Colorado

Grade: C — A Bold Redesign in Progress, Held Back by Legacy Fragmentation

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is clearly in the midst of a significant website migration — from an older Drupal-based system (www.cde.state.co.us) to a modern Finalsite-powered platform (ed.cde.state.co.us). The new site features a striking visual design with bold purple branding, professional photography, and an audience-focused navigation structure. The primary navigation works as expected, but clicking between sections frequently bounces users between two radically different site designs.

For parents trying to find school performance data, or educators looking for licensure support, the experience is functional but jarring. You might land on a sleek modern page, only to click through to a decade-old Drupal interface. Colorado clearly has a vision for where they're going, but right now they're caught between two worlds.

The underlying data infrastructure, however, is excellent. SchoolView provides comprehensive school and district data, the Performance Frameworks system is well-documented, and financial transparency tools are robust. If CDE can complete this migration without losing their data assets, they'll have one of the better state education websites in the country.

Strengths

1. SchoolView — Comprehensive School & District Data Portal

Colorado's SchoolView (www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview) is a dedicated data portal that allows users to search for any public school or district, browse by district, view state snapshots, and explore FAQs. It features a clean interface with search functionality and direct links to additional data tools including Financial Transparency, Accountability Data Tools & Reports, district maps, school lists (downloadable as XLSX), and mailing labels.

2. Well-Structured Performance Frameworks

The District and School Performance Frameworks page (www.cde.state.co.us/accountability/performanceframeworks) is a model of clear information architecture. It features proper breadcrumb navigation, a concise overview explaining what DPFs and SPFs are, quick links to view reports and scoring guides, and a sidebar navigation that provides access to Performance Framework Indicators, Results, Performance Watch, State Review Panel, and Data Tools & Reports.

3. Financial Transparency Tools

CDE provides financial information on each school, district, and BOCES in Colorado, including per-pupil funding data. The Financial Transparency portal allows stakeholders to examine revenue and expenditure data across all Colorado education entities — a critical accountability tool for taxpayers and administrators alike.

4. Modern New Site Design with Accessibility Features

The new Finalsite-powered site (ed.cde.state.co.us) features AudioEye accessibility integration, a Translate/Traducir dropdown for multilingual support, a chatbot ("Got a question? Let's find the answer together!"), and clean visual hierarchy with professional photography. The accessibility widget in the bottom-left corner signals a commitment to inclusive design.

5. Audience-Focused Navigation

The new main navigation organizes content by audience and function: Educator Licensure & Supports, Academics & Assessments, For Schools & Districts, State Board of Education, Family Resources, and Special Education. The "For Schools & Districts" landing page is particularly well-done, featuring a "How Can We Help You Today?" section with quick links and expandable resource categories.

Weaknesses

1. Disjointed Old/New Site Experience

Users navigating the CDE website regularly bounce between two completely different designs: the modern Finalsite front-end (ed.cde.state.co.us) with its purple branding and the legacy Drupal site (www.cde.state.co.us) with a white/blue header and Google Translate bar. Pages like Data Pipeline, SchoolView, and Financial Transparency all live on the old platform. There is no consistent navigation between the two, creating a jarring and confusing experience.

2. Limited Search Functionality

The search button on the new site opens a search interface, but given that so much content still lives on the legacy Drupal site, it's unclear whether search indexes both platforms. The old site uses a basic search without advanced features like autosuggest, filters, or relevance ranking.

3. No Mobile-Responsive Verification for Legacy Pages

While the new Finalsite platform appears responsive, the many legacy Drupal pages that users are redirected to have an older design that may not be fully mobile-optimized — particularly the data tools and SchoolView interface.

Opportunities

1. Complete the migration off the legacy Drupal site — The most impactful improvement would be moving the remaining data tools (SchoolView, Financial Transparency, Performance Frameworks, Data Pipeline) onto the new Finalsite platform so users no longer bounce between two visual worlds.

2. Unified search across both platforms — During the migration period, implementing a search that indexes both the new and legacy sites would prevent users from getting stuck in one half of the site.

3. Modernize SchoolView — The data portal has excellent content but a dated interface. Rebuilding it with interactive dashboards, comparison tools, and the new site's visual language would be a major win.

Threats

1. Migration abandonment risk — Partially completed website migrations that stall are common in government. The current half-and-half state could persist for months or years, leaving the experience permanently fragmented.

2. Accessibility compliance gaps — While AudioEye is deployed on the new site, the legacy pages may not share those accessibility improvements, potentially creating compliance inconsistencies across the experience.

Standout Feature

SchoolView Data Portal (www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview) — Despite its older interface, SchoolView is a comprehensive one-stop-shop for Colorado school and district data. It centralizes school search, state performance snapshots, financial data links, accountability reports, district maps, and downloadable data files. The portal's breadth of linked tools (Financial Transparency, Accountability Data Tools, district/school lists in XLSX format) makes it genuinely useful for researchers, parents, and administrators.

Bottom Line

Colorado's CDE website is in a transitional state — the vision is clear and the data infrastructure is strong, but the experience is currently held back by platform fragmentation between the new Finalsite design and the older Drupal pages. Researchers and data-savvy users will find valuable tools, but casual visitors will be jarred by the constant shifts in design. Check back in six months; this could be an A- site once the migration is complete.

Grade Breakdown

Criterion	Weight	Score	Notes
Navigation & Information Architecture	15%	7/10	Six clear top-level nav items all resolve; main weakness is the visual jump between new Finalsite pages and legacy Drupal pages
Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA)	15%	7/10	AudioEye deployed on new site, accessibility widget present; legacy pages may lack coverage
Search Functionality	10%	5/10	Search button exists but unclear cross-platform indexing; no autosuggest or filters visible
Mobile Responsive Design	10%	6/10	New Finalsite platform responsive; legacy Drupal pages likely less so
Data Transparency & Open Data	10%	8/10	Excellent: SchoolView, Performance Frameworks, Financial Transparency, downloadable XLSX files
Parent Resources	10%	6/10	"Family Resources" nav link works and lands on a real Family Resources page; could be more curated for guided parent journeys
Educator Resources	10%	8/10	"Educator Licensure & Supports" lands on a comprehensive Educator Licensing hub covering license types, fingerprinting, content exams, and credential lookup
Visual Design & Branding	10%	7/10	New site is professional and modern; degraded by contrast with legacy pages
Performance & Load Speed	10%	7/10	Pages load reasonably quickly; no major performance issues observed
Overall	100%	68/100	C