Colfax schools “meet expectations” on state report card — but what does it mean?

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  Although the Colfax school district has received an overall score of “meets expectations” on the state report card, no one knows exactly what that means.

William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, told the Colfax Board of Education at the December 18 meeting he had called the state Department of Public Instruction to find out what the score on the state report card really measures.

The upshot is — no one is really sure at the DPI, Yingst said.

 With an overall score of 65.6, Colfax “meets expectations,” which includes scores from 63 to 72.9.

“Exceeds expectations” includes scores 73 to 82.9, and “significantly exceeds expectations” includes scores from 83 to 100.

“Meets few expectations” includes scores 53 to 62.9, and “fails to meet expectations” includes scores from 0 to 52.9.

Yingst said one conclusion that could be drawn from the state report card is Colfax has “plenty of room for improvement.”

The problem, however, is defining just exactly what needs improving.

The test used to obtain the state report score has changed three times in five years, Yingst said.

The state first used the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) to measure student progress. Then the state used the Badger exam. And now the state is using the Forward exam, he said.

When the tests changed, the standards changed, so there is no way to compare scores from the current year with past years, Yingst said.

“The reliability and the validity (of the report card score) is tainted,” he said.

Badger and Forward

According to the DPI’s website, “The Badger Exam 3-8 was Wisconsin’s Smarter Balanced Assessment. In 2010, Wisconsin elected to join the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of the two national consortia that were formed to help establish a series of ‘next generation assessments’ to measure students’ career and college readiness. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) was a state-led consortium working to develop next-generation assessments that accurately measure student progress toward college- and career-readiness.”

On the other hand, the Wisconsin Forward Exam “is designed to gauge how well students are doing in relation to the Wisconsin Academic Standards. These standards outline what students should know and be able to do in order to be college and career ready. The Forward Exam is administered online in the spring of each school year for grades 3-8 in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics; grades 4 and 8 in Science and, grades 4, 8, and 10 in Social Studies,” according to the DPI’s website.

Poverty

Yingst said that while he would like to see the scores for Colfax increase, the school district also has a high poverty rate and a high number of special education students compared to the state average.

The school district implemented a new reading and mathematics curriculum this year and also has been “hitting hard” on Response to Intervention (RTI), he said.

RTI is defined as a multi-tier approach to identify students with learning and behavior needs early on and to provide support for those students.

The new curriculum Colfax has implemented is aligned with state standards, Yingst said.

“Eventually (Colfax students) will get better test scores,” he said.

“In any one year, if the score is high or if in any one year the score is low, we have to be careful not to pat ourselves on the back or not to beat ourselves up,” said Ken Bjork, school board member.

The school district must consider the trends in scores and look at those scores longterm, he said.

The staff at Colfax has high expectations for students, and the new curriculum is more rigorous, Yingst said.

But still, the question remains, if no one knows what the state report card score measures, the score is not very useful, said Ken Neuburg, school board member.

The state report card is “statute driven,” Yingst said.

Changing tests frequently and ending up with scores no one can interpret is what happens “when you have people making decisions on something they don’t know anything about,” he said.

“I can’t tell you what that score means,” Yingst said, adding that no one at the DPI can say what the score means, either.

“We are trying to meet the needs of all students,” he said.

District score

Under student achievement, the Colfax school district received a score of 55.9, on a scale of up to 100, compared to the state average of 66.7.

Under student achievement, Colfax has score of 29.6, out of a possible 50 points, on English Language Arts achievement, compared to statewide score of 34.3.

Under mathematics achievement, Colfax has a score of 26.3, out of a possible 50 points, compared to a statewide average of 32.4.

Under district growth, Colfax received a score of 66.1 compared to a statewide average of 66.

For English Language Arts under district growth, Colfax received a score of 34 compared to a statewide average of 33.

Under mathematics growth as part of district growth, Colfax received a score of 32.1 compared to a statewide average of 33.

According to the report card, “District growth describes how much student knowledge of ELA and mathematics changes from year to year. It uses a value-added score that compares the change in a student’s scores to those of observationally similar students,” according to the report card.

