Are Shorewood Schools Making the Grade?

Parents are used to receiving the quarterly report card, informing them how their child is performing in school.

But, how about a report card on how the school is educating your child?

The state Department of Public Instruction will roll out its new School Report Cards beginning next week. It’s a new accountability system that allowed Wisconsin to earn a waiver from meeting certain 2014 requirements of No Child Left Behind.

Shorewood Superintendent Martin Lexmond said he supports the new system. Under NCLB officials would learn to pay attention to a group "just below proficient and those just inside proficient" but under the report card, officials can focus on growth of all students, Lexmond said. 

"It's about getting everybody growing," he said. "We pay attention to the highest performing kids, we pay attention to the lowest performing kids, we pay attention to the kids in the middle."

Data was released to schools earlier this month, but has been embargoed to allow districts to vet them for errors. The reports are set to be released the week of Oct. 22.

Under the new system, schools will be graded in these areas:

• Student achievement in reading and mathematics on state assessments.
• Student growth measured by year-to-year improvements in achievement.
• Closing gaps in performance between specific student groups.
• Progress to graduation/post secondary readiness using reliable predictors of high school graduation and post-secondary success.

Schools will receive scores using a 0 to 100 scale, corresponding with five categories starting at Fails to Meet Expectations" and topping out with "Significantly Exceeds Expectations."

The scores will be detailed in 18-page report on each school. The DPI scoring uses last year’s data.

Lexmond said that's the downside of the new system — it's very complicated and complex. He said the district brought someone in from DPI to explain the new report card system.

He added under a new testing system, students are graded on a more rigorous scale. A student right on the edge of advanced might now be right at the top of basic.

"It feels like something dramatic has changed, when in fact that's not what happened at all," he said. "Our students are performing at the exact same level, it's just they're being compared on a more rigorous measurement.

"Although test scores continue to be important, they tell us a great deal, but in Shorewood we believe our children are more than test scores," he said. "The strong commitment to liberal arts, the strong commitment to visual arts and performing arts and those learning experiences develop things in kids that sometimes show up on these test, but sometimes not."

The DPI will recognize top performers as “rewards schools.” Struggling schools will be required to start interventions and develop improvement plans.

The new system is part of state Superintendent Tony Evers' Agenda 2017 program, aimed at better preparing students for college and the workforce in Wisconsin, and improving high school graduation rates. The program includes changes in the way of how teachers are evaluated and student achievement is measured.

Wisconsin is among 32 states across the country creating . Under the exemption, the state is released from meeting a 2014 deadline requiring 100 percent of students be proficient in reading and math.