The Platteville School District got the top grade of any Southwest Wisconsin school district in the 2013–14 state school report cards.
The school district scored 79.8, highest of any school in the Southwest Wisconsin Conference, Southwest Wisconsin Activities League, or Six Rivers Conference, and the 27th highest score of the state’s 424 school districts.
Three of Platteville’s four schools finished in the area’s top 10 school scores. Westview Elementary School finished third overall and second in elementary schools with an 82.7. Platteville Middle School finished fifth overall and first in middle schools with an 80. Platteville High School finished sixth overall and second in high schools with a 79.7.
Neal Wilkins Early Learning Center wasn’t graded because of its small enrollment. Neal Wilkins received an Alternate Accountability rating of Satisfactory Progress.
All four Platteville scores fit into the Exceeds Expectations category, which includes about one-third of the state’s school districts and schools. All four scores also are up from last year — the school district got 77.7, Platteville Middle School got 79, Platteville High School got 75.6, and Westview got 74.8 on the 2012–13 report cards.
All the Platteville schools scored higher than the state average in four areas — student achievement, including reading and math; student growth, also in reading and math; Closing Gaps; and On-Track and Postsecondary Readiness, including graduation or attendance rates, and third-grade reading and eighth-grade math test scores.
“Especially at Westview we put significant effort into working with students to close that achievement gap,” said Valenza.
The Potosi School District had the area’s biggest improvement, from 67.2 last year to 73.1 this year. The Belmont School District improved from 71.2 one year ago to 72.3. The Iowa–Grant School District slipped from 72.2 in 2012–13 to 71.2 in 2013–14.
The area’s biggest school improvement was Iowa–Grant High School, which jumped from 68.1 in 2012–13 to 77.2 in 2013–14. Potosi High School improved from 69.8 to 71.9. Belmont High School improved from 69.4 one year ago to 70.8.
Potosi Middle School improved from 72.6 in 2012–13 to 76.5 in 2013–14. Potosi Elementary School improved from 68.4 to 72.7.
In K–8 schools, Belmont Grade School improved from 73.4 one year ago to 77.5. Iowa–Grant Elementary/Middle dropped from 72.3 one year ago to 70.9.
This is the second year for district report cards and the third year for school report cards. Both evaluate schools and districts in four priority areas: student achievement in reading and mathematics on statewide assessments; student growth in those assessed areas; closing gaps for reading and mathematics achievement and graduation, based on student subgroups; and postsecondary readiness, which uses several measures as predictors of college and career readiness.
School districts and schools with grades of 73 to 82.9 were classified as “Exceeds Expectations,” and school districts and schools with grades of 63 to 72.9 were classified as “Meets Expectations.” The state average school district score was 72.2, and the state median school district score was 71.8.
“Most of our public schools and school districts are providing a solid education to our children, but we don’t want to rest on our laurels,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers in a news release Tuesday morning. “These report cards are a good communication device to focus discussion among parents, schools, and communities on how our schools and school districts are doing and how they can continue to improve.”
The report cards are available online at http://reportcards.dpi.wi.gov.
