ROCSD report card mixed

The Red Oak School District’s building report card from the Iowa Department of Education had mixed results.

Both Inman Primary and Washington Intermediate received a commendable rating for 2016, which was the same as their ranking from 2015, with totals of 69.8 points and 69.7 points, respectively. However, the middle school and high school dropped from their acceptable ratings to a rank of priority. The middle school scored 52.6 points, down from 62.8 points in 2015, and the high school was rated with 54.1 points, down from 60.3 points in 2015. 

Superintendent Tom Messinger broke down the numbers for the Red Oak School Board during their regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 23. 

“We really fell down score-wise in terms of proficiency. Growth was even lower yet.  Taking just the first year of 2015 to 2016 and basing a judgment on that is dangerous, because this is only two years worth of data. You could have a really good year, such as when we had a class with multiple people who scored 30 or above on their ACT test, which is relatively unheard of. To say the next year’s class was not a good class because they didn’t score that highly on their ACT really doesn’t say anything. We need to look at overall trends and see if we’re getting better as a whole or getting worse as a whole each year,” Messinger advised. 

In the wake of the results, Messinger said they are working on determining the reason behind the lower numbers.  However, some of the scores were well below Messinger’s expectations. 

“Our college and career readiness scores weren’t anywhere near where we’d like them to be. Our growth scores are not where we want them to be. Looking at the sixth grade scores for math in college and career-ready growth for 2016 showed 12.5 percent of the students showed a year’s worth of growth. 15.3 percent of that class showed that growth in reading. That’s one of the categories we’re closely looking at to see why it’s so much worse than the other areas we have,” Messinger said. 

The scores at the high school were similar, with proficiency at the high school ranking at the bottom of the conference. However, the overall score was 79.3 percent, and slipped only slightly from the year before. Messinger said the district’s growth fell the most from the year before. 

“I reviewed the top 10 schools above us and below us and when you compare us to those schools, we don’t come out of it faring really well. In our comparison group for the conference schools, we are the only school with a priority ranking. I’ve already met with Nate Perrin, Jeff Spotts, LeAnn Fluckey, and Janelle Erickson and discussed what we’re going to do with this information and what it means to us. We’ve come up with a list of steps we wanted to take immediately. One of those steps was to make sure everyone felt a sense of urgency about this. We made them fully understand that one priority score on this test from the DOE isn’t the end of the world, but it’s very humbling and it’s not acceptable to be complacent with,” stated Messinger. 

A student voice survey with questions was compiled and put out to the students. Messinger said their input is important moving forward. 

“We wanted to talk about the climate of the building and the relationship with the staff. Both the middle school and high school received the survey, and a similar one was given to the staff. We want to find out where their perceptions are different.  We all know kids and adults look at things differently, and we want to see if there are areas where each of their takes couldn’t be farther apart,” said Messinger. 

Another piece being reviewed is the district’s grading practices, to see if assessments are being used as feedback for the kids on their learning, and for the staff to conform they know where their students are falling ability-wise, and where adjustments need to be made.  Another issue is working with students in poverty. Messinger said the numbers of students in poverty was a surprise. 

“There’s only one school in our conference with a higher free and reduced lunch rate than us, and that’s Denison. Outside of them, we are the highest, and a lot of the districts in our conference are significantly lower. Homework policies is an area that research has suggested if the students in poverty have a large portion of homework as part of their learning, those students will have a hard time learning because once they leave school, it’s not about doing homework and more about day-to-day survival. We’re looking at all these pieces and putting in place guidelines so that every single student is receiving the highest quality of instruction every day, and in every classroom,” Messinger advised. 

Moving forward, Messinger said they have indentified where the weaknesses are, and break the numbers down into actual students and meaningful numbers. 

Messinger said they’re also examining the strengths and weaknesses of Inman and Washington. Math at Inman proved to be a great strength for the district on the report card, with 81.7 percent of the students tested being proficient, vs. 79 percent for a state average. 

“Inman has done a great job of closing the gap. This past year, there was an 8.3 percent reduction of the gap from the year before, which is what the state is looking at. Attendance also exceeded the state average. They also exceeded the state average in staff retention. With 91.4 percent versus 86.4 percent for the state,” Messinger commented. 

Washington also saw great numbers, with overall proficiency, and proficiency in reading and math all above the state average. Reading proficiency also moved up 1.9 percent from the year before. At Washington, College and career ready growth was an area for improvement.  

Messinger said they’ll be looking at the schools that are in the high categories and seeing what of their practices they can adopt to improve the district’s scores in future DOE report cards.  Messinger said the staff has taken the news very hard, and no one is trying to escape the fact that the scores are what they are. 

“We’re trying to provide support for people, as well as the resources necessary to get the score up there. We’d like to see improvement in our ranking when we’re scored next year,” Messinger said.