MONROE - Like the students they teach, Wisconsin schools receive annual report cards from the state Department of Public Instruction. This year, New Glarus rose the highest out of the school districts in Green and Lafayette counties, and Argyle dropped the most but still scored higher than Monroe, Monticello, Brodhead and Juda.
The DPI gives scores in four "Priority Areas," which include student achievement, student growth, closing gaps, and on-track and postsecondary readiness.
Student achievement is measured by students' performance on the WKCE and WAA in reading and math. Student growth is their improvement over time on the WKCE in reading and math. Closing gaps refers to a district's improvement in closing achievement and graduation gaps between student subgroups. The fourth priority area looks at a student's readiness for graduation and college or a career.
The overall accountability score is the average of the four priority areas, scored out of 100. The scores correspond with ratings, which range from "Fails to Meet Expectations" to "Significantly Exceeds Expectations."
Certain indicators can count against the final score if the district doesn't meet particular goals. These indicators - called "Student Engagement Indicators" - look at test participation, absenteeism rates and dropout rates. None of the area school districts received deductions for student engagement indicators.
New Glarus
With an overall score of 81.2, up 4.5 points from last year, New Glarus hits solidly within "Exceeds Expectations," the second highest rating a district can get.
New Glarus Superintendent Jennifer Thayer said their staff works closely with administration to identify strengths and weaknesses in curriculum and assessments.
"We've been putting in place solid curriculum that's aligned to standards," Thayer said, adding that this alignment helps students perform better on standardized tests, because what's on the test is more likely to be what they learned in the classroom. "We also have a strong continuous improvement plan."
New Glarus improved in every priority area, but the biggest jump was in student growth with a 10-point increase. Thayer said student growth was up so much because "we're targeting all students" and trying to "best meet each individual students' needs."
She said the district's plans to improve further include focusing on reading, since student achievement and growth are both lower in reading compared to mathematics. They're also working on updating curriculum in middle and high school reading programs, having already updated elementary curriculum.
Thayer said the district will continue to figure out what each student needs - "whether educational, emotional or anything else."
Monroe
Monroe didn't fare as well with a score of 70.5, down 1.4 points from last year's 71.9, but still well within the middle rating of "Meets Expectations."
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Terri Montgomery said she doesn't think the amount it went down is significant, since the DPI made changes to the way closing gaps are measured. Closing gaps is the area where the district lost the most points, down 7.4 from last year with a score of 59.9 out of 100.
For closing gaps, the DPI removed annual weights - now weighing each year of data the same - added extra years of data to reduce the impact of year-to-year fluctuations and changed the method of comparing trends. These changes were meant to "reduce the year-to-year volatility of Closing Gaps scores" and reduce "statistical "noise,'" according to the DPI.
"We're not comparing apples to apples," Montgomery said.
But she expects Monroe to improve its test scores for next year, because exams will be better aligned with the curriculum. And then "students should do well on the assessment," Montgomery said. "The work we do should be aligned with the outcome."
She added that the district will be making sure students who need extra help are getting extra help.
"I think we're meeting our expectations and we need to keep striving for better," Montgomery said. "That's what we're working for."
Other area
districts
New Glarus, Darlington and Pecatonica are the only districts in Green and Lafayette counties that received a rating of exceeds expectations. The rest were rated at meets expectations, which included anyone with a score in the range of 63 to 72.9.
Darlington scored at 75.6 overall, a decrease from last year's 77.6, but the second highest score in the area. Pecatonica rose 2.3 points from last year, getting an overall score of 75.3.
Monticello, Brodhead and Juda all fared better this year compared to last, but received the three lowest scores in the area. Monticello went up .8 points with a score of 68.5. Brodhead went up .4 with 68.3 and Juda rose by 2.5 points at 67.3.
Albany scored the same as it did last year at 72.6.
Black Hawk and Argyle both decreased this year, with Black Hawk down 1.4 points with a total of 71.2 and Argyle down 3 points at 70.8.
To view the district report cards in more detail, visit reportcards.dpi.wi.gov.
The DPI gives scores in four "Priority Areas," which include student achievement, student growth, closing gaps, and on-track and postsecondary readiness.
Student achievement is measured by students' performance on the WKCE and WAA in reading and math. Student growth is their improvement over time on the WKCE in reading and math. Closing gaps refers to a district's improvement in closing achievement and graduation gaps between student subgroups. The fourth priority area looks at a student's readiness for graduation and college or a career.
The overall accountability score is the average of the four priority areas, scored out of 100. The scores correspond with ratings, which range from "Fails to Meet Expectations" to "Significantly Exceeds Expectations."
Certain indicators can count against the final score if the district doesn't meet particular goals. These indicators - called "Student Engagement Indicators" - look at test participation, absenteeism rates and dropout rates. None of the area school districts received deductions for student engagement indicators.
New Glarus
With an overall score of 81.2, up 4.5 points from last year, New Glarus hits solidly within "Exceeds Expectations," the second highest rating a district can get.
New Glarus Superintendent Jennifer Thayer said their staff works closely with administration to identify strengths and weaknesses in curriculum and assessments.
"We've been putting in place solid curriculum that's aligned to standards," Thayer said, adding that this alignment helps students perform better on standardized tests, because what's on the test is more likely to be what they learned in the classroom. "We also have a strong continuous improvement plan."
New Glarus improved in every priority area, but the biggest jump was in student growth with a 10-point increase. Thayer said student growth was up so much because "we're targeting all students" and trying to "best meet each individual students' needs."
She said the district's plans to improve further include focusing on reading, since student achievement and growth are both lower in reading compared to mathematics. They're also working on updating curriculum in middle and high school reading programs, having already updated elementary curriculum.
Thayer said the district will continue to figure out what each student needs - "whether educational, emotional or anything else."
Monroe
Monroe didn't fare as well with a score of 70.5, down 1.4 points from last year's 71.9, but still well within the middle rating of "Meets Expectations."
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Terri Montgomery said she doesn't think the amount it went down is significant, since the DPI made changes to the way closing gaps are measured. Closing gaps is the area where the district lost the most points, down 7.4 from last year with a score of 59.9 out of 100.
For closing gaps, the DPI removed annual weights - now weighing each year of data the same - added extra years of data to reduce the impact of year-to-year fluctuations and changed the method of comparing trends. These changes were meant to "reduce the year-to-year volatility of Closing Gaps scores" and reduce "statistical "noise,'" according to the DPI.
"We're not comparing apples to apples," Montgomery said.
But she expects Monroe to improve its test scores for next year, because exams will be better aligned with the curriculum. And then "students should do well on the assessment," Montgomery said. "The work we do should be aligned with the outcome."
She added that the district will be making sure students who need extra help are getting extra help.
"I think we're meeting our expectations and we need to keep striving for better," Montgomery said. "That's what we're working for."
Other area
districts
New Glarus, Darlington and Pecatonica are the only districts in Green and Lafayette counties that received a rating of exceeds expectations. The rest were rated at meets expectations, which included anyone with a score in the range of 63 to 72.9.
Darlington scored at 75.6 overall, a decrease from last year's 77.6, but the second highest score in the area. Pecatonica rose 2.3 points from last year, getting an overall score of 75.3.
Monticello, Brodhead and Juda all fared better this year compared to last, but received the three lowest scores in the area. Monticello went up .8 points with a score of 68.5. Brodhead went up .4 with 68.3 and Juda rose by 2.5 points at 67.3.
Albany scored the same as it did last year at 72.6.
Black Hawk and Argyle both decreased this year, with Black Hawk down 1.4 points with a total of 71.2 and Argyle down 3 points at 70.8.
To view the district report cards in more detail, visit reportcards.dpi.wi.gov.