Every year, The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) generates a school report card and district report card for every publicly funded school and district in the state. Just as your child’s report card shows how they are doing in different subjects, the report cards are intended to help schools and districts use performance data to celebrate successes and improve their efforts to prepare students for their futures.
The current school report card is primarily based on last year’s performance during the 2020-21 school year. Due to the pandemic, DPI encourages caution when interpreting scores and ratings on the 2020-21 report cards. No report cards were released in the 2019-20 school year due to COVID. One area to note is participation rates of students. Some 400 students did not take the WI Forward assessments and over 400 students did not take some of the ACT Aspire assessments. DPI reports that many schools in Wisconsin had declining report card scores because of the pandemic.
Here is how MCPASD ranked for the 2020-21 school year
Our district is pleased to announce that we scored in the “Exceeds Expectations” category, ranking us as the second highest-rated district in Dane County. We are proud of the hard work our district employees have put into continuous improvement efforts and consistently finding ways we can be more inclusive, innovative, and inspiring for all of our learners.
Four of our schools ranked “Significantly Exceeds Expectations,” which is the highest category. These schools include West Middleton Elementary, Sunset Ridge Elementary, Northside Elementary, and Elm Lawn Elementary.
The second-highest score, “Exceeds Expectations,” was given to Glacier Creek Middle, Kromrey Middle, Middleton High School, Park Elementary, and Sauk Trail Elementary.
Since Pope Farm Elementary opened in the Fall of 2020, they did not have enough data to be ranked in one of the five categories. They, therefore, received an alternative rating of Satisfactory Progress.
Lastly, using this set of criteria, Clark Street Community School (CSCS) was rated as “Meets Few Expectations”. The measures used, in the case of small cell sizes, are not a fully accurate representation of the performance of our students at CSCS. As a District, we use additional measures that show CSCS students are proficient and growing related to our MCPASD Profile of a Graduate. Examples of this include students knowing themselves as learners and being able to communicate their learning to authentic audiences on a regular basis, as evidenced during their end of semester Presentations of Learning.
“While we value the data represented in the state report card, the very small number of students in each category and the unique programming provided at CSCS make internal data sources much more reliable in helping us assess programming,” said Principal Jill Gurtner. “We are excited about the innovative work the students and staff at CSCS continue to engage in and the value it adds to our district.”
“We recognize the myriad challenges that our students and educators faced last year in learning and teaching through the pandemic and realize that it also impacted our state assessment participation and scores,” said Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services, Sherri Cyra. “In spite of that, they continue to demonstrate learning growth and success.”
How does DPI rank districts and schools into certain categories?
Schools and districts receive a score for each of the following priority areas:
Achievement - proficiency in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics on the annual state assessments
Growth - year-to-year progress in ELA and math achievement
Target Group Outcomes - outcomes for students with the lowest test scores: the Target Group.
On-Track to Graduation - reliable predictors of how successfully students are progressing toward completing their K-12 education.
“MCPASD schools rated highly in the achievement and on-track to graduate category, but we have room to improve on the target group and growth areas,” said Director of Information and Public Relations, Shannon Valladolid.
Something new to the report cards includes Postsecondary Participation and Arts Course Information. These are additional data sets to show participation in various programs.
DPI Public Report Cards can be found online at: http://dpi.wi.gov/accountability/report-cards.