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September 12, 2019
Dear School District of Mauston Families,
The results from state tests administered in spring 2019 have been released in WISEdash Public. The information on WISEdash Public details the student results for the assessments listed. These state assessments are rigorous measures of student academic performance and are designed to measure progress toward grade-level knowledge and skills outlined in state and College and Career Readiness standards. Based on the analysis of our spring 2019 assessment results, we note the following:
Overall Performance
Assessment scores continue to improve across the District on state assessments. Even though there are areas where we remain below the state average, we experienced positive growth, closing the performance gaps between Mauston students and students from across the state.
Class of 2020 Rocks the ACT
Mauston High School saw its highest composite score yet on the ACT with an average score of 19.7, slightly higher than this year’s state average score of 19.6. Mauston scores on the ACT have been steadily increasing over the past several years. This year students had their highest scores yet in Mathematics (19.2) Reading (20.1) and Science (20.5) with English, Reading, and Science all above the state average. This year, the percentage of students meeting 3 or 4 of the College and Career Readiness Benchmarks on the ACT grew from 26% to 32% compared the 31% at the state. Science and English were the subjects that had to greatest percentage of students meeting the College and Career Readiness benchmarks, both higher than the state.
Gains in Mathematics were Most Notable
Over the past five years, MHS students improved their ACT score from 17.9 to 19.2 just slightly below the state average of 19.5. On the Forward Exam, 45.1% of OMS 8th grade students scored proficient and advanced compared to 36.4% of students at the state. Finally, the elementary students grew from 39.5% proficient to 45.7% proficient on the Forward Exam, higher than the state level of proficiency at 44%.
English Language Arts Lags on Forward
English Language Arts scores on the Forward Exam continue to fall below state average this year with 32.6% of students scoring proficient compared to 41.5% at the state. This is an area of focus for improvement at each of the schools. This year we are partnering with CESA 5 to further teacher professional development in reading, writing, and language. We are also implementing a new phonics curriculum in grades K-2 to better support our youngest learners in early acquisition of these important literacy skills with the support of trainers from the Middle School District.
These assessment results provide important information about what our students know and can do relative to the rigorous standards we maintain at the School District of Mauston. In addition to providing parents and our community with a snapshot of our students’ college and career readiness, the statewide assessment results help inform our school improvement planning and teacher professional development focus to raise overall student achievement.
We are confident that our students will continue to excel and that the data from our statewide assessments will contribute to a deeper understanding of our students’ performance. We look forward to examining trends as we build on multiple years of data from these rigorous exams as well as data from District assessments. I will continue to update you on the progress of our students. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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