Suring 'exceeds expectations' to highlight Oconto County in state's 2021-22 school report cards

Kevin Dittman, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·4 min read

The Suring Public School District was given an overall grade that "Exceeds Expectations" in the statewide school report cards for 2021-22 issued by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Suring tallied an overall score of 74.0, while Oconto County's four other school districts each received a "Meets Expectations" grade: Oconto Falls (68.7), Oconto Unified (66.4), Gillett (66.4) and Lena (61.5).

Among other area school districts, Coleman (76.2) and Crivitz (71.8) in Marinette County exceeded expectations while Peshtigo met expectations with a score of 63.6. In Forest County, Wabeno Area (64.3) and Laona (63.2) fell into the "Meets Expectations" category.

The overall grade to each district and each school, called the "accountability score," is based on their scores in four priority areas:

  • Student achievement, which measures students' skill and knowledge levels compared to state and national standards;

  • Growth, which measures student improvement in learning reading and mathematics;

  • Performance by students with the lowest test scores in their school, called target group outcome scores;

  • and "On-Track to Graduation," which shows how well students reach educational milestones that predict success after high school.

The DPI then rates the districts and schools based on the overall score. Schools with a score between 83 and 100 "Significantly Exceed Expectations"; scores between 70 and 82.9 are considered to "Exceed Expectations"; those from 58 to 69.9 are rated as "Meets Expectations"; scores from 48 to 57.9 are considered to "Meet Few Expectations"; and scores of 47.9 and lower "Fail to Meet Expectations."

In earning Oconto County's top rating, Suring got a boost in its overall score from the results from its high school, which was 84.2 to fall in the significantly exceed expectations category. The school benefited from continued improvements in English language arts. This year, 18.9% of the class (17 students) were below basic, which is a smaller percentage than last year (22.1%) and 31.2% in 2018-19.

Mathematics still saw some struggles as 38.9% (35 students) are below basic, which is higher than last year (32.6%) and 33.3% in 2018-19.

In the Oconto Unified School District, three of its schools "exceeds expectations" while its high school fell into the "meets few expectations" category. Its English Language Arts Score (62.6) and Mathematics Score (52.8) was actually higher than Suring High School (56.3 and 47.4, respectively), but was hampered by its growth component, which measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests. A high value-added scores means that on average students in the school are progressing more quickly than other similar students.

Suring High School, for instance, received a 98.3 growth score in mathematics — the state high school average is 66.0 — while Oconto High School was just 1.4.

In math, Oconto High had 11.1% (21 students) that fell in the advanced category, 28.0% (53 students) as proficient, 28.0% (53 students) as basic and 32.8% (62 students) below basic.

Oconto United's overall score of 66.4 is broken down as 60.5 in achievement, 62.2 in growth, 55.7 in target group outcomes and 86.8 in on-track to graduation.

Suring Public School District amassed a 49.5 in achievement, 76.5 in growth, 68.4 in target group outcomes and 81.5 in on-track to graduation.

Oconto Falls recorded a 62.8 grade in student achievement, 67 in growth, 58.4 for target group outcomes and 86.7 in on-track to graduation.

Lena had an achievement score of 54.4, a growth score of 52.7, a target group score of 55.6 and an on-track score of 83.

Gillett compiled an achievement score of 65.4, a growth score of 65.1, a target group outcomes score of 54.2 and score of 80.9 in on-track to graduation.

Coleman's scores were 64.1 in achievement, 72.7 in growth, 74.8 in target group outcomes and 90.6 in on-track to graduation.

Wabeno Area school District was 43.5 in achievement, 65.1 in growth, 53.5 in target group outcomes and 80.5 in on-track to graduation.

Peshtigo tallied a 54.2 in achievement, 57.5 in growth. 56.5 in target group outcomes and 85.9 in on-track to graduation.

Crivitz's total is broken down as 60.9 in achievement, 77.4 in growth, 62.3 in target group outcomes and 82.4 in on-track to graduation.

Laona recorded a 66.0 in achievement, 53.7 in growth, 53.1 in target group outcomes and 83.4 in on-track to graduation.

For complete report cards, including for individual schools, or more information, visit dpi.wi.gov/accountability/report-cards.

Contact Kevin Dittman at 920-431-8416 or kdittman@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Suring, Oconto County results in Wisconsin's school report cards