The Forest Lake Area Schools board received a district-level review of Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) results at Thursday’s meeting, a presentation Director of Teaching and Learning JP Jacobson framed as a three-year look at both proficiency and student growth.

Jacobson said the district compared school- and district-level three-year averages against statewide performance and included a progress metric that accounts for whether students improved, maintained, or regressed across the four proficiency categories the state uses.

“Rather than just a snapshot of last year, are our students over a three-year period of time making progress?” Jacobson asked, and said the report pairs proficiency with a progress measure that rewards students who move up proficiency bands.

The presentation highlighted “shiny spots” at several elementary schools — Scandia, Lynnwood and others — where growth and proficiency exceeded state averages, and noted that schools already at high proficiency can show lower progress-scores because there is less room to move to a higher proficiency band.

Jacobson told the board that some buildings (for example, Forest View) had smaller test populations, which limits the reliability of year-to-year comparisons, and that the MCA science Series 4 scores were still pending because the state was completing cut-score setting for the new test.

Board members pressed for context about opt-outs and how those affect secondary results. Jacobson and several board members said opt-outs and higher opt-out rates at the high school — where students may instead take ACT or AP exams — are reflected in the MCA data as “do not meet,” which can lower reported averages. Director Jacobson offered to run alternate calculations that exclude opt-outs from the denominator to show how scores would look without those cases.

Jacobson also reviewed metric complements including ACT averages, AP exam pass rates, and graduation rates. He said Forest Lake’s ACT composite has remained relatively stable over a decade, that AP pass rates are broadly comparable to state results, and that graduation rates have increased since 2020, including improvements for students with Individualized Education Programs and students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals.

Board members and administrators cautioned against over-reliance on a single metric. Member Julie Christensen noted rising progress scores at some high-proficiency schools are notable because remaining growth is harder to achieve. Several board members urged using multiple indicators — MCAs, ACT, AP, graduation, course-passage data — to form a fuller picture.

Jacobson closed by saying the district will continue to track literacy implementation results and expand secondary literacy supports as the district’s curriculum and assessments evolve.

Ending: Board members asked for follow-up runs of the data with opt-outs excluded and for continued reporting on AP, ACT and graduation measures alongside MCAs.