English Language Arts
7.9%
State avg 44.9%
District avg 40.7%
County avg 40.6%
-4.9pp since 2023-24
District avg 40.7%
County avg 40.6%
-4.9pp since 2023-24
Test scores
See how it ranks: all Colorado schools by score · Denver County schools by score
CMAS, SY 2024-25
All grades, all students. % Met or Exceeded Expectations.Mathematics
4.8%
State avg 36.1%
District avg 31.6%
County avg 31.5%
-1.1pp since 2023-24
District avg 31.6%
County avg 31.5%
-1.1pp since 2023-24
Science
N/A
State avg 36.4%
District avg 30.5%
County avg 30.5%
District avg 30.5%
County avg 30.5%
What this means: On the CMAS, Colorado's statewide test, about 8 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 5 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Colorado schools, those numbers are about 45 and 36. Reading and writing scores are down about 5 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 1 points.
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
9.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
11.2%
based on CO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 10% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 11% typical for Colorado schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Colorado's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
By grade, SY 2024-25
School score vs state average per tested grade.| Grade | English Language Arts | Mathematics | Science | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | |
| Grade 3 | 13.6% | 43.2% | 22 | N/A | 42.8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2-year history
All grades, all students. Cowell Colorado avgEnglish Language Arts
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 7.9% | 40.7% | 40.6% | 44.9% |
| SY 2023-24 | 12.8% | 39.4% | 39.5% | 44.1% |
Mathematics
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 4.8% | 31.6% | 31.5% | 36.1% |
| SY 2023-24 | 5.9% | 30.1% | 30.0% | 34.4% |
How to read these scores
What is CMAS?
Colorado public-school students in grades 3 through 8 take the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) in English Language Arts and Math each spring. Science CMAS is administered at grades 5, 8, and 11.
What does "% Met or Exceeded Expectations" mean?
It is the percentage of students at the school who scored at "Met Expectations" or "Exceeded Expectations" on the CMAS 5-level performance scale (Did Not Yet Meet, Partially Met, Approached, Met, Exceeded). Met and above is Colorado's grade-level benchmark. A higher number is better.
What does 7.9% mean for English Language Arts at Cowell Elementary School?
It means about 7.9 percent of students tested at Cowell Elementary School performed at grade level or above on the CMAS English Language Arts test in 2024-25. The statewide average for Colorado that year was 44.9%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Colorado, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Colorado Department of Education (CDE), Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS). School-level overall results published annually by CDE. Headline metric is the cumulative "Met or Exceeded Expectations" rate (top 2 of CMAS's 5-level performance scale).
How often is it updated?
CMAS is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.