Apples to Pineapples
How Sun Prairie Compares to Dane County school districts.
Sun Prairie High School (Grade 10) moves up to #2 in Dane County! We slide a bit down to #7 of 16 when grades 4, 8, and 10 are combined, however. While we get a little concerned that the lower grades appear to be slipping, we are excited that the high school is performing so well.
While even Language Arts (!!!) have improved such that 80% are either proficient or advanced, we'd still like to see scores move out of the 80's and into the 90's.
Apples to Apples
How Sun Prairie Compares to similar sized districts.
Here's an analysis you won't see from the district. If you look at ONLY Dane County, there are a number of very small districts. Com paring Sun Prairie to these districts is like comparing apples to pineapples. So SP-EYE wants to know how we stack up against districts of similar size. Sure...Culver will wax philosophically about how we can't compare to these other districts because they don't reflect the same conditions or demographics. Pshaw! You simply cannot compare a district of over 6,000 kids to ones with less than 1,000. Similarly, you can't compare Madison at 24,000+ to SPASD.
So we compared the 10 districts that are just smaller than SPASD and the 10 that are just larger than SPASD.
Surprise! Sun Prairie ranks 4th out of 21 at Grade 10. District-wide, we still rank in the upper one-third at #5 (tie with Wauwatosa). Now that's something to be excited about.
District Perpective
Tim Culver sent this e-mail to District "Key Communicators" this past week. We could not find it on the web site, so we'll just re-print it here.
District E-News to Key Communicators
The 2009 Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) results were announced today and again reveal strong academic achievement for students in the Sun Prairie Area School District. Annually, all school districts in the State of Wisconsin administer the WKCE to students in grades 3-8 and grade 10. The tests are administered in November of each year. Individual student results are mailed home early in March and the State of Wisconsin embargoes the release of school, district, and state
summary data in the spring. This year that release date is today, April 7, 2010.
This past November, Sun Prairie administered the WKCE to over 3,300 students in grades 3-8 and grade 10. Students in grades 3-8 and 10 were assessed in reading and math. Students in grades 4, 8, and 10 were also assessed in language arts, science, social studies, and writing.
Even as the student demographics change in the Sun Prairie Area School District, our students continue to perform well above the state averages at all grade levels and in all subjects. Combining all grade levels, 87% of Sun Prairie students are proficient or advanced in reading and 84% are proficient or advanced in math. A great deal of effort will be spent in analyzing these and other assessment data in the months to come. WKCE is just one indicator and a “snapshot in time” of student
achievement.
Attached, you will find additional information and the breakdown of 2009 state, district, and school results.
For further information please contact District Administrator Tim Culver at 834-6502 or Instructional Program Manager of Assessment and Accountability Kris Mueller at 834-6531.
SP-EYE's past Reviews
SP-EYE on 2008-09 WKCE results
SP-EYE on 2007-08 WKCE results
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