Explainer forReport Card Slide Presentation

Fall 2016

SCHOOL INFORMATION

●Basic demographic data for the school is provided for context. This includes enrollment, and percent of students in different categories based on economic status, race and disability.

OVERALL ACCOUNTABILITY SCORE AND RATINGS

●Each school receives an Overall Accountability Score from 0 to 100.

●This score is calculated by combining the weighted average of the Priority Area scores minus any Student Engagement Indicator deductions.

●Small schools may not have data in all four Priority Areas (subgroups <20). To account for this and to ensure the scoring is “fair” to all school types, the Priority Areas are weighted differently for schools that do not have all four Areas.

●The Overall Accountability Score places a school in one of five rating categories.

○The 0-100 index is not “percent correct” so these scores are never the same as grades.

●The weighted average (for schools w/ elementary and middle grades) includes variable weighting between Student Achievement and Student Growth. The higher the proportion of ECD students, the greater the weight assigned to Student Growth and the lesser to Student Achievement, and vice versa.

○This is a result of legislative changes (WI Act 55 / 2015-17 Biennial Budget)

○Negative impact on approximately ⅓ of schools. ⅔ went up or no change.

●Because of the change in weighting, assessments taken, and on-track indicators, one should not compare the score on this report card to past report cards.

PRIORITY AREAS

NOTE: The state scores (in the far, right-hand column for priority areas 1-4) are given for comparison purposes only. They do not factor into the accountability scores or ratings.

1. Student Achievement: measures performance on the state reading and mathematics tests in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics for grades 3-8 & 11.

●3 years of data are used and students are awarded points for level of achievement.

○Advanced = 1.5 / Proficient = 1 / Basic = .5 / Minimal 0

●For High Schools, this would include WKCE* in 2013-14 for grade 10 and ACT* for grade 11 in 2014-15 and 15-16

●Middle and Elementary Schools include WKCE* in 2013-14, Badger* in 2014-15 and Forward* in 2015-16

●The achievement score is weighted so the more recent years of data are worth more points.

2. Student Growth (Value Added Data): measures how rapidly students are gaining knowledge and skills from year to year, focusing on the pace of improvement in students’ performance compared to similar students statewide.

●For schools containing grades 4-8 only (need 2 consecutive years of tests.)

●Compares student growth on the Forward and Badger Exams to the growth of similar students statewide.

○Controls for factors such as prior year score in ELA/Math, gender, English language proficiency by level, disability by type, economic status and race

○The more your students grow compared to the average of all similar students statewide, the higher the score in this area.

3. Closing Gaps: measures the progress of student subgroups in closing gaps in reading and mathematics performance (grades 3-8) and/or graduation rates (HS)

●Reflects the statewide goal of having ALL students improve while narrowing the achievement and graduation gaps between groups of students.

●Growth of economically disadvantaged students, English language learners and students with a disability are compared against the growth of traditionally-higher scoring comparison groups at the state-level.

●A higher rate of change (faster growth for your subgroups) results in a higher Closing Gaps score.

4. On-Track and Postsecondary Readiness: measures how successfully students are achieving educational milestones that predict later success.

●Attendance** and 3rd Grade Reading Scores for Elementary grades.

●Attendance** and 8th Grade Math Scores for Middle grades.

●Both 4 and 6 year graduation rates for high schools.

Student Engagement Indicators: Schools and districts receive a deduction in the overall score for each Student Engagement Indicator not met.***

●Test Participation: goal is 95% test participation for both reading and math.

●Absenteeism: there is a direct correlation between pupil attendance and success.

○Measures “chronic absenteeism” defined as having an overall attendance rate of 84% or less

○The goal is for no more than 13% of the students in your school to be “chronically absent”

●Dropout Rate: the goal for this indicator is a rate of no more than 6%

Overall Score Calculations:

●School Report Card - tables included for most common grade level configurations

●District is calculated as one big school.

Please remember to include relevant information on programs & initiatives in your school/district. The report card only tells part of the story.

●*WAA-SwD 2013-14 & DLM 2014-2016 for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

●**Attendance based on the subgroup with lowest attendance rate

●***To receive the deduction, a school must miss the goal in both the current year and 3-year ave.

●*****Students must be enrolled 45 days for attendance calculations & FAY for academic indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

●Interpretive Guide (for Report Card Detail Pages)

●Report Cards At-A-Glance

●Report Card FAQ

●Technical Guide (the math behind the calculations)

●Value-Added Brief

●10 Things You Need to Know about 2015-16 Accountability

●Parent letter templates in English and Spanish