Not too shabby

How many are wondering how Sun Prairie High really ranks against its peers?  Did anyone look?  How many can't wait until November 7th to get past all these ads?

Well we took a look at the "report card" data for comparable high schools.  Now, Dr. Culver would want us to state clearly what comparable we seek.  So...to be clear...we are NOT going to compare Sun Prairie High to other Dane Co. schools.  There's simply far too much variability there for any comparison to be worthwhile.

Instead we looked at the 20 school districts closest in size to Sun Prairie in terms of total enrollment.   These will be moderate to large sized cities who, at least in  theory, face many of the same challenges as Sun Prairie.   For the record, there is a school board policy which states that administrator salary ranges are to be based on averages from the 14 school districts closest in size to Sun Prairie.  We figure that if it's a good enough basis for administrator salaries, it must be good for student performance...right?

So...ho did we fare?  Not too shabby. 6th out of 31 high schools to be exact.  That's really pretty good...so why don't we have more National Merit scholars?

We looked at the data to see if there were any significant correlations between accountability scores and  school enrollment (NO!), percent of minority students (inverse correlation, statistically significant), and percentage of socio-economically disadvantaged kids (inverse correlation, extreme statistical significance).

As the clock ticks ever closer towards election day, perhaps one measure of a candidate's strength is the ability to fight poverty.  Coming in a very close second is the likelihood that a candidate will properly fund schools to deal with achievement gaps.

Here's a tip...making the rich richer is not part of the equation.

Caution: Expectations May Lead To Disappointment

We KNOW you were wondering....but maybe were afraid to ask?
The question of course is:  how does Sun Prairie match up against districts of similar size.

Did you think we'd forgotten?  Nah. Just a lot going on; and doctor's orders were to IV drip this information to you slowly.  Certainly there wasn't anything to jump and shout about.

The results?  Sort story is...pretty much the same...middle of the pack.  10th overall out of 21 schools (10 larger, 10 smaller, and SPASD).
We don't think there's much more to say.  We're...average.

As with Dane Co. districts, the pattern of improved scores from grade 4 to 10 emerges here as well, as our 10th graders rank 8th out of 21 school districts.

Final 2011-12 Tax Levies & Mill Rates

Wow....talk about standing out in a crowd!
The SPASD Administration wants SPASD to stand out, and it sure does now.
We're the leaders!  Well...in millrate anyway.

If we look at SPASD vs. the 20 similar sized school districts (10 larger and 10 smaller in enrollments), Sun Prairie is head and shoulders above the rest in mill rate ($12.62) and has the 4th highest tax levy!

While our rival, Middleton-Cross Plains bests out slightly in terms of tax levy, we cream them in mill rate.
A $200,000 home in Sun Prairie will pay $482 MORE in taxes this year than a similar value home in MCPSD.

Statewide, the average mill rate is $9.84 per $1000---SPASD's mill rate is 28.3% higher.
We rank in the top 15% of all districts in terms of tax levy increase over last year.  In fact, the statewide average was a 1.45% DROP in mill rate.  How "wonderful" does Sun Prairie's 3.5% INCREASE look now?
269 (out of 424) school districts set a tax levy either the same or lower than last year.  211 districts have a mill rate the same or lower than last year, while Sun Prairies mill rate is rising 4.1%.

Oh...and while we're at it....lest anyone overlook it, our tax levy ($10.9M) SOLELY for referendum-related debt is now second only to Kenosha.  Yikes!

We'll be here all week....enjoy your tax bills!  Be sure to tip your waitresses and thank the school board members who approved all this.

Spotlight on Administrative Costs

Administrators are bucking for raises. Phil Frei told us that he/the district has budgeted for 1.6% increases in salary. At last week's board "work-study" session, Frei shared a graphic which purports that Sun Prairie spends the least percentage of its budget on "Administrative and Operating Expenses" than the 7 school districts closest in size to ours.

Not only does such a figure look good when one is tryingf to "sell" a budget, but it also looks really nice when one is trying to sell a community--or school board--on the idea of raises.


We're not sure what constitutes "Administrative and Operating Expenses". It's kinda nebulous. We'd rather look at absolutes...tangibles. You know? So we went data mining on the DPI site. Perfect timing, as DPI just posted data for 2010-11. Frei indicated that his data was "the most recent" available on the DPI site. It is noteworthy that for most "reports" available for school district, the most current available data is 2-3 years old. Let's use current information, dontcha think?

We looked--initially-- at three variables:
1. Total Salary and Fringe benefit costs for staff classified as "Administrators"
2. Salary and Fringe Costs (dollars) per child (based on 2010-11 enrollment)
3. Number of kids enrolled per Administrative staff member.

Take a look at our data. It seems a tad different than the picture the District wanted to leave you with. But you decide.

More to come on this topic.

Reality Check - 2010-11 WKCE Scores

Last week, school district "Key Communicators" received via e-mail a Spin-o-gram announcing that,
"WKCE Results Well Above the State Averages"
Link to SPASD data on DPI site

Stating the obvious?

For those of you not on the coveted list, we didn't see this on the SPASD website, so we offer the key info at right.

How do we address this...let us count the ways.

