2019 School Report Cards: Here's How RUSD Schools Fared

RACINE COUNTY, WI — School report cards released Tuesday by the State Department of Public Instruction show that the Racine Unified School District "meets few expectations."

The report cards, evaluate Wisconsin public school districts based on students’ reading and math achievement, graduation rates, attendance among other metrics.

The state DPI then weighs those metrics in order to deliver schools and districts a score from 0 to 100., Schools and districts then fall into one of five categories ranging from “significantly exceeds expectations” to “fails to meet expectations.”

According to the DPI report cards, Racine Unified received 56.8 points, and garnered two stars in their rankings. The score is a marked improvement from years past: in 2016, the district garnered 48.1 points and garnered just one star, meaning it "failed to meet expectations."

RUSD Superintendent Eric Gallien said this year's score was partially attributable to a five-point point deduction for chronic absenteeism, though he did say, "we are pleased to see fewer schools in the failing category."

Gallien also cited the following district achievements:

• All three comprehensive high schools, Case, Horlick and Park, saw increases in their scores, with two of them (Horlick & Park) moving into higher categories. As we look to the first graduating class of the Academies of Racine we can see it’s working. The focus and purpose of the Academies of Racine are to engage high school students, making learning come alive through hands-on, relevant work and exposing our students to more opportunities that prepare them for post-secondary success.
• Three schools moved up into higher categories, while 12 schools improved their score from last year.
• We averaged 81.1 points (out of 100) for On Track and Post Secondary Readiness. That means RUSD saw higher graduation rates and steady attendance from last year to this year.
• We are closing the gap. We saw growth in our Closing the Gap score, up 2.8 points from last year.
• We have higher District growth this year than last year in both English Language Arts and Math.

"One of the biggest challenges we see is absenteeism. We’re heading in the right direction – our schools are trending up," he said to Patch. "However, we are seeing significant reductions on our report card for chronic absenteeism. We must partner with our parents and community on this issue to make sure our kids get to school every day."

To learn more about District and School report cards, visit the DPI web site's Report Card FAQ

Here is a list of every RUSD school, and how they fared:

Fratt
64.2

Giese
46.1

Gifford
66.6

Goodland
61.1

Janes
76.1

Jefferson Lighthouse
82.1

S.C. Johnson
60.7

Dr. Jones
57.3

Julian Thomas
67.9

Knapp
57.0

North Park
69.4

Olympia Brown
59.3

RUSD Montessori
Alternate Rating - Satisfactory Progress

Red Apple
71.8

Roosevelt
60.5

Schulte
63.7

Wadewitz
81.5

West Ridge
59.3

Wadewitz
81.5

Gilmore Fine Arts
61.7

Jerstad
43.8

Mitchell
54.9

Racine Alternative Learning
Alternate Rating - Satisfactory Progress

Starbuck
47.6

Case
62.5

Horlick
58.9

Park
69.5

Real School
67.8

Walden
76.9