How Wauwatosa Schools Scored In New Wisconsin Report Cards

WAUWATOSA, WI—The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on Tuesday released new accountability report cards from the 2020-21 school year for schools and districts across the state.

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.

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.

Because of this, when reviewing report card data, the DPI said it is important to consider that up to three years of data is used in making a score and 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 School District of Wauwatosa fared in the newest report card:

Overall Score: The School District of Wauwatosa "exceeded expectations" with an overall score of 74.4, or 4 stars.

Achievement Score
The achievement score gauges how students performed on state assessments. The score is a multi-year average of mathematics and English language scores.

The School District of Wauwatosa earned 74.1 points out of a possible 100.

Growth Score
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 School District of Wauwatosa earned 70.8 points out of a possible 100.

Target Group Outcomes Score
This 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 priority area score combines component scores for achievement, growth, chronic absenteeism, and attendance or graduation rate," the DPI said.

The School District of Wauwatosa earned 63.3 points out of a possible 100.

On-Track To Graduation Score
"This priority area 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.

The School District of Wauwatosa earned 88.7 points out of a possible 100. Patch reached out to the district on Tuesday for comment.

Report cards for individual schools in the School District of Wauwatosa are available online.

John Quinnies, Patch Staff, Contributed to this report.