BOULDER - Lucy Ewing knows there's something serious going on when she teaches her fifth-grade class at Bear Creek Elementary. This school is serious about having fun.
"The kids love it," Ewing said. "They have to sit in their seats all day. Let's make it fun and break it up for them a little bit."
Ewing makes kids perform a rhythmic dance to remember language-arts skills. They play act critical-thinking scenarios. She presents her information in bright colors that Ewing hopes exudes positive energy.
"I also love to play to kids' different intelligences like visual and musical," Ewing said.
The ColoradoSchoolGrades.com website gives Bear Creek an "A+" rating. It takes data already collected by the Colorado Department of Education and translates it into a letter grade system from "A-to-F."
"It was easier to look up Consumer Reports and compare vacuum cleaners than it was to compare schools," Tim Taylor, spokesperson for ColoradoSchoolGrades.com, said.
Taylor runs Colorado Succeeds, one of 18 advocacy agencies from around Colorado that put together the free, online tool to help parents make informed school choices for their kids for next year.
"There is no such thing as a typical 'A' school," Taylor said. "Schools that received an "A" were urban. They were rural. They were suburban."
One common thread that appeared at "A" schools profiled this week by 9NEWS is teachers that work together to address students' needs as a team.
"Instead of the power of one person, it's truly the power of the whole school," Kent Cruger, principal of Bear Creek Elementary, said.
Cruger says every staff member has a role in every kid's life. He says they take that responsibility seriously.
"I think we know more than kid's name, but something about them," Cruger said. "What they like, what they don't like? Who's on their sports team? What their game is?"
Monte Selby is a parent at Bear Creek. He says that type of attention makes a big difference.
"They're looking for ways to connect with every individual kid," Selby said. "It's not just the kids. There's that effort to know the parents and so that's a good feeling."
Bear Creek does have a student population that leans towards the affluent. Some might say that makes it easier to have a high-performing school.
"We do have kids here who are usually well-prepared for school," Cruger said. "But, I think what we do is...we take a look at every kid and say how can we take that child and build in what they have."
Ewing says there are still plenty of challenges to overcome.
"Kids are kids, and kids bring with them problems no matter what their socio-and-economic status," Ewing said. "Kids, of course, differ developmentally one to the other and that doesn't have anything to do with where they happen to be living."
Selby is proud to be at a top-ranked school.
"It's still just flat out amazing that they do what they do here," Selby asid.
Don't forget, it's all centered in good fun and that's what second-grader Jalena Rubin likes.
"I like the teachers. They're serious, but they're fun to learn with," Jalena said. "And, Mr. Cruger is a very funny principal."
Cruger smiles.
"A lot of funny stuff happens here," Cruger said. "If kids aren't having fun and if they're not invested in it, it's really hard to teach."
Actually, Ewing says it's easy.
"I think there's something inspiring about teaching kids here at Bear Creek that just inspires teachers to inspire the kids," Ewing said.
Bear Creek Elementary is one of ten schools listed as "#1" in the state. The other schools tied for the top honor:Cherry Hills Village Elementary, Cheyenne Mountain Elementary, Chinook Trail Elementary, Cory Elementary, Cottonwood Creek Elementary, Polaris at Ebert Elementary, Coyote Ridge Elementary, Meiklejohn Elementary, and Niwot Elementary.
However, between all the schools tied at "#1", Bear Creek was the only school with an "A+" rating in both academic proficiency an academic growth.
If you want to see the letter grade of any public school in the state, click here: www.coloradoschoolgrades.com.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)