Wisconsin School Report Cards: Where Franklin Stands

FRANKLIN, WI — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction published its public and choice school report cards for the 2020-21 school year on Tuesday.

The DPI is mandated by federal and state law to release the accountability reports each year, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, report cards were suspended for the 2019-20 school year. The data released Tuesday is the first accountability report card districts have received since before the pandemic.

Each district and school is ranked on a scale that ranges from one to five stars. Five stars would show a district that significantly exceeds expectations, while one star would reflect a failure to meet expectations.

The four priority areas that are scored in the new report cards include achievement, growth, target group outcomes and on-track to graduation.

• The achievement score gauges how students performed on state assessments. The score is a multi-year average of mathematics and English language scores.
• The growth score gauges year-to-year student progress on statewide tests. A high value-added score indicates that on average students in the district are progressing more quickly than other similar students, the DPI said.
• The target group outcomes score examines what the outcomes are for students with the lowest test scores, known as the Target Group. This score area is supposed to promote equity by helping districts focus on learners who need the most support.
• The on-track graduation score "indicates how successfully students are progressing toward completing their K-12 education. The score combines component scores for measures of student engagement and achievement," the DPI said.

In districts with more economically disadvantaged students, the "growth" measure is weighed more heavily.

"This allows schools and districts to be rewarded for advancing students' progress regardless of their starting level," the DPI said in a news release.

The DPI scored 2,101 public schools and 376 choice schools across the state for this year's report cards. Of those schools, 1,781 met or exceeded expectations. Over 400 choice and public schools did not have enough data to be scored.

The pandemic likely skewed the data in the new scores because of the year lapse in creating the report cards. The DPI said it is important to consider that up to three years of data is used in making a score and to understand results may be skewed and misleading when compared to previous years' report cards.

Data was not collected for the 2019-20 school year, and for the final 2020-21 score, a heavier weight was given to data from more recent years.

Here is how the Franklin Public School District fared in the 2020-21 report card:

Overall Score: The Franklin Public School District "exceeds expectations" with an overall score of 78.2, or four stars.

Achievement Score: 80.7

Growth Score: 70.8

Target Group Outcomes Score: 68.3

On-Track To Graduation Score: 88.6

Report cards for individual schools in Franklin Public School District are available online.