Garfield Re-2 continues steady climb on state performance framework

Garfield Re-2 earns its highest framework score as community-created academic priorities take hold

Four years after Garfield Re-2 turned to its community to help chart a path forward, the district continues to see steady academic progress.

Garfield Re-2 earned its highest overall score on record on the preliminary Colorado 2026 District Performance Framework and received an Accredited rating for the second consecutive year.

The district earned 59.7% of the points available on the preliminary 2026 framework, up from 56.9% last year and 8.7 points higher than in 2022.

District leaders see that upward trend as one measure that the priorities identified by the Garfield Re-2 community are beginning to take hold.

Following the district’s 2022 results, Garfield Re-2 worked with students, staff, families, and community members to develop its Strategic Plan and Graduate Profile. 

“We recognized the need to make a change,” Director of Secondary Education Jacob Pingel told the Board of Education Sept. 9. “We did not want to be where we were, and we wanted to grow.”

Since then, Pingel said, the district has continued to improve each year.

Colorado’s performance frameworks provide one way to measure that progress. They evaluate districts primarily in three areas: academic achievement, which measures performance against state expectations; academic growth, which measures student progress over time; and postsecondary and workforce readiness, including graduation, dropout rates and SAT performance.

Garfield Re-2 has improved across all three broad areas since 2022.

The progress is also becoming more widespread.

This year, only 82 of Colorado’s 184 districts earned more framework points than Garfield Re-2. Garfield Re-2 is also one of just three Colorado districts with multiple traditional middle and high schools where all of those secondary schools earned the state’s Performance rating. Among those districts, Garfield Re-2 was the only one where all four secondary schools also increased their framework scores from 2025.

Academic achievement remains an important area for continued growth.

While the district’s achievement measure increased again this year, it has recovered more slowly than academic growth and postsecondary and workforce readiness. Moving more students toward and beyond state expectations in reading and math remains a priority.

At the elementary level, teachers are in the early years of implementing new core reading (CKLA) and math programs (Eureka!). Despite that instructional transition, the district maintained its overall elementary achievement and growth ratings. Early internal assessments this fall are also showing encouraging signs, including stronger retention of learning over the summer.

At the secondary level, students are showing strong academic growth, and leaders are now focused on helping more students meet state achievement benchmarks.

That work includes closer review of student data, increased support for English learners and other student groups, instructional coaching, classroom walkthroughs and continued alignment around the district’s Instructional Way.

Superintendent Kirk Banghart told the Board that state assessments provide important benchmarks, while the community-created Graduate Profile provides Garfield Re-2 with a local definition of what student success should ultimately look like.

The Graduate Profile calls for students to leave Garfield Re-2 Academically Prepared, Empowered Individuals, Community Connected, and Strong & Determined.

For Garfield Re-2, the goal is to pursue both strong performance against state academic expectations and the broader skills and characteristics the community said students need for life after graduation.

“We’ve listened, we’ve created a strategic plan, we’ve gone out and executed,” Pingel said. “And we’ve seen growth in every single area.”