of blows my mind that that’s a debate.”

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Audio of Christian Thurstone, Medical Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention Program at Denver Health and Hospital Authority, discusses his views about medical marijuana dispensaries near schools. (1 min., 26 seconds)


Download the AIFF file: (Control or option click to save the file) Christian Thurstone [15.7 megabytes]
Get the embed code here: Audio embed code

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PDF of the letter, with redactions, sent by U.S. Attorney John Walsh to 23 marijuana stores in Colorado. Download the PDF: (Control or option click to save the file) U.S. Attorney letter

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I-News Video Clip

Direct download a 1440×1280 HD version of this video: Christian Thurstone video [29.8 megabytes]
Direct link to this video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/TinfcF9c4Tg

I-News

You have helped in-depth news and information flourish in Colorado – and that has led to some significant and real differences in the lives of Coloradans. Here are some examples.

• More doctors now disclose drug company payments after I-News helped Colorado Public Radio report hidden funding, allowing patients to make better-informed decisions.

• Lawmakers changed tax law after I-News helped the Denver Post reveal that movie stars and developers were getting tax breaks meant for farmers and ranchers.

• Legislative leaders called for a state audit after I-News helped EdNews and other partners show that online elementary and high schools get millions in tax money even though half their students leave within a year.

That’s some significant impact from a startup journalism nonprofit.

And it comes on top of equally significant impact from the first journalism we produced last year:

• University and law enforcement officials do more to protect students after I-News helped Rocky Mountain PBS and other media report that some schools withheld information about assaults on campus.

• Legislation was introduced after I-News helped its media partners uncover dangerous and illegal treatment of hazardous electronic waste unknown even to regulators.

Around the nation, people are concerned about the survival of serious, in-depth journalism. But here in Colorado, we’re sustaining journalism that makes a difference.

Here’s to an even better 2012!
– The I-News Team

Click to view the report at the Colorado Health Institute website.

The impact is a lot less than health officials had feared, said Michele Lueck, president of the Colorado Health Institute, an independent nonprofit focused on health data and policy.

“We have heard a lot about the sky is falling,” Lueck said. “The newly insured are going to stress the system, but they’re not going to break the system.”

A major weak link in the system is getting medical school graduates to become practicing primary care doctors, said Richard Krugman, dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, which was not involved in the study.

CU Medical School is one of the leading producers of primary care physicians in the nation. About a third of its students go into primary care – double the national average. CU also recently increased its class size to 160. But when those students graduate, they face some major hurdles in becoming primary care providers, Krugman said.

One hurdle is debt. The typical medical school student graduates with $162,000 in debt, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Cuts in state funding in Colorado have meant that in-state tuition has more than doubled in the past decade. The financial strain encourages students to seek higher-paying specialty jobs rather than primary care.

Another hurdle is the limited number of federally-funded residency training opportunities. Medicare budget woes have left the number of federally-funded residencies virtually frozen for 15 years.

Having enough primary care providers is a complicated issue, Krugman said.

“You have to look at various factors including federal support, compensation, state funding, student debt and geography – where the doctors are located,” Krugman said.

An I-News analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the Colorado Health Institute found wide variation in primary care physicians per capita in Colorado’s counties. Some rural counties, such as Cheyenne on the Eastern Plains, had among the most doctors per capita. Some urban areas, such as El Paso county with four primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, had among the least.

“So in part the issue is how to get doctors to go to those areas,” Krugman said.

The Colorado Health Institute study found that healthcare reform in Colorado will:

• Bring health insurance coverage to about 510,000 additional residents between 2014 and 2016. About 130,000 will be covered through expansion of Medicaid and 380,000 through new federal requirements to obtain private health insurance.
• The newly insured will make an estimated 250,000 to 430,000 additional annual visits to primary-care health providers once they have insurance.
• The increased visits translate into the need for between 83 and 141 new primary care health professionals. That breaks down to between 71 and 117 new primary-care doctors and 12 to 24 nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

The impact varies dramatically by county, the study found. About two-thirds of Colorado counties will need the equivalent of less than one-full time primary-care professional to accommodate the increase in insured.

Lueck said the estimates are based on the increase in visits by the newly insured. Most of them now access health care through emergency rooms or health care clinics.

Also, the estimates do not take into account the impact on the health care system of the aging of the state’s population, the expected population increases or another economic downturn, she said.

Despite the lower than expected estimates of new primary-care providers needed, Lueck said the newly insured should not expect an easy time finding doctors.

“Once you have health insurance doesn’t mean you will have automatically have access to a provider, Lueck said.

Instead the state needs to use methods such as tele-medicine, medical homes and physician sharing in rural areas to help meet the needs.

Breakout of primary care physicians needs and project patient visit increase per county in Colorado:Health Care by County [Microsoft Excel format]

Download maps illustrating the need for physicians in Colorado:

Doctors per 1,000:

• JPG format
• Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) format
• Adobe Illustrator (.ai) format

Newly Insured:

• JPG format
• Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) format
  
• Adobe Illustrator (.ai) format

Doctors Needed:

• JPG format
• Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) format
• Adobe Illustrator (.ai) format

Link to the full Colorado Health Institute report: A Half a Million Newly Insured: Is Colorado Ready?”

For more information about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

• HealthCare.gov
• Full text of the Affordable Care Act[2.6 mB PDF document.] Note: The text is searchable.

Colorado income changes 1999-2010

By Burt Hubbard
I-News Network
Coloradans who felt their paychecks weren’t going as far this past decade were right.

The state saw a 9% decline in household buying power since 2000, according to an I-News analysis of newly released U.S. Census Bureau survey data.

The hit was widespread – felt in two of every three counties. One of the state’s richest counties – Pitkin County, which is home to Aspen – led the loss with a 17% drop in household buying power since 2000.

At the same time, poverty rates rose in every county, with children being especially hard hit. Overall, one in six Colorado kids lives in poverty. But in a third of the state’s counties, child poverty rates are so high that now more than one in five kids is living in poverty.

The survey also showed that education levels edged up during the decade and the portion of foreign-born residents remained relatively flat.

The data are the result of a five-year survey of demographics from income to education, conducted between 2006 and 2010. It provides information on all of Colorado cities, places and counties. I-News compared the data to demographic information from the 2000 Census.

The analysis found:

• Overall declines in median household income during the decade. About 64% of the state’s cities and places – 221 of 344 – showed drops after adjusting for inflation. Two thirds of the state’s counties posted drops in buying power led by Pitkin County, with a 17% decline. Most of the counties that saw real gains in income were in oil and gas counties on the Western Slope. Weld County was the only county along the Front Range to show a gain in incomes, but it was less than half a percent.
• Overall poverty rates rose in all the state’s 63 counties (Broomfield was not a county in 2000) and in about two thirds of the cities and places. As a result, about one third of the state’s cities, places and counties had 20% or more of their children living in poverty at the end of the decade. That was up from about one fourth in 2000.
• Education levels rose across the board during the decade. About two thirds of the cities and places and 90% of the counties saw the percent of high school and college graduates rise over the decade. As a result the number of cities and counties where at least half the adults have college degrees rose from 44 in 2000 to 55 in the later part of the decade. The highest rate was in Cherry Hills Village at 81%. Among counties, Pitkin had the largest percent of college graduates – 60 percent – and Crowley County had the lowest – 12 percent.
• There are more native Coloradans. More than half of the state’s cities, places and counties saw an increase in the number of residents born and raised in the state since 2000. Among Front Range counties, Weld County had the highest percentage of natives – 52%. Pitkin County had the lowest – 22 percent.
• The percentage of foreign-born residents remained steady during the decade with about half of the cities, counties and places showing increases since 2000 and half showing declines the percent of foreign born. The highest percentage of foreign-born residents were found on the Western Slope. Eagle County led the state with 20 percent and Avon led among cities with 43 percent. Among metro area counties, Denver was the only one showing a decline in the percent of foreign born, dropping slightly to 17 percent.

