March 22, 2011
News Release
Commissioner Robert Hammond Appoints Jhon Penn As Special Advisor On Rural Needs
Commissioner Robert Hammond today announced the appointment of Jhon
Penn to oversee improvements to the department’s service to rural
Colorado school districts. Penn is currently director of performance
support at the Colorado Department of Education. He will retain that
title and role but also will serve in a direct advisory capacity to the
commissioner regarding rural issues.
“In order to follow through on our commitment to implement and deliver
the five areas of reform now underway, we need to ensure that the voices
of rural Colorado school districts are heard and that their needs are
met as the reforms roll out,” said Commissioner Hammond. “Jhon Penn will
provide that voice in the department and with his extensive experience
in all corners of Colorado, I can think of nobody better suited to serve
in this capacity.”
Penn is a former director of achievement and a former elementary and
secondary principal in rural Colorado. He has worked in public education
for 20 years.
Hammond’s announcement follows a February 2011 report to the state board
of education that urged a series of steps to improve support of and
communication with rural districts. Eighty percent of the state’s 178
school districts—142 districts in all—are recognized as rural. Those
districts serve 20 percent of Colorado’s students.
Commissioner Hammond said Penn will examine all the recommendations in
the report to improve the department’s service to rural districts and
their needs. “We hear their concerns and we need to do a better job of
making sure their interests are represented as we move forward,” said
Hammond, who also noted that regular reports about rural concerns would
be provided to the Colorado State Board of Education as needed.
The five areas of reform being implemented are new statewide academic
standards; a new assessment system; a new system for holding schools and
districts accountable for performance; a new plan for measuring educator
effectiveness; and building necessary systems to build awareness of
these initiatives and to provide training to schools and districts on
implementation of these reform efforts.
Rural Study—Recap
The report identified a series of concerns, including:
• Initiative Fatigue. The “churn of new initiatives and reform efforts
has led to consideration frustration and distrust,” the report states.
The report recommends a two-year moratorium on new initiatives to allow
time for implementation of existing mandates and the new academic
standards. “They are feeling suffocated,” Van Sant, one of the report’s
authors, told the board. “They are feeling fatigue. We found a lot of
them stressing to us they can’t do one more report, can’t do one more
thing.”
• Reporting and Data Overload. “Many rural district superintendents
expressed weariness and anger at the notion that their districts have
the same resources as the large Front Range districts, particularly
staff and dollars,” the report states.
“Twenty-seven school districts have only a single administrator, the
superintendent, who also serves as the instructional leader,
transportation director and athletic director.”
• Consolidation Concerns. The report urged drafting of a new law that
would allow for voluntary consolidation of those districts below a
certain pupil size (for example, 1,000 students) with approval only
needed from the local boards of education that it involves. Any attempts
at mandatory consolidation, the report stated, would be strongly
disputed by local communities.
The report calls for improving staff development,
details rural districts’ challenges with staff recruitment and retention
and urges more cost-sharing and cooperation among school districts. The
full report is posted here:
www.cde.state.co.us/Communications/download/ARuralNeedsStudy.pdf
For technical assistance, E-Mail: CDE_Communications_Office@cde.state.co.us