MMSD instruction work group coalesces around belonging, academic achievement and college credits as top performance objectives

The Madison Metropolitan School District Instruction Work Group narrowed the strategic-plan performance objectives to three high-level measures — student belonging, overall academic achievement measured by state assessments and GPA, and college credit/industry credentials — and directed administration to return with specific key performance indicators for board approval at the end-of-month board meeting.

Kyle Kandiet, an education consultant with RTI International, presented the revised wording and rationale to the group and said, “MMSD will increase overall student academic achievement as measured by required state assessments and GPA.” The board’s conversation that followed focused less on whether to track academic outcomes and more on how to measure them, and how to make sure students with individualized education plans are included in district reporting.

Why it matters: The performance objectives are intended as a small set of externally facing outcome measures the district will use to signal whether the strategic plan is producing the results the board expects. Board members and administration agreed these high-level objectives will be accompanied by more detailed KPIs that staff will develop and report on more frequently.

Discussion highlights - Scope of the academic objective: Board and staff debated replacing language that named only “literacy and math proficiency” with broader “academic achievement,” measured by both required state assessments and GPA for grades 6–12. Kyle explained the rationale: state assessments offer a standardized, comparable data point while GPA captures more frequent and broader course work. He also noted limitations of each measure, including bias and comparability concerns for both instruments.

- Inclusion of students with IEPs: Board member Vander Meulen asked for an explicit way to include students with disabilities who do not have traditional GPA or standardized-test pathways. Vander Meulen said, “I do as much as I want GPA and I want test score. Yes. I want both of them in there. I also know that at least internally, if not externally, we need a measure for those who don't rely on GPA or test scores in special education that shows progress.” Administration responded that progress on IEP goals is already measured as part of the district’s special education monitoring and could be surfaced as a KPI or companion metric rather than replacing the high-level academic objective.

- Concerns about GPA comparability and asterisk grading: Several board members noted that GPA is not normed across teachers or schools and that standards-based grading and asterisks on transcripts (used when curriculum is modified) complicate comparisons. Board member Boesner Southam said she was "prepared to vote for this, the second the second 1 with the GPA included," and asked that reports include how many students are excluded from a given metric or require alternate reporting.

- College credit and credentials: The third objective tracks students earning college credit, biliteracy seals, industry credentials, or participation in work-based learning. Cindy Green said the district could present these as counts and percentages (and in some cases with dollar-savings estimates when college credit is earned in high school) and disaggregate them by student groups.

Next steps and timeline Administration and RTI will draft the KPI set and options for operationalizing GPA and alternate measures for students with IEPs. Staff will return to the full board at the end-of-month meeting with proposed performance-objective language and recommended KPIs for formal approval.

Ending Board members generally signaled support for the three-objective package while asking staff to resolve technical questions — how to incorporate IEP progress or alternative measures, how to present GPA and asