The 2023-2024 state report card is in at Stanley-Boyd.
As in prior years, the State Report Card score is based on four priority area Scores: Achievement (measuring English Language Arts and Mathematics), Growth (also measuring English Language Arts and Mathematics but from a different angle), Target Group Outcomes (measuring Achievement, Growth, Chronic Absenteeism, and Graduation), and On Track to Graduation (measuring Chronic Absenteeism, Graduation, Third Grade English Language Arts and Eighth Grade Mathematics).
With each of the four priority area scores based in part on assessments, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has opted this year to adjust cut scores, or the boundaries measuring between one performance level and the next. The result, ostensibly done to update for the Forward Exam, PreACT Secure, and ACT assessments, is potentially lower scores than the year previous, without necessarily meaning lower achievement, as explained at the DPI website:
“As the updated 2023-24 assessment cut scores resulted in higher proficiency rates compared to previous years, the scoring of achievement on the 2023-24 report cards has been modified to allow for comparability and stability in the system and to allow schools and districts to more easily compare this year’s report cards to report cards from 2022-23. Specifically, the DPI is ‘scale adjusting’ 2023-24 achievement scores to align with the 2022-23 achievement distribution, which, in effect, lowers achievement scores.”
District Superintendent Jeff Koenig explained more at the November board meeting.
“DPI found that districts across the state, because of changes they made, their scores went up,” he said of last year.
Adjustments made to cut scores at the state level to compensate for this fact, meanwhile, have an effect on the present.
With an enrollment of 1,066 students, Stanley-Boyd has an overall score for 2023-2024 of 64.3, or “meets expectations.” Making up the overall score are four priority area scores: 67.6 in achievement, 50.8 in growth, 52.3 in Target Group Outcomes, and 91.3 in On Track to Graduation.
Stanley-Boyd doesn’t necessarily fit the state’s criteria well, being both high poverty and high achieving.
“The theory is that schools that have high poverty the students don’t test as well,” Koenig said of the grading rubric used by state DPI. “That negatively impacts our school because we have high poverty but our students test really well.”
As for priority area scores overall at Stanley-Boyd, meanwhile, the district scored 64.9 in English Language Arts and 70.3 in Mathematics this year, both above the state average. For growth, the district scored 47.0 in English Language Arts and 54.6 in Mathematics. For Target group Outcomes, the overall score was 52.3. For On Track to Graduation, the district scored 91.3.
Broken down further, the elementary, middle, and high school all received scores as well.
For Elementary, the overall score is 68.7, or “meets expectations.” This is comprised of Achievement (81.8), growth (53.7), Target Group Outcomes (57.0), and On Track to Graduation (92.2).
For Middle School, the state report card score is 68.6, or “meets expectations.” This is comprised of Achievement (62.2), Growth (58.4), Target Group Outcomes (61.8), and On Track to Graduation (92.8).
For High School, the state report card score is 57.7, or “meets few expectations.” Included in this score is a growth score comprising 32 percent of the total score.
As for priority score areas in high school, the scores are 61.6 for Achievement, 43.2 for Growth, 44.5 for Target Group Outcomes, and 94.2 for On Track to Graduation.
Koenig brought it home after the score review.
“The achievement score, that 67.6, which is really based on the state assessment, we ranked second in the CESA,” he said of the overall score. “The school that we ranked second to, has a much smaller percentage of students living in poverty.”
Stanley-Boyd currently ranks first in the CESA for On Track to Graduation, the last of four priority areas.
The full state report card for Stanley-Boyd can be viewed at the Wisconsin DPI website.