The Mapleton school district just north of Denver has been battling poverty and poor English-language skills among some students in its efforts to boost learning. With the help of a Gates Foundation grant, the district reorganized all its schools beginning three years ago.

But results have been disappointing. Based on the latest test scores, 81 percent of the district's programs were rated low on state school report cards released Tuesday.

Two-thirds of Mapleton students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch, the main indicator of poverty. More than one third are English-language learners.

Three neighboring districts with similar demographics - Aurora, Commerce City and Westminster - saw similar ratings on the report cards.

Mapleton Superintendent Charlotte Ciancio spoke with the Rocky Mountain News about where the district goes from here. Her response was edited for space.

"I think what we need to do next is continue to be patient. We're seeing growth, and growth is what's going to get us to be successful.

"Just continue to do really strong instruction to every single child, and as every single child continues to learn and grow, then overall it will pull the scores up, but that takes time. We're in year three of the school reform, so it's still young.

"Disappoint us (the test scores)? Yes. Surprise us? No. Because we know what the skills are of the kids in the classroom. We know how far they still need to come.

"Don't lose hope, don't lose faith, and don't let the kids start losing the fact that they can believe in themselves. The kids see these scores, too. The kids know that they're not caught up with the other kids. But they're working really hard.

"In some ways I think it makes the kids feel disappointed in their own skills, but it also motivates them to keep working hard.

"The consistent message we always deliver to the kids is, this is their job to come to school and work really hard and take their lessons seriously and to leave that day knowing something they didn't know when they got there. Every day is a learning day.

"You can't expect them (students who are learning English) to perform differently until they're with us a long time. By fourth grade, they're taking the regular CSAP. You can't (expect them) to be proficient. They've only been speaking the language for four years, so those scores get averaged in and pull the whole score down.

"It's hard to swallow. It's hard."