Students receive report cards at the end of every term, but once a year the Iowa Department of Education releases its statewide Iowa School Report Cards for school districts as a whole. Detailed findings are available on the state’s website.
Based on each school’s performance over a two-year period, the report card assigns one of six ratings, listed from highest to lowest:
- Exceptional
- High-performing
- Commendable
- Acceptable
- Needs improvement
- Priority
The Perry Community School District’s 2016 grades were almost the same as in 2015, with the Perry Elementary School slipping from a commendable grade last year to a grade of acceptable this year.
The Perry Middle School again earned an acceptable rating, and the Perry High School repeated its 2015 grade of needs improvement, the next-to-lowest grade the education department gives.
This is the second year the state has issued the report cards, which were created to meet a mandate of the 2013 Iowa Legislature.
The Iowa School Report Card includes information on student proficiency rates in math and reading, student academic growth, narrowing achievement gaps among students, college and career readiness, student attendance, graduation rates and staff retention, according to the Iowa Department of Education.
Schools are rated on a bell curve. Among elementary schools, 64 percent were rated as acceptable or commendable. Among high schools, 45 percent were rated as acceptable and 29 percent were rated as commendable.
Statewide, only 1 percent of schools were rated exceptional, and 8 percent were graded high-performing. Twenty-nine percent of schools were graded commendable, 45 percent acceptable and 11 percent were classed as needs improvement. Six percent of the state’s schools received priority grades.
In determining the final score, three areas carry more weight than others:
- proficiency (the percentage of students at proficiency or better on reading and mathematics assessments)
- closing the achievement gap (narrowing the gap in achievement for students with disabilities, students who are eligible for free and reduce-price meals, and English language learners)
- annual expected growth (the percentage of students making a year of academic growth in a year’s time on reading and math assessments)
Here’s how the grades shook out among other school districts in Dallas County and the Perry area:
- The Adel-De Soto-Minburn Elementary School was unable to be graded, while ADM Middle School was judged commendable and ADM High School received a high-performing grade.
- The Dallas Center-Grimes Elementary School and Middle School received commendable grades, and DC-G High School was graded acceptable.
- The Earlham Elementary School earned a grade of commendable, and the Earlham Middle School and Earlham High School were both graded high-performing.
- The Greene County Elementary School was graded commendable. The Greene County Middle School and Greene County High School earned acceptable grades.
- The Guthrie Center Elementary School was deemed acceptable, while the Guthrie Center Middle School was commendable and the Guthrie Center High School needs improvement.
- The Madrid Elementary, Middle and High Schools were all rated acceptable.
- The Ogden Elementary and Middle Schools were graded commendable, and the Ogden High School was rated acceptable.
- The Panorama Elementary, Middle and High Schools were earned gardes of acceptable.
- The Paton-Churdan Elementary School was judged exceptional. The Paton-Curdan Junior-Senior High School was acceptable.
- Urbandale’s six elementary schools all rated either commendable or acceptable. The Urbandale Middle School was commendable and the Urbandale High School acceptable.
- The Van Meter Elementary School received a commendable grade, and the Van Meter Junior-Senior High School was also graded commendable.
- Waukee’s eight elementary schools were rated either high-performing or commendable. The two middle school received high-performing grades, and the Waukee High School was rated commendable.
- West Des Moines’ eight elementary schools were graded either commendable or acceptable. One West Des Moines Middle School was rated a high performer, and the other was commendable. Of West Des Moines’ three high schools, one was graded commendable, one was unable to be rated and the third was graded priority.
- The Woodward-Granger Elementary School was graded acceptable, and the W-G Middle School and High School received grades of commendable.
The state education department said the Iowa School Report Cards are informational only. There are no rewards or consequences for a rating. It is intended to aid conversation about a school’s strengths and challenges.
“Parents and community members can use it to celebrate areas of growth and as questions, such as how a school is addressing a particular challenge and what they can do to help,” according to a statement by the department.
Complete reports cards and much more information can be found on the Iowa Department of Education website.