Let's start with the "Well Above State Averages" claim
Our analysis? Where on earth did they pull that from? Did they even LOOK at the data? We did. Our first question is: "What exactly constitutes 'Well Above'?" We're thinking 20 or more percentage points. As in state average is 70%, Sun Prairie score is 90%. But maybe we're off base. Let's look at the numbers.

The way we see it, the numbers may not warrant the claim made. Only grade 10 students average a double digit (and barely) lead over the state average. Grades 4 and 8 average scores are only 4 and 5 percentage points higher than state averages. Not exactly what we'd call "well above". In fact, if you compare the 2010 data to 2009 results, it sure looks like the statewide average is gaining on us. But that's not something the district would ever shout from the mountaintops, now is it. We actually dug a little deeper and looked at comparisons over the past 5 years. district wide, our scores have consistently averaged only 3.8% to 5.1% better than the state averages. Consequently, we think it's a safer bet to declare that our scores are well above those of Madison...or Marshall...or Beloit. Saying that Sun Prairie scores are 'well above' state averages is kinda like saying that the Red Sox will win more games than the Brewers. It's kinda over-stating the obvious.

Comparing Sun Prairie to Other Dane Co Districts

Last year, Sun Prairie fared pretty well, ranking 7th overall in Dane Co. using our averaging system (averaging ranks in each of the 5 subject areas across grades 4, 8, and 10). This year, however, we slipped 5 spots to the #12 (out of 17) spot. We may be getting better, but it would seem that the other districts are getting better-ER. Our arch-nemesis, Middleton, remained steady in the #3 slot.
Grade 10, in fact, slipped most. Last year, 10th graders ranked 2nd in Dane Co. across all 5 subject areas. This year: 9th.
Looking at things a little differently, we can combine ranks of Grade 4,8, and 10 and review how Sun Prairie sits in terms of each of the 5 WKCE subject areas. From this angle, only in Social studies do we rank in the upper half--and just barely at #8. Our friends in Waunakee, McFarland, and Middleton take the #2,3,and 4 ranks. Like that proverbial mouse that churned the cream into butter and climbed its way out, little old Belleville rises to the top!

Newbie on the Block - 1st Wisconsin Virtual Academy Results
NOTE: We could not find this data on the DPI site. We used data presented by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Dane Co. Language Arts, Science Social studies scores
Dane Co. Reading & Math scores
This marks the first year that we include the Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA)--which a number of Sun Prairie students attend-- in the Dane Co. ranks. The results are quite interesting. Overall, depending on whether you look at and average of all subjects across th3 3 grades, or whether you look at an average of all 3 grades across 5 subjects, "WIVA" ranks either 9th or 10th. Basically, middle of the pack, nothing to write home about.
WIVA fared pretty well in Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies...not so good in Math and Science. In fact, the WIVA ranked last among Dane Co. districts in math at the grade 10 level, tieing with Madison at 75% proficient or advanced.
In Language Arts, 95% of 4th graders at the WIVA scored proficient or advanced, 84% of 8th graders, but only 55% of 10th graders.

Apples & Apples Time - Comparing Sun Prairie to Similar Sized School Districts

Now that we know how well we stack up against Dane Co, school districts, it's time to take a look at how we rate against schools our own size. We looked at the 20 districts closest in size--the 10 that are just larger, and the 10 that are just smaller.

Last year, Sun Prairie ranked 5th overall (tieing with Wauwautosa). Across all 5 subject areas, SPASD ranked 4th for grade 10, 7th for grade 8, and 9th for grade 4. Looking at grade 10 only, last year SP ranked 6th in Reading, 3rd in Math, 3rd in Language Arts, 6th in Science, and 3rd in social studies.

This year, unfortunately, Sun Prairie slides to either 9th or 11th (out of 21), depending on how you look at the results. Either way, that's just middle of the pack, and a fairly significant decline from last year.

Conclusions
That's a lot of data...we know. But take some time to let it sink in. We'll be looking at this from some other angles, but wanted you at least to get the full picture...not just the pretty "snapshots" offered by the district.
From our perspective, Sun Prairie may be improving, but all the other districts are improving as well...and at a faster pace than we are. Sure, a grade of "B" is great...but how does it look when everyone else is getting "B+" or better?

How Does Sun Prairie Compare?

We're sure you'll hear about how Sun Prairie stacks up against other Dane County school districts.  That's nice, but it's hard to compare school districts the size of Madison, or the size of Deerfield to Sun Prairie.


But...how does Sun Prairie stack up against similar-sized school districts?
We scanned the web and, where the information was readily available, we have captured the amount of Education Jobs Fund dollars the district obtained, the 2010-11 tax levy, the 2010-11 tax levy increase, and the 2010 mill rate.  Please note that other than Sun Prairie, district enrollment numbers are the most current available from DPI.


Items of note:

• Hudson went with a 0% increase, while West Allis actually reduced their tax levy a bit.
• MANY school districts dipped into fund balance to reduce the tax levy.
• Sun Prairie currently stands with the highest mill rate.

Disclaimer:  This information was the latest available to the public.  Some school districts have not held their Annual Electors Meetings yet.  Therefore these numbers could change.