McLain Community High School (0033)
13600 WEST 2ND PLACE
LAKEWOOD, CO 80228
Alternative Education Campus (AEC).
331
Total Students Served
Grade 7 - Grade 12
School District:
Jefferson County R-1 (1420)
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School Profile
About McLain Community High School (0033)
A MESSAGE FROM:
McLain Community High School
2025-2026
Background. McLain Community High School (McLain) is a Jefferson County Public School alternative education campus (AEC) in Lakewood, Colorado. The mission of McLain is to provide an alternative path to a life of learning, opportunity, and choice. McLain Community High School is classified as an alternative education campus, as more than 90% of its students are considered high risk. It is also a Title 1 school as 60.5% of the students qualified for free or reduced meals. McLain Community High Sc…
hool focuses on re-engaging students in school, establishing effective relationships with students at-risk of failure, assisting students to acquire skills related to reading, language arts, mathematics, and science, and improving their opportunities for jobs and access to post-secondary education. In order to better meet the needs of its students, McLain has flexible class scheduling from 7:15 AM - 8:30 PM, offers credit recovery and has small class sizes with differentiated learning. McLain Community High School serves a challenging population of students in grades 9-12. Seventy percent of the students are 17 years and older, 55.0% are minorities, 23% have been expelled from previous schools, 19% are considered previous drop outs, and 37% are identified for special education services. Most McLain students enter the school below grade level and 49% are considered over age, under credit. Ninety nine percent of McLain's students are considered at-risk for two or more high risk factors. McLain Community High School consists of two major subdivisions: McLain Youth and McLain Adult. Within McLain Youth, we host a 9th and 10th grade 2-yr alternative pathway, RISE (Re-engaging in the School Environment), for younger students who are not on track to graduate (have less than 4 credits). Additionally, McLain Youth also hosts 10th through 12th grade students who are overaged and under-credited. Also within the Youth learning community there is Jefferson County Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting Program (JCAPPP); students who are pregnant or parenting have access to their high school education alongside specific parenting and child development education, a quality childcare program, and family health & wellness education. McLain Adult offers the option for a diploma or a GED. McLain Adult students can choose to attend either our daytime program or our evening program. McLain has been identified as a Title I school and the District provides us with a Family Engagement Liaison and additional funding. We have allocated the additional funding toward staffing to support student learning and success after high school: an additional classroom teacher and a career development coordinator. We have also allocated a small portion of the funds towards hosting four family engagement evenings. Under the Colorado Department of Education's (CDE) 2025 AEC School Performance Framework (SPF), McLain Community High School earned an Improvement Plan. Academic Achievement The 2025 SPF shows that in 2024-2025, the student count was not high enough for the school to receive a rating on required state measures in ELA and Math on the CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success), and received a Does Not Meet rating for Science on the CMAS. In 2024-2025 the school received an Approaching rating for the CO PSAT (Colorado Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test) for achievement in Reading and Writing, and Math. Students were Approaching state academic achievement expectations on the optional measures of NWEA MAP (Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress) in math and reading. The combined state and optional measures gave the school a total rating of Approaching academic achievement expectations. Academic Growth In 2024-2025 the school received an Approaching rating in English Language Arts and a Does Not Meet rating Math for required state measures in state calculated growth. Students met the growth expectations for student performance in Math and Reading on the optional measure NWEA MAP MGP. The combined state and optional measures gave the school a total rating of Meets for academic growth expectations. Student Engagement In the area of Student Engagement, state required measures of performance (attendance and truancy), McLain received a rating of Does Not Meet. On optional measures the school Met expectations for student results on the Psychological Sense of School Membership Survey, and was Approaching state expectations for Returning Student Rate. The combined state and optional measures gave the school a total rating of Approaching for student engagement expectations. Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness On the required postsecondary and workforce readiness results the school Met expectations in Reading and Writing and Approached expectations in Math on the required state measure CO SAT (Colorado Scholastic Achievement Test). The school received a Meets rating for Completion Rate and a Does Not Meet rating for Dropout Rate. When reviewing optional measure results, students Met state expectations in both Credit Course Completion and WorkKeys Certificate. The combined state and optional measures gave the school a total rating of Meets for postsecondary and workforce readiness. Improvement Planning. During the 2024-2025 and start of the 2025 school year McLain Community High School met as PLCs, with the school's Alternative Leadership Team, with district resources, and as an administrative team for improvement planning. Through the improvement planning process, the school?s leadership team and staff reviewed available data and the school?s 2024 and 2025 SPF to identify persistent performance challenges, the root causes of those challenges, major improvement strategies, and action steps for addressing the challenges. To enable progress monitoring for each improvement strategy at regular intervals during the school year, implementation benchmarks and interim measures were identified. Finally, performance indicators were identified and where 2024/25 school year data was available performance indicator targets were established. This report provides the decisions made by the McLain Community High School team through the improvement planning process to support development of the McLain Community High School 2025/26 Unified Improvement Plan (UIP). ESSA. McLain Community High School has been identified under ESSA as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement School. Completion rates at McLain do not meet federal expectations. As such, McLain has responded to all ESSA requirements appropriate as can be located for the Data Narrative below. ESSA section 111(d)(1)(B) requires that "...the local education agency shall, for each school identified by the State and in partnership with stakeholders (including principals and other school leaders, teacher, and parents), locally develop and implement a comprehensive support and improvement plan..." Stakeholders were included throughout the UIP planning process. Involved stakeholders included collaboration with district leadership, the McLain administrative team, the McLain Academic Leadership Team (ALT), and parents. Regular meetings occurred among school and district staff to discuss current trends in assessment data, classroom practice, school behavior expectations, student engagement activities and trends, and student progress towards completion. These meetings helped to involve all stakeholders in conducting the needs assessment, reviewing results based on observations and data, reviewing the school's performance on ESSA indicators, identifying priority areas, and providing input on the strategies and plans required to mitigate the reasons for ESSA identification. The school will work to improve opportunities for parents to be involved at a deeper level with an understanding of the school's needs analysis and student performance on all ESSA indicators. Throughout the implementation of this plan, continued collaboration and tracking will take place with all stakeholders to ensure the efficacy of actions set forth and their progress toward mitigating the identified root causes. Evidence through observations, assessment and classroom data, and surveys will be reviewed on a monthly or quarterly basis (depending on the metric) to track improvement and ensure the appropriate shifts in practice are taking place. ESSA section 1111(d)(1)(B)(i) and (iii) require that the comprehensive support and improvement plan ''?(i) is informed by all indicators described in subsection (c)(4)(B), including student performance against State-determined long-term goals;'' and ''(iii) is based on a school-level needs assessment?.'' The data to support long term goals based on student performance can be found in the attached file: 1420-Jefferson County R-1-0033-McLain Community High School_2025-26 ESSA School Profile. ESSA section 1111(d)(1)(B)(iv) requires that the plan ''identifies resource inequities, which may include a review of local educational agency and school-level budgeting, to be addressed through implementation of such comprehensive support and improvement plan.'' Funding. McLain Community High School has equitable access to funding as non-identified schools. Additionally, McLain obtains additional funding through various grants to better serve the needs of the school's high risk population. Teachers. McLain Community High School hires effective teachers who are specifically apt at working with high risk populations. The school and school district provides numerous professional development opportunities every year with the intention of continuing to develop and provide high quality instruction in every classroom. Advanced Placement and Rigor. Advanced placement coursework is available to McLain students at the nearby Red Rocks Community College. Rigorous courses are an important component of the McLain culture and students are consistently presented with high school material designed to prepare them for their futures following graduation. Crisis Management Planning. McLain Community High School and Jefferson County Public Schools have developed a learning plan that allows the school and students to shift seamlessly between school-based learning and remote learning (when recommended by the Jefferson County Department of Health or in the event of an unforeseen emergency). School-based learning provides for all students to attend in-person classes five days per week. Remote learning when school-based is not allowed follows an abbreviated schedule. Lessons for both school-based and remote classes are contained within the online platform Google Classroom with curriculum support by Edgenuity; and is in place in the event the school must transition to a complete remote environment.
Final 2025 Performance Rating
Average SAT & PSAT Scores
SAT Grade 11:
784PSAT Grade 10:
- -PSAT Grade 9:
- -School Year: 2024-2025
More SAT & PSAT Info
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