Just as students receive report cards that grade their performance, so the Iowa Department of Education releases its yearly Iowa School Report Cards for school districts statewide. Detailed findings for the 2017 report card are available on the state’s website as well as district-wide figures for the Perry school system.
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 2017 grades were almost the same as in 2016 and 2015.
After earning a Commendable grade in 2015, the Perry Elementary School dropped to an Acceptable rating in 2016 with 64.5 points and saw a further drop on its 2017 report card to an Acceptable grade of 61.3 points.
The Perry Middle School also repeated its 2016 Acceptable performance in 2017 with 57.5 points.
The Perry High School repeated its 2016 grade of Needs Improvement, the next-to-lowest grade the education department gives, but PHS improved its 2016 score of 56.5 points and is now on the cusp of a grade of Acceptable with 59.9 points. A high school grade of Acceptable requires a score of at least 60 points.
This is the third 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, 65 percent were rated as Acceptable or Commendable and 13 percent were graded High-Performing or Exceptional. Among middle schools, 45 percent were rated as Acceptable and 29 percent were rated as Commendable.
Statewide, only 1 percent of high schools were rated Exceptional, and 8 percent were graded High-Performing. Twenty-eight percent of high schools were graded Commendable, 46 percent Acceptable and 13 percent were classed as Needs Improvement. Six percent of the state’s high 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 reduced-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)
The Iowa School Report Cards permit comparisons between schools in different districts, where demographic differences appear to correlate with differences in performance.
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 again unable to be graded, while ADM Middle School was judged Commendable and ADM High School slipped from High-Performing to Commendable.
- The Dallas Center-Grimes Elementary School and Middle School again received Commendable grades, and DC-G High School was graded Acceptable as in 2016.
- The Earlham Elementary School raised its grade from Commendable to High-Performing, while the Earlham Middle School and Earlham High School both slipped from High-Performing to Acceptable.
- The Greene County Elementary School rose to a grade of Exceptional, and the Greene County Middle School and Greene County High School were graded Acceptable.
- The Guthrie Center Elementary School and Guthrie Center High School were graded Acceptable.
- The Madrid Elementary School was graded Needs Improvement, while the Madrid Middle and High Schools were rated Acceptable.
- The Ogden Elementary School was graded Acceptable, and the Ogden Middle School and High School were graded Commendable.
- The Panorama Elementary School and High School earned grades of Acceptable, but the Panorama Middle School was graded as Needs Improvement.
- The Paton-Churdan Elementary School was again judged Exceptional. The Paton-Churdan Junior-Senior High School was graded Acceptable.
- In Urbandale the Olmsted was graded High-Performing, while the Karen Acres, Rolling Green and Webster Elementary Schools were graded Commendable, and the Jensen and Valerius Elementary Schools were deemed Acceptable. The Urbandale Middle School was again graded Commendable and the Urbandale High School again ranked 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 again graded either High-Performing or Commendable. The Waukee Middle School was graded Commendable, the Timberline Middle School and Waukee South Middle School High-Performing and the Prairieview Middle School Exceptional. The Waukee High School was rated Commendable.
- West Des Moines’ eight elementary schools were graded either Commendable or Acceptable except for the Western Hills Elementary School and the Crestview School of Inquiry, which were graded Needs Improvement. One West Des Moines Middle School was rated Acceptable, and the other was Commendable. Of West Des Moines’ three high schools, Valley High School was graded Acceptable, while Valley Southwoods and the Walnut Creek Campus High School were unable to be rated.
- The Woodward-Granger Elementary School, Middle School and High School were all graded 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.
