Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Ken Witt is the superintendent of schools in Woodland Park, Colorado,
and they were in the news a couple of years
ago when a more conservative school board took over and
essentially had the nerve to say, hey, we want to
focus on student achievement, and lo and behold, it seems
to have taken hold. They just released their results for
(00:22):
their schools and the growth in student achievement has been significant.
And I wanted to let Ken come on and talk
about what they're doing in Woodland Park because so much
of Colorado is not making significant gains that I thought
we'd trying to light on what seems to be working.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Ken, Welcome back to the show. It's been a while,
it has.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thank you very much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Mandy, Well, tell me about what changed in Woodland Park,
what the schools are doing, like just kind of tell
the story of how you've gotten and we'll give some
of the numbers in just a minute of some of
that achievement.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's very impressive.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Absolutely, thank you for recognizing that it's not just an improvement,
but it's a I call it a significant leap in
academic excellence and academic performance in Woodland Park. We've seen
an increased seventy three point eight percent of our composite
score percentage, up from fifty sixth ranked school district in
(01:18):
the state last year, which which was notable for a
small school district, but now twenty seventh ranked in the
state this year with gains of significant gains, double digit gains,
and almost every school in terms of School Performance Framework scores.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So, how many kids do you have in Woodland Park?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We have about eighteen hundred funded students, about nineteen hundred
students in headcount.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So tell me what your school district did. What did
the individual schools do to make this kind make these
kind of gains? What was the plan?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Well, that's right, there is a plan and there are
a number of pieces to it. It's never just one thing, right,
but number one, we strongly believe in school choice. We
believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. So we
encouraged new school ideas and competition in the school place.
(02:20):
We installed a charter school that has just performed remarkably well.
But I want to emphasize that it's not about the
charter school. It's about the fact that competition raises everyone's performance.
We introduced a transportation plan that says every student in
Woodland Park can go to whichever school they want to
go to and get transportation to it, which means that
(02:41):
kids are in the schools that they and their families
believe are the best fit for them, which again helps
the Institute of the American Birthright standard. And went over
carefully our history curriculum, our social studies curriculum, made certain
that it had better breadth and bread better depth in
understand our nation and the student's place in it. We
(03:03):
focus broadly consistently in our messaging on refocusing on academic
excellence and paying some attention to the right academic leadership. Yeah,
and last, but not least, we strengthened the culture in
our schools of striving for excellence, of actually earning your way,
of investing yourself in bettering your education. And I believe
(03:26):
that's paying significant dividends.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So there was a huge kerfuffle when the school board
went to the right and said, look, we're going to
make these changes, and that's the last time we spoke.
Was a massive kerfuffle going on. But does this help
settle it down? I haven't heard much out of it
as of late, But do these results kind of go,
wait a minute, We're focused on the students and maybe
we should leave all the adult stuff to another time.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
If you know what I'm saying here.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
You know, I'd like to believe that that will be
the outcome. Of course, this is yesterday's news. It's just
recently it released information. But I have to tell you, Mandy,
the city council voted last night to end a sales
tax that it's a significant percentage of the revenue for
the school district, after they learned of these huge strides of.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The school district.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
So we're disappointed to see that there's still a lot
of resistance to the right direction of education when we
have the proof right here that it's working, and it's
not just working a little, it's working very well.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So the school what so the city council is essentially
defunding the school district is what explained that to me.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
There's a Woodland Park is one of three school districts
in the state that has a one percent one point
h nine percent sales tax that's allocated to the school district.
The city council voted to send that back to the voters.
I e rescind it unless the voters vote again to
continue it, which will be a significant hit to the
school dist revenue. If in fact that issue that bonded
(05:04):
that ballot initiative. I'm sorry if that ballot initiative does
not pass and they did that on the heels of
this kind of information.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It's extremely disappointing.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
But we have a high performing school district. We've seen
significant strides in the last two years with these new directions,
and regardless of those who do not choose to invest
in the success of the education of Woodland Park which
they're seeing, We're going to continue pressing forward.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Talk to me about the teachers in your district, because
without the teacher buy in, none of this would have worked.
So talk to me about how the teachers have responded
and reacted and the things they brought to the table.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I have to say, we have great teachers in Woodland Park.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
We have spent significant effort and energy on creating opportunities
for the teachers to rise and to really make a
differentference in their schools. We instituted merit pay this year
so great teachers are recognized and rewarded for being great teachers.
Our teachers have invested themselves in setting measures of student
(06:12):
learning that were ambitious and then really pursuing those We
had a school that increased its score this year, Summitt
Elementary that increased its School Performance Ready by twenty two.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Percent this year.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Just outstanding progress. And of course that's to the credit
of those teachers.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I want to share some of these numbers because they
are the growth is really really impressive, and it's not
like you guys started really down in the you know,
in the depths. You were not a poorly performing district,
let me be clear about that. But when you see it, yeah,
when you see an increase Columbine Elementary fourteen point seven percent, increase,
(06:49):
Gateway Elementary eleven point seven percent, increase, Merit Academy ten
point four percent, increase Summit Elementary as you just mentioned,
twenty one point eight percent, Woodland Park Middle School six
point two percent, Woodland Park High School thirteen point eight percent.
How in the world did you get high school students
(07:09):
to do anything that impressive?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I have to say it has to do with focusing
leadership on the right objectives and making certain that the
right message is going all the way through the leadership
and getting to the teachers and we've seen a turnaround
and culture in some of these schools that is paying dividends,
and we're very grateful for it, and we're very proud
of it. I do have to make one correction because
you called the number out that was a typo in
(07:36):
the first release. Merit Academy actually increased thirteen point six.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Percent, oh not ten percent.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I got the first.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I apologize for that typo.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, that's okay, that's a good correction to make.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Now, has anybody else reached out to you from another
district to say, hey, Ken, what are you guys doing
down there? You know what's happening? Because we talked about
this earlier on the show. Like my feeling is when
somebody is having great success, you want to replicate that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You want to find out what's going on.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
What advice would you give to other districts that are
not seeing remotely this growth, Some have barely, if recovered
at all, from the pre pandemic numbers.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I guess I would give two major pieces of advice.
Number one, stop focusing on recovering from the pandemic. We
weren't very good before the pandemic. Let's focus on doing
great education and raising the bar on education in our schools.
And number two, focus on leadership. It's I know this
(08:35):
is not a popular message, but it's not just about
turning people or convincing them that a new system is
a better system. It's about getting the right people in
place to make certain that they're actually rowing together to
make academic success and increases in academic performance the number
one priority.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now, can these are all the c MASS results? So
the Colorado testing results. When are you guys going to
get results from like the PSA t P SAT testing
SAT testing when you can really begin to see how
these programs are really getting kids ready for college or
workforce training programs.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
PSA test results are also available.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
We didn't include this in the in the press release,
but those that information is coming now the PSAT cycle.
And the bottom line is Woodland Park had remarkably high
SAT scores last year and I expect that that will
continue this year, but we don't have the number numbers
published yet.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I'm talking to Ken Wit.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The bottom line is that's actually that was an area
of strength and the c MASS is now beginning to
show just the same level of success.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Ken Whit is my guest.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
He's the superintendent of Woodland Park School District, a smaller
district in a beautiful part of the state.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I mean, who wouldn't want to live in Woodland Park?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Can?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I hope that you know, if you're going to have
to go to the voters and make the case that
you need to keep that one percent sales tax to
keep funding your schools, you certainly have a really good
story to talk to people in Woodland Park about, right.
I mean, you're coming into this from a position of strength.
What are your thoughts on whether or not that's going
to pass? Because so much around Woodland Park schools has
(10:17):
been politicized because of the adults, not what's focused on
the kids, but because of the adults. So do you
feel like you're going to be able to get that
over the finish line and get that passed.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I'm absolutely certain that if the voters look at these
results and ask themselves what's best for our students, then
it's pack that it's going to pass with flying colors.
My hope is that those who have animosity over the
presence of a charter school or over some leadership kerfuffle
that they didn't like that, those people will put the
(10:50):
priority on students and the performance of education, not on
their personal emotional issues, and will be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Ken Witt, I appreciate your time as always, and this
a great job. I love hearing about a district that
is helping all kids and achieving at a high level.
And it sounds like that's what you got going down there.
But I wasn't surprised at all when they gave you
this job. I was like, Oh, Ken can fix it.
It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Thank you, Mandy. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
All right, Ken, have a great day, my friend, you too,
And Ken Witt is the superintendent of schools in Woodland Park, Colorado,
and they were in the news a couple of years
ago when a more conservative school board took over and
essentially had the nerve to say, hey, we want to
focus on student achievement, and lo and behold, it seems
to have taken hold. They just released their results for
(00:22):
their schools and the growth in student achievement has been significant.
And I wanted to let Ken come on and talk
about what they're doing in Woodland Park because so much
of Colorado is not making significant gains that I thought
we'd trying to light on what seems to be working.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Ken, Welcome back to the show. It's been a while,
it has.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thank you very much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Mandy, Well, tell me about what changed in Woodland Park,
what the schools are doing, like just kind of tell
the story of how you've gotten and we'll give some
of the numbers in just a minute of some of
that achievement.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's very impressive.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Absolutely, thank you for recognizing that it's not just an improvement,
but it's a I call it a significant leap in
academic excellence and academic performance in Woodland Park. We've seen
an increased seventy three point eight percent of our composite
score percentage, up from fifty sixth ranked school district in
(01:18):
the state last year, which which was notable for a
small school district, but now twenty seventh ranked in the
state this year with gains of significant gains, double digit gains,
and almost every school in terms of School Performance Framework scores.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So, how many kids do you have in Woodland Park?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We have about eighteen hundred funded students, about nineteen hundred
students in headcount.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So tell me what your school district did. What did
the individual schools do to make this kind make these
kind of gains? What was the plan?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Well, that's right, there is a plan and there are
a number of pieces to it. It's never just one thing, right,
but number one, we strongly believe in school choice. We
believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. So we
encouraged new school ideas and competition in the school place.
(02:20):
We installed a charter school that has just performed remarkably well.
But I want to emphasize that it's not about the
charter school. It's about the fact that competition raises everyone's performance.
We introduced a transportation plan that says every student in
Woodland Park can go to whichever school they want to
go to and get transportation to it, which means that
(02:41):
kids are in the schools that they and their families
believe are the best fit for them, which again helps
the Institute of the American Birthright standard. And went over
carefully our history curriculum, our social studies curriculum, made certain
that it had better breadth and bread better depth in
understand our nation and the student's place in it. We
(03:03):
focus broadly consistently in our messaging on refocusing on academic
excellence and paying some attention to the right academic leadership. Yeah,
and last, but not least, we strengthened the culture in
our schools of striving for excellence, of actually earning your way,
of investing yourself in bettering your education. And I believe
(03:26):
that's paying significant dividends.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So there was a huge kerfuffle when the school board
went to the right and said, look, we're going to
make these changes, and that's the last time we spoke.
Was a massive kerfuffle going on. But does this help
settle it down? I haven't heard much out of it
as of late, But do these results kind of go,
wait a minute, We're focused on the students and maybe
we should leave all the adult stuff to another time.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
If you know what I'm saying here.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
You know, I'd like to believe that that will be
the outcome. Of course, this is yesterday's news. It's just
recently it released information. But I have to tell you, Mandy,
the city council voted last night to end a sales
tax that it's a significant percentage of the revenue for
the school district, after they learned of these huge strides of.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The school district.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
So we're disappointed to see that there's still a lot
of resistance to the right direction of education when we
have the proof right here that it's working, and it's
not just working a little, it's working very well.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So the school what so the city council is essentially
defunding the school district is what explained that to me.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
There's a Woodland Park is one of three school districts
in the state that has a one percent one point
h nine percent sales tax that's allocated to the school district.
The city council voted to send that back to the voters.
I e rescind it unless the voters vote again to
continue it, which will be a significant hit to the
school dist revenue. If in fact that issue that bonded
(05:04):
that ballot initiative. I'm sorry if that ballot initiative does
not pass and they did that on the heels of
this kind of information.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It's extremely disappointing.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
But we have a high performing school district. We've seen
significant strides in the last two years with these new directions,
and regardless of those who do not choose to invest
in the success of the education of Woodland Park which
they're seeing, We're going to continue pressing forward.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Talk to me about the teachers in your district, because
without the teacher buy in, none of this would have worked.
So talk to me about how the teachers have responded
and reacted and the things they brought to the table.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I have to say, we have great teachers in Woodland Park.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
We have spent significant effort and energy on creating opportunities
for the teachers to rise and to really make a
differentference in their schools. We instituted merit pay this year
so great teachers are recognized and rewarded for being great teachers.
Our teachers have invested themselves in setting measures of student
(06:12):
learning that were ambitious and then really pursuing those We
had a school that increased its score this year, Summitt
Elementary that increased its School Performance Ready by twenty two.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Percent this year.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Just outstanding progress. And of course that's to the credit
of those teachers.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I want to share some of these numbers because they
are the growth is really really impressive, and it's not
like you guys started really down in the you know,
in the depths. You were not a poorly performing district,
let me be clear about that. But when you see it, yeah,
when you see an increase Columbine Elementary fourteen point seven percent, increase,
(06:49):
Gateway Elementary eleven point seven percent, increase, Merit Academy ten
point four percent, increase Summit Elementary as you just mentioned,
twenty one point eight percent, Woodland Park Middle School six
point two percent, Woodland Park High School thirteen point eight percent.
How in the world did you get high school students
(07:09):
to do anything that impressive?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I have to say it has to do with focusing
leadership on the right objectives and making certain that the
right message is going all the way through the leadership
and getting to the teachers and we've seen a turnaround
and culture in some of these schools that is paying dividends,
and we're very grateful for it, and we're very proud
of it. I do have to make one correction because
you called the number out that was a typo in
(07:36):
the first release. Merit Academy actually increased thirteen point six.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Percent, oh not ten percent.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I got the first.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I apologize for that typo.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, that's okay, that's a good correction to make.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Now, has anybody else reached out to you from another
district to say, hey, Ken, what are you guys doing
down there? You know what's happening? Because we talked about
this earlier on the show. Like my feeling is when
somebody is having great success, you want to replicate that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You want to find out what's going on.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
What advice would you give to other districts that are
not seeing remotely this growth, Some have barely, if recovered
at all, from the pre pandemic numbers.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I guess I would give two major pieces of advice.
Number one, stop focusing on recovering from the pandemic. We
weren't very good before the pandemic. Let's focus on doing
great education and raising the bar on education in our schools.
And number two, focus on leadership. It's I know this
(08:35):
is not a popular message, but it's not just about
turning people or convincing them that a new system is
a better system. It's about getting the right people in
place to make certain that they're actually rowing together to
make academic success and increases in academic performance the number
one priority.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now, can these are all the c MASS results? So
the Colorado testing results. When are you guys going to
get results from like the PSA t P SAT testing
SAT testing when you can really begin to see how
these programs are really getting kids ready for college or
workforce training programs.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
PSA test results are also available.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
We didn't include this in the in the press release,
but those that information is coming now the PSAT cycle.
And the bottom line is Woodland Park had remarkably high
SAT scores last year and I expect that that will
continue this year, but we don't have the number numbers
published yet.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I'm talking to Ken Wit.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The bottom line is that's actually that was an area
of strength and the c MASS is now beginning to
show just the same level of success.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Ken Whit is my guest.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
He's the superintendent of Woodland Park School District, a smaller
district in a beautiful part of the state.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I mean, who wouldn't want to live in Woodland Park?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Can?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I hope that you know, if you're going to have
to go to the voters and make the case that
you need to keep that one percent sales tax to
keep funding your schools, you certainly have a really good
story to talk to people in Woodland Park about, right.
I mean, you're coming into this from a position of strength.
What are your thoughts on whether or not that's going
to pass? Because so much around Woodland Park schools has
(10:17):
been politicized because of the adults, not what's focused on
the kids, but because of the adults. So do you
feel like you're going to be able to get that
over the finish line and get that passed.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I'm absolutely certain that if the voters look at these
results and ask themselves what's best for our students, then
it's pack that it's going to pass with flying colors.
My hope is that those who have animosity over the
presence of a charter school or over some leadership kerfuffle
that they didn't like that, those people will put the
(10:50):
priority on students and the performance of education, not on
their personal emotional issues, and will be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Ken Witt, I appreciate your time as always, and this
a great job. I love hearing about a district that
is helping all kids and achieving at a high level.
And it sounds like that's what you got going down there.
But I wasn't surprised at all when they gave you
this job. I was like, Oh, Ken can fix it.
It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Thank you, Mandy. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
All right, Ken, have a great day, my friend, you too,
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
Popular Podcasts
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com