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District remains in "exceeds expectations" category on state report card; staff caution results are lagging
Summary
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s 2023–24 school and district accountability report cards show Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District remains in the "exceeds expectations" category districtwide; presenters cautioned the report uses multi-year and lagging data and explained weighting rules that affect school-level scores.
District curriculum leaders told the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District Board of Education that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s 2023–24 accountability report cards, published Nov. 19, show the district again ranked in the “exceeds expectations” rating.
Assistant Superintendent Sylvia Romero Johnson and Director Marybeth Pulissey explained the state report cards aggregate data across four priority areas — achievement (state tests), growth (value‑added comparisons), target group outcomes (low-performing subgroup results) and on‑track indicators (attendance, third‑grade reading, eighth‑grade math, or graduation‑related measures). They emphasized the state methodology often uses multiple years of data and therefore can be lagging; in some measures the most recent inputs may be two to three years old.
The presenters showed district-level and school-level trend charts. Overall, the district score rose modestly (reported as an increase of 1.4 points for the district overall). For elementary schools the report cards rely on third- and fourth‑grade state assessment results; middle and high school calculations use the appropriate grade bands for those levels. Staff noted that the state’s weighting of achievement versus growth varies by school demographics (priority weighting for growth rises in higher-poverty schools, while achievement carries more weight in lower-poverty schools).
Principals and board members discussed several school-level results. Sunset Ridge showed a subtle score change that slightly affected its category boundary this year. Sauk Trail was discussed as a school affected by pandemic-era disruptions and as a school making internal growth according to district STAR data, though the state value‑added calculation can present a different comparison to statewide peers. Clark Street’s report card included target-group results for the first time this cycle, a state change staff noted would be tracked in future years.
Board members asked practical questions about how the district uses report-card data. Presenters said the report cards provide a high-level public snapshot used for trend monitoring and external communication; operational and instructional decisions rely on more granular, timely district and classroom data. Several board members noted the report cards feed into public understanding of district performance and can influence community perceptions relevant to referendums and enrollment choices.
The district will continue to monitor the report-card data and dig into school and subgroup specifics where changes occurred. Staff recommended viewing the report cards as one input among many and continuing to use local assessment and classroom‑level measures to guide interventions.
