Dear Parents and Guardians,
Recently you received information about the state’s new School Report Cards. Today, the state issued a report card for every public school in Wisconsin, and we want to give updated information about Sandburg’s results.
Like any school, Sandburg has areas in which it can improve, and the staff at Sandburg embraces the challenge of continuous work and learning to improve what we do on behalf of students. High-quality school improvement efforts are based on useful and meaningful data. While the data in the school report cards are data that we part of what we use for improvement, we want to make sure you understand the much larger context of data which tells us how all of our students are doing at Sandburg. The school report card will be one of many tools we use to gauge our progress and make plans for school improvement.
Here is some information which, I hope, provides needed context to understand this very public slice of school data:
• The achievement data cited in the school report card is based on the state mandated WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination). This is a test given in English to 3rd through 5th graders in the fall. We receive results in April. In other words, it is challenging for us to gauge the quality of our instruction for grades 4k through 2 and for the nearly 50% of our population who learn in Spanish but are tested in English using this one measure of assessment.
• However, we do collect additional data throughout the school year on student's academic and behavioral success such as the AIMSWeb assessment, the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), Measures of Academic Progress (MAP, math and reading), running records, Text Reading Level (TRL) using the Rigby system, Fact Fluency Interviews, Number Development Assessments, the Primary Language Arts Assessment (English and Spanish), the Scholastic Reading Inventory, ACCESS test, CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test), and all of the assessments embedded within curricula like Mondo, Estrellita, Words Their Way (spelling), Units of Study (writing), Investigations (math), FOSS science, and our social studies curricula. One worth highlighting is this: We have a team of UW-Madison researchers who are testing ALL of our students multiple times per year using the AIMSWeb progress-monitoring system. This testing is being done in both English and Spanish, and the results are immediately available online, which helps us adjust our instruction to best meet students' needs. In other words, there are many tools in addition to the school report card that provide meaningful, useful data which informs our school improvement efforts.
• The District supports the Dual Language Immersion program, and so does Sandburg. Even though we project that students who are learning in Spanish might underperform their peers in English-medium classes on a test given only in English (especially in 3rd grade), we believe in the intellectual, academic, social, and cultural benefits of the program, and support them whole-heartedly, even if school data suffers for a short time.
While each of the assessments we use and the school report cards are important tools, we want to assure you that we know there is more to your child’s education than any single test score.
Our students are engaged in their learning through unique programs like our school garden or our robust arts and music programs. All students at Sandburg are learning important 21st century skills through the use of technology like iPads, netbooks, and laptops. About half of our students are learning to be fully bilingual (Spanish / English), and all students are learning important lessons about multi-cultural communication and understanding. All students learn about positive emotions and behaviors, self-regulation, and wellness. And students engage in a variety of unique learning opportunities, like field trips, observing firefighters in training, assemblies, and thousands of other unique, but un-assessed, opportunities.
While the school report cards summarize the achievement of an entire school, we believe that what really matters is the success of each individual child. Rather than focus on a school-wide measure, we encourage you to be involved in your child's education, to engage with his/her teachers, to let us know if you have any concerns with your child's performance, and to work with us to ensure that each child reaches his/her full potential.
When released, the school report cards will be available on DPI’s website: dpi.wi.gov/oea/acct/accountability.html.
I look forward to hearing your questions or feedback about the school report cards.
Sincerely,
Brett Wilfrid
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