Most area schools pass DPI standards

School districts in Shawano and Oconto counties have met the education standards set by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, according to the 2023 report cards released in mid-November.

Most area schools received a three-star rating, which shows the school has met the threshold for what DPI believes students should know to graduate high school. Some individual schools did not meet the standards, but the overall scores kept those schools at three stars.

Pulaski Community School District went a step further and has been in the exceeding category for a number of years, which gives it a four-star rating and puts the district in one of the upper echelons of school excellence. Five of the schools also received four stars — Fairview, Glenbrook, Hillcrest and Lannoye elementary schools, as well as Pulaski High School.

“We realize this is only one measure of student achievement and must be triangulated with other state, district and classroom assessments to truly support and drive student learning in our classrooms,” said Jennifer Gracyalny, Pulaski’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “We are always striving for continuous improvement in our learning and teaching for all students. Our staff do an amazing job of utilizing evidence of learning and data to meet our student, curriculum and instruction needs.”

Menominee Indian School District in Menominee County did not fare as well, falling into the state’s two-star rating, which means the district only met a few of DPI’s expectations. Even though two of its schools fell short of the standards, Menominee Indian High School did meet them with a score of 66, which falls in the upper portion of the three-star rating.

“While we may not meet expectations in some areas, we are seeing measurable growth in key academic areas and those are the trends to focus on,” said Wendell Waukau, MISD superintendent. “It shows that programs and initiatives we have in place are making a difference and we need to continue our push for student success.”

Waukau noted that there are a number of challenges school districts face, especially those with Native American populations.

“Now that we’re back in the classroom, we’ve implemented programs and initiatives to address those issues, which include mental health, chronic absenteeism and the opioid crisis,” he said.

Chronic absenteeism is being handled proactively instead of reactively, according to Waukau, and it is hoped that encouraging attendance instead of simply punishing truancy will bring students back into school and help them to learn.

“We know it is not effective to punish students who are chronically absent,” Waukau said. “We’re now identifying students at risk of chronic absenteeism and intervening early to assess what is going on in their lives and determine how we can help them overcome barriers to being in school. We know that if students are in school, they will learn and graduate.”

Report cards measure student achievement proficiency in reading and math on state assessments; student growth measured by year-to-year improvements in achievement; target group outcomes using information for students with the lowest test scores during the previous testing year (the target group) to compare their current year performance versus the non-target group population; and the on-track to graduation rate, which shows how successfully students are achieving educational milestones that predict later success (attendance rates, graduation rates, etc.).

Of 378 public school districts receiving report card ratings for 2022-23, 357 met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations (94% of districts), according to a DPI press release. Among districts receiving report card scores for both 2022-23 and 2021-22, 19 increased by one rating category compared to the prior year, 52 decreased by one rating category and 306 had no change in rating.

BY THE NUMBERS

School district and school scores and ratings, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report cards:

DISTRICTS

Bonduel School District: 67, ***

Bowler School District: 63.5, ***

Gillett School District: 66, ***

Gresham School District: 62.7, ***

Marion School District: 67.4, ***

Menominee Indian School District: 52.2, **

Oconto Falls School District: 68.4, ***

Oconto Unified School District: 61.6, ***

Pulaski Community School District: 72.6, ****

Shawano School District: 64.2, ***

Suring Public School District: 68.5, ***

Tigerton School District: 67.4, ***

Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District: 64.5, ***

SCHOOLS

Abrams Elementary School: 80, ****

Birnamwood Elementary-Middle School: 72.1, ****

Bonduel Elementary School: 83.2, *****

Bonduel Middle School: 68.2, ***

Bonduel High School: 56.8, **

Bowler Elementary School: 52.5, **

Bowler High School: 69, ***

Fairview Elementary School: 72.3, ****

Gillett Elementary School: 72.1, ****

Gillett Middle School: 80.8, ****

Gillett High School: 48.7, **

Glenbrook Elementary School: 75.2, ****

Gresham Elementary School: 52.8, **

Gresham High School: 65.6, ***

Hillcrest Elementary School (Pulaski): 76.7, ****

Hillcrest Primary School (Shawano): Alternative Rating, Satisfactory

Keshena Primary School: 49.6, **

Lannoye Elementary School: 77.1, ****

Leads Primary Charter School: Alternative Rating, Satisfactory

Marion Elementary School: 63.5, ***

Marion High School: 69.1, ***

Menominee Indian Middle School: 45.2, *

Menominee Indian High School: 66, ***

Northeast Wisconsin Learning Academy: Alternative Rating, Satisfactory

Oconto Elementary School: 71.9, ****

Oconto Middle School: 68.8, ***

Oconto High School: 52.6, **

Oconto Falls Elementary School: 70.8, ****

Oconto Falls High School: 63.1, ***

Olga Brener Intermediate School: 65.8, ***

Pulaski Community Middle School: 69.8, ***

Pulaski High School: 74.8, ****

Shawano Community Middle School: 57.1, **

Shawano Community High School: 68.9, ***

Sunnyside Elementary School: 58.5, ***

Suring Elementary School: 61.2, ***

Suring High School: 78.7, ****

Tigerton Elementary School: 58.4, ***

Tigerton High School: 69.3, ***

Washington Middle School: 67.7, ***

Wittenberg Elementary-Middle School: 71.2, ****

Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School: 51.7, **