Unified Improvement Planning

About Unified Improvement Planning

Every year, districts and individual schools are required by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to create a Unified Improvement Plan (UIP). Think of it as a school’s annual game plan to make sure every single student gets the best education possible.

District leaders, school leaders, teachers, families, and community members work together to follow four simple steps:

Focus on what matters: We pinpoint exactly where our district and schools are thriving and where they need extra support.
Review the data: We look closely at student success rates and test scores to see how everyone is doing.
Find smart solutions: We figure out the "why" behind any challenges and choose proven, effective strategies to fix them.
Take action and follow through: We put the plan into motion and check in regularly throughout the year to make sure it is actually working for our students.

Ultimately, it ensures that from the district office to the individual classrooms, we are all working together to improve our schools and help our students succeed.

Video: Unified Improvement Planning (UIP) - A Community Guide

youtube-UIRrL9irYCU_1

Roles of the School Accountability Committee

State law requires every public school to have a School Accountability Committee (SAC) to help with improvement. This team of parents, staff members, and community members:

Reviews School Data: Looks at test scores, attendance, and feedback to find where students need help.
Helps Build the Plan: Works with school leaders to set goals and choose the best strategies to improve.
Directs Funding: Helps decide how to use the school budget to support these goals.
Tracks Progress: Checks in throughout the year to make sure the plan is working and suggests changes if needed.

Process

School Performance Frameworks

Every fall, schools and districts receive a School Performance Framework (SPF) from the Colorado Department of Education, based on prior-year performance. Think of it like an annual report card.

It shows how well a school did the year before by looking at a few key things:

Test scores and how much students improved (growth);
Graduation rates and student success;
How different groups of students are doing.

Based on these results, each school (and the district) gets a final score and rating. If a school gets a lower rating, it has to write a specific plan to help them get better. Alternative education schools have other ways to review data and set goals. View an annotated example of an SPF.

School Ratings

Performance Plan: Schools with a Performance Plan are meeting expectations on the majority of performance targets.
Improvement Plan: These schools are identified as lower performing. They may be meeting expectations on some performance metrics, but they are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on many.
Priority Improvement Plan: These schools are identified as low performing. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.
Turnaround Plan: These schools are identified as among the lowest performing schools in the state. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.

(Source: Colorado Department of Education)

Accountability Clock

Schools that are on a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan are placed on an “Accountability Clock.” Schools are given five years to improve their rating before further state action takes place, which can include restructuring plans. Schools that improve their ratings must maintain or increase their ratings for two consecutive years to officially be removed from the “Performance Watch” list.

UIP Development Process

Schools use School Performance Frameworks as a starting point, but they look much deeper at other data to further paint a picture of their current state.

Gathering the Facts: Schools look at test scores, attendance, behavior, and feedback surveys from students, families, and school staff to get a full picture of what's working and what isn't.

Making a Plan: Next, they set clear goals, identify the root cause of any problems, and develop a step-by-step improvement plan.

Checking Progress: Schools don't just set goals and forget them. They check their progress regularly throughout the school year and make adjustments whenever needed.

Viewing UIPs

To view your school’s UIP and performance rating, visit CDE’s SchoolView website. Search for the specific school and select Framework Report PDFs or Unified Improvement Plan.

Note: Preliminary 25-26 Performance Frameworks will be released on SchoolView on August 31st.

A screenshot showing to select the links for Framework Report PDFs and Unified Improvement Plan (UIP)

You can also visit the Performance Snapshot CDE site for an alternate view of this information.

A screenshot of what the Performance Snapshot site looks like for a school

Reviewing School Data

There are several places where families and the community can view public school data to help understand where their schools are currently performing.

Performance Snapshots: This high-level CDE site gives overall performance ratings, UIP information, and more broad demographic data.

CDE's District and School Dashboard: An interactive site to see current and historical achievement and growth on state assessments with the ability to filter down to specific student groups . Other data include enrollment & demographic data, postsecondary readiness, framework results, and allows comparisons with the district and state.

Jeffco's School Insights: This site brings together multiple sources of school-level data in a single web-based resource, making it easier to see a more complete picture of each school. View data such as school basics; demographics; culture data derived from student, staff and family surveys; and state & district assessment data.

Timeline of Unified Improvement Planning

Date	What's Going On
June	Preliminary state assessment achievement data released to principals
July	School leadership teams work on a draft improvement plan aligned to the district’s initiatives for the upcoming school year
July and August	School leaders and staff members continue to refine the draft improvement plan
Mid August	State assessment growth data becomes available
Late August	Preliminary School Performance Frameworks released to schools
TBD - October 15	Schools revise UIPs based on feedback.
October 15	UIPs due to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE)
After October 15	Schools revisit and refine UIP as appropriate.

Terminology Matrix

Terminology Matrix

Term	What Is It?	Example
Student Performance Priority	The Big Problem We Need to Fix The most urgent academic area where students are struggling and need extra help right away.	Multilingual Learners are falling behind in math compared to other students (growing at a 37 score vs. a 53 score).
Targets and Interim Measures	Our Goal and How We Check Progress Where we want students to be performing by the end of the year. We also use short tests to check if we're on track along the way.	Goal: Get Multilingual Learners up to a 55 growth score on state tests. Progress Check: Use regular math tests throughout the year to track progress.
Root Cause	Why Is This Happening? Finding the main reason behind the problem that a school has the power to fix.	Classrooms haven't been consistently using the best teaching techniques specifically designed for language learners.
Major Improvement Strategy	Our Main Solution The main plan teachers will use to fix the underlying problem.	Use proven, high-quality teaching methods for Multilingual Learners in every single classroom.
Action Plan	The Step-by-Step Instructions The specific actions staff will take to make the main solution work.	Step 1: Train all teachers on three strong tools to support language learners. Step 2: Have teacher teams plan math lessons together using these new tools.
Implementation Milestone	A quick check to make sure teachers are using the new strategies in class.	By the end of the first quarter, 8 out of 10 teachers are actively using at least one of the new teaching tools in math class.

Unique Requirements

Schools that serve certain populations of students or acquire a certain rating, are required by CDE to include additional strategies.

Schools with students in grades K-3: Must include a target around the READ Act to improve early literacy skills. Schools on Priority Improvement or Turnaround plans must include targets for Early Learning.
Schools with students in grades 9-12: Must include actions around course-taking patterns.
Schools in Improvement, Priority Improvement or Turnaround Status: Will include a more rigorous progress monitoring plan and strategies.
Schools in year four of the accountability clock: Must include potential pathways moving forward. These pathways can include contracting with a management partner, altering school structures to better meet student needs, or consolidating or closing the school.
Other populations: There may be additional requirements for schools, depending on their programming and the populations they serve.

2026-27 expectations for UIPs

UIPs for all Jeffco neighborhood schools will include the district’s Major Improvement Strategies (listed below). The specific action plans and corresponding steps necessary to implement these strategies may differ from school to school, based on their individual needs and goals.

Schools have flexibility and opportunity to implement additional Major Improvement strategies as necessary.

Jeffco's 25-26 Major Improvement Strategies One-Pager

Jeffco's Major Improvement Strategies

in the areas of...

A Culture of Instructional Excellence	A Culture of Safety and Belonging
Supporting Our Schools & Teachers
We give teachers training to master and effectively use high quality, district-approved lessons, books, and tests.	We set clear district-wide expectations that look at each student's name, unique strengths, and individual needs to provide a proven, multi-level system of support.
Meeting High Learning Standards
We match daily lessons with Colorado Academic Standards, making sure every student is appropriately challenged in their schoolwork.	We teach social and emotional learning lessons that match national guidelines (CASEL) for emotional wellness, ensuring every student gets fair access and support.
Checking Progress "In-the-Moment"
Teachers carefully track academic progress during daily lessons to provide immediate feedback that helps students take ownership of their learning.	Teachers observe classroom behavior to instantly understand students' social and emotional needs, adjusting their support on the spot.
Team Planning & Collaboration
School teams meet weekly to look at learning data and plan academic lessons that meet the needs of all students.	Teams use dedicated time to look at behavior, mental health, safety, school belonging, and attendance data to give every student properly layered support.
Classroom Visits & Feedback
Leaders regularly visit classrooms to coach teachers on how to continuously improve their lesson planning, teaching methods, and customized support.	Leaders observe classrooms using official district measurements that include social and emotional skills to help teachers strengthen student interventions.
Building Family Partnerships
We connect with families through honest, two-way communication about students' academic progress for engaged learning at school and at home.	We build open, two-way communication with families focusing specifically on student safety and their progress toward feeling a try sense of belonging at school.