The report card does not define a “value-added score,” and it does not define “observationally similar students.”

Under closing gaps, Colfax has an overall score of 53.8, compared to statewide average of 61.7

For English language arts gaps, Colfax has a score of 12, on a scale of 20, compared to the statewide average 17.3.

Under mathematics achievement gaps, Colfax has a score of 12.8, compared to a statewide score of 16.8.

Under graduation rate gaps, Colfax has a score of 29, on a scale of 50, compared to 27.6 statewide.

The report card defines “closing gaps” as a “measure that reflects the statewide goal of having all students improve, while narrowing the achievement and graduation gaps between groups of students. This measure acknowledges schools that raise the performance of traditionally lagging student groups, contributing to the close of statewide gaps.”

According to the report card, Colfax has an enrollment of 836 in grades K4 to 12.

All together, 15.1 percent of the district’s students have disabilities, and 40.4 percent are economically disadvantaged, while .6 percent of the students have a limited proficiency in English.

Colfax Elementary

Colfax Elementary has an overall score of 68.1 and “meets expectations” on a scale of 63 to 72.9.

Under student achievement, Colfax has a score of 57, on a scale of 100, compared to a statewide average of 69.4.

For ESL achievements, Colfax has a core of 30.7, on a scale of 50, compared to a statewide average of 34.7, while for mathematics achievement, Colfax has a score of 26.4, compared to a statewide average o 34.7.

Under school growth, Colfax has a score of 67, which is higher than the statewide average of 66.

For English Language Arts, Colfax Elementary has a score of 34.9, which is higher than the statewide average of 33.

For mathematics growth, Colfax Elementary has a score of 32.1 compared to statewide average of 33.

For closing gaps, Colfax has an overall score of 57.5, compared to a statewide average of 64.4

Colfax has a score of 30.5 for English Language Arts under closing gaps, compared to a statewide average of 33.6.

Under mathematics achievement gaps, Colfax has a score of 27, compared to a statewide average of 30.8.

Colfax Elementary includes grades K4 to 6 and has an enrollment of 457 students.

Students with disabilities make up 16.6 percent of the students, and 41.4 percent are economically disadvantaged, while .9 percent have a limited English proficiency.

Colfax High School

Overall, Colfax High School, which includes grades 7 to 12, has a score of 63 and “meets expectations,” which includes scores from 63 to 72.9.

Under student achievement, CHS has an overall score of 54.4, compared to a statewide average of 63.9.

Under student achievement for English Language Arts, CHS students have a score of 28.3, compared to a statewide average of 33.7.

For mathematics achievement, Colfax has a score of 26.1, compared to a statewide average of 30.2

Under school growth, Colfax has an overall score of 64.2, compared to a statewide average of 66.

Under school growth for English Language Arts, Colfax has a score of 32.1, compared to a statewide average of 33.

For mathematics growth, Colfax has a score of 32.1, compared to a statewide average of 33.

Under closing gaps, Colfax High School has an overall score of 49.8, compared to a statewide average of 61.8.

Under closing gaps for English Language Arts, Colfax has a score of 8, on a scale of 25, compared to statewide average of 17.1.

Under closing gaps for mathematics achievement, Colfax has a score of 12.8 compared to a statewide average of 17.1.

Under graduation rate gaps, Colfax has a score of 29 compared to a statewide average of 27.6.

For on-track and post secondary readiness, Colfax High School has an overall score of 82.3 compared to a statewide average of 84.4.

For the graduation rate, Colfax has a score of 72.2, on a scale of 80, compared to a statewide average of 72.5.

For eighth grade mathematics achievement, Colfax has a score of 10.1, on a scale of 20, compared to a statewide average of 11.9.

The enrollment at Colfax High School and Colfax Middle School is 379, with 8.2 percent of those students as open enrollments.

Students with disabilities is 13.2 percent, while the number of economically disadvantaged students is 39.3 percent, and those with limited English proficiency is .3 percent.