(Updated: A spreadsheet that shows poverty, education levels and the percent of foreign born living within the boundaries of Colorado’s school districts has been added to this post. See below.)

Download the household income data in Microsoft Excel format:

Colorado county survey data
Colorado city survey data

Download the marital data in Microsoft Excel format:
Marital Data

Download the school district data in Microsoft Excel format:
School District Data

One of every six Coloradans has no health insurance – a figure that has grown more than 20 percent in the past two years alone, a new statewide survey finds.

UNINSURED: Western Colorado has the highest rates of residents without health insurance.

In addition, more workers lack health insurance and fewer Coloradans reported having a regular place to go when they’re sick or need health care advice.
“We’ve lost ground,” said Ned Calonge, who recently left his post as chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to become president and chief operating officer at The Colorado Trust, a foundation focused on improving Coloradans’ access to health.
Calonge presented the results today [Nov. 15, 2011] of the Colorado Health Access Survey, a statewide survey of more than 10,000 households sponsored every two years by The Colorado Trust and administered by the nonprofit Colorado Health Institute.
Growing health insurance costs, the weak economy and high unemployment are the likely causes for the negative trends, said Michelle Lueck, who heads the Colorado Health Institute.
The trends should worry both health care consumers and policymakers, Calonge and Lueck said.
Nearly 830,000 Coloradans lack health insurance – an increase of 150,000 people since 2009.
“It would be as if the entire city of Grand Junction lost health insurance all at once, or as if all the cities on the Arkansas River suddenly had no health insurance,” Calonge said of the increase. “It’s a serious issue.”
Add to that the number of underinsured Coloradans and nearly one in three state residents is affected. People are considered underinsured when they have insurance but can’t afford out-of-pocket costs that amount to at least 10 percent of their income – or 5 percent for those living in poverty.

UNDERINSURED: Coloradans who are underinsured have insurance, but the insurance and their incomes don't cover the costs of medically necessary services

That means some 1.5 million Coloradans are either uninsured or underinsured – about as many people as live in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and Grand Junction combined.
Lueck said it would be difficult to estimate an exact cost for the growing numbers of uninsured in the state. However, a 2009 University of Denver study estimated Colorado lost between $1.8 billion and $3.9 billion in productivity and lost work hours because of uninsured workers’ illnesses and untreated conditions.
The new data reveal health insurance disparities among certain populations in Colorado. For example, while census figures show 20 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic, they make up more than 33 percent of the uninsured.
The highest rates of uninsured are in western Colorado, where Mesa County was the only area that didn’t top 20 percent uninsured. Officials say the large number of small employers and seasonal workers on the Western Slope leaves many uninsured.
In eastern Colorado, only two regions topped 20 percent uninsured. Those were the Denver-Adams County area, and the region that includes the counties of Elbert, Lincoln, Kit Carson and Cheyenne.
Douglas County had the lowest rate of uninsured in the state, with 7 percent, followed by Boulder County at 9 percent.
Cost was by far the top reason people are uninsured, the survey found. Nearly 85 percent of uninsured Coloradans said they lacked health insurance because it was too expensive. The next most common reason, at nearly 41 percent, was that an employee couldn’t get insurance through work. That was followed by job loss or job change at 39 percent.
The survey also looked at whether people have a regular source of health care, such as a primary care physician.
Weld County and the southwest part of the state reported the highest rates of residents without a usual source of care. Mesa and Douglas counties reported the lowest.

This year, more Coloradans reported they lacked a regular place to go when they are sick

About 30,000 people die every year in Colorado. Studies show half those deaths are preventable, and that health insurance would save lives, Calonge said. Coloradans without health insurance face a 40 percent higher risk of dying prematurely than those with private health insurance, a 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated.
“People who are uninsured don’t get the preventative or chronic illness services they need,” Calonge said. “That impacts their chances for a long and healthy life.”

Download maps that illustrate the data.

These are some of the results of the 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey, which polled more than 10,000 state households about health insurance and access to care. The survey is sponsored every two years by The Colorado Trust and is intended to help set public health policy.

Map: Percent of Uninsured in Colorado

Control-click [PC] or Option-click [Mac] to download the target file.

Western Colorado has the highest rates of residents without health insurance, according to new data from the Colorado Health Access Survey. The rates are shown for the state’s 21 health statistics regions, which state officials developed to use for public health planning services.Source: 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey, I-News Network

• High resolution (200dpi) JPG map
• Encapsulated PostScript file
• Adobe Illustrator file

Map: Percent of Underinsured in Colorado

This year, more Coloradans reported they lacked a regular place to go when they are sick or need health care advice than in 2009. Residents of Douglas and Mesa counties were most likely to have a usual source of care.Source: 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey, I-News Network
Control-click [PC] or Option-click [Mac] to download the target file.

• High resolution (200dpi) JPG map
• Encapsulated PostScript file
• Adobe Illustrator file

Map: Unusual source for health care.

This year, more Coloradans reported they lacked a regular place to go when they are sick or need health care advice than in 2009. Residents of Douglas and Mesa counties were most likely to have a usual source of care.Source: 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey, I-News Network
Control-click [PC] or Option-click [Mac] to download the target file.

• High resolution (200dpi) JPG map
• Encapsulated PostScript file
• Adobe Illustrator file

Links:

See how some of our media partners used this report:

Health Policy Solutions

Colorado Springs Gazette

Education News Colorado

We filed public records requests for internal documents, analyzed previously unreleased state education data, and interviewed lawmakers, educators, experts, parents and students. What we found was big business with little state oversight and dismal performance.

Read the series here:

Part 1: Half of online K-12 students leave, but virtual schools keep millions in tax dollars.

Part 2: Online schools produce three dropouts for every graduate, and scores drop when K-12 students switch to online schools

Part 3: Investigation finds lax state oversight of online K-12 schools

In just the past week, I’ve had two conversations with individuals who are interested in helping I-News sustain quality, in-depth journalism in Colorado. When I told them our current supporters include The Denver Foundation, it was as if I’d said the magic words.

I-News received a $5,000 grant from The Denver Foundation this year. We appreciate the funding (do we ever!). But just as valuable – and likely even more so in the long-run – is the level of respect and trust that comes with being a grantee of Colorado’s oldest and largest community foundation.

The Denver Foundation – one of the Top 25 community foundations in the nation in terms of giving – has a reputation of rigorously vetting the organizations it supports.

We appreciate that kind of fact-checking here at I-News!

The Denver Foundation called I-News “an impressive organization” with both early success and strong potential. They like how I-News is helping long-time media competitors become collaborators so we can bring important information to the public.

David Miller, president and CEO of The Denver Foundation, put it this way: “I-News is doing very important and valuable work in our community.”

The Denver Foundation’s mission is to strengthen the community. We are proud and thankful the foundation believes I-News is a valuable part of that work. And we appreciate our fellow Coloradans who want to help sustain our work.

– Laura Frank
    executive director

CSAP Results: More than 80,000 students are substandard in reading, and the percent not catching up rose this year. Photo by Joe Mahoney/I-News

Thousands of Colorado school children are behind in math, reading, writing and science – and they might never catch up.

This week, I-News helped our media partners throughout Colorado tell the story.

I-News analyzed data from the Colorado Student Assessment Program for our media partners.The CSAP data are thousands of numbers that show how students in grades 3 through 10 perform in reading, writing, math and science. I-News boiled the numbers down, then shared them with our media partners statewide.

Here’s some of what we found:

Nearly 87 percent of Colorado public school students who fail to meet state education standards in math are not on pace to catch up, according to an I-News analysis of the latest standardized testing results.

More than 100,000 public school students in Colorado are not on track to become proficient in math or writing within three years, or by the time they reach the 10th grade.

More than 80,000 students are substandard in reading, and the percent not catching up rose this year.

Jo O’Brien, assistant commissioner of standards and assessments for the Colorado Department of Education, said the state is trying to develop new strategies to help students who can’t catch up.

“We’ve gone as far as we can go,” O’Brien said. “Students not scoring proficient can’t seem to rise and tend to stay behind through graduation. We believe the new business of education will be centered around the students who are in the catchup category.”

An I-News analysis of the state’s scores on how well schools are advancing students to meet the state standards found:

• 134,681 students, or 86.5% of those who scored unsatisfactory or partially proficient, were not on track to achieve proficiency in state standards in math within three years or by the time they reach the 10th grade. Last year, 87% were not on pace to achieve proficiency.

• 122,853 students, or 72% of those not meeting state writing standards, were not on pace to catch up. Despite the high numbers, it was an improvement over last year when 76% were not on track to reach writing proficiency.

• 80,999 students, or 71% of deficient students in reading, were not on pace to reach proficiency. That was an increase from 65% last year.

Four of every five school districts in the state (81 percent) made gains in the portion of their students who scored proficient at meeting state reading standards between 1997 and 2011. But those gains have stalled in the past five years. (Photo by Joe Mahoney/I-News)

More Colorado public school children are meeting state education standards for reading than they were 15 years ago, but fewer are excelling at the subject, an I-News Network analysis of new school testing scores shows.

State education officials today (Aug. 3) released scores for the standardized Colorado Student Assessment Program tests – known as CSAPs – which showed the portion of fourth graders in state public schools who meet or surpass state reading requirements has risen 10 percentage points since testing began a decade and a half ago.

An I-News analysis of those data show the gains appear to have stalled recently, though.

Most reading gains came in the first decade of testing, the analysis shows. And most school districts, including some of the largest, have actually seen their students’ reading scores drop since 2006.

This marks the fifteenth year Colorado has tested fourth grade reading and writing in its public schools. The state is revamping its testing program next year.

The I-News Network analyzed 15 years of data and found:

• More students meet reading standards. Four of every five school districts in the state (81 percent) made gains in the portion of their students who scored proficient at meeting state reading standards between 1997 and 2011.

• Advanced reading scores suffered. Nearly two of every three districts (64 percent) saw an actual drop in the portion of children scoring advanced in reading since CSAPs began.

• Reading gains are stalled. Almost all the reading gains came in the first 10 years of testing, with most districts either stagnating or falling slightly since 2006.

The portion of fourth graders scoring advanced in reading fell or stagnated in about 80 percent of the districts, or four out of every five. Some of the biggest drops were posted by some of the highest scoring districts. Academy 20 in El Paso County saw a 4 percentage point fall, Cherry Creek fell five percentage points, Littleton dropped three percentage points, Douglas County fell two percentage points, Poudre Valley in Larimer County fell two percentage points and Boulder Valley dropped one percentage point.

Denver was among the 20 percent of districts to show a gain in the portion of students scoring advanced in fourth grade reading, rising one percentage point over the 15 years.

One in three districts reduced the percent of students scoring “unsatisfactory” in reading.

State officials are most concerned with what they call “passing” scores: Combining both proficient and advanced. Statewide, the percent of students scoring either proficient or advanced in fourth grade reading has risen 10 percentage points in the past decade and a half, to 65 percent.

But since 2006, the portion of students with a passing fourth grade reading score has dropped three percentage points. Among the largest districts, these saw an overall decline in reading scores between 2006 and 2011: Douglas County, Colorado Springs, Greeley, Five Star in Adams County, St. Vrain, Boulder Valley, and Academy 20.

For fourth grade writing, the other test administered in all 15 years of the CSAPs, there also was a gap between gains in proficient scores and gains in advanced scores, though it was not as dramatic as the reading score gap. From 1997 to 2011, 89 percent of the districts showed gains in overall proficiency compared to 59 percent of the districts showing gains in the percent of students scoring advanced.

Districts also did much better in reducing the percent of students scoring unsatisfactory in writing, with 92 percent of the districts posting declines in unsatisfactory scores.