Mancos Elementary School Principal Seth Levine announced to the district Tuesday that the school has received high ratings from the school ranking platform Niche ahead of the upcoming school year.
According to Niche, Mancos Elementary School was ranked No. 5 out of 1,006 schools in the state for best elementary school teachers and No. 27 out of 1,058 for best public elementary schools in Colorado.
They are also ranked No. 1 for best public elementary school in Montezuma County.
“I am so grateful for this incredible news, but I'm not surprised at all because the teachers and staff here at Mancos Elementary are such a dedicated and loving family of educators,” Levine told The Journal. “Our staff has a tremendous level of experience, education and love for every single one of our students.”
According to Levine, the elementary school “embraced” trauma-informed practices and social-emotional learning in every classroom, and experienced “outstanding” progress in reading and language comprehension this year.
One of the tactics used to improve reading skills was teaching structured literacy with a research-based approach.
Levine also shared that the school’s NWEA science scores is currently in the top 25% in the nation, or 77th percentile.
This new school year, the elementary school leadership and teachers are implementing programs to help foster a love of learning and continue on their trajectory of preparing students for success.
“As we look towards the start of another magical school year, we are going to continue improving in a number of important ways. We are piloting several new math programs, as well as implementing a fantastic writing program to foster growth in written expression, penmanship, cursive writing and grammar. It is truly an honor to work amongst this impressive group of teachers and staff,” Levine said.
Mancos Elementary School teachers also shared in the excitement about the news of the school’s ranking.
“Every student and teacher here gives 100% hundred percent effort every single day. It's also that we support the whole child by not only focusing on academics, but social-emotional learning as well,” kindergarten teacher Nicole Gregersen said.
“We're the students' safe place,” librarian and technology teacher Chyrise Bay added. “They are free to be themselves, and we love to support the kids in every way possible.”
“We work as a team. We are a great family, and everyone is included in our success,” paraprofessional Heather Mestas said.
In an email to the Mancos RE-6 school board and Superintendent Todd Cordrey, Levine expressed his excitement for the rating and his desire for the school to score even higher next year.
“Y'all amaze me. The crazy thing is, I truly believe we will do even better this year. Keep up the outstanding work and congratulations on this incredible accomplishment,” Levine said.
According to Niche, Mancos has nearly 200 students and has a student-to-teacher ratio of 12-to-1.
Mancos Elementary’s profile on Niche can be found online at www.niche.com/k12/mancos-elementary-school-mancos-co/#about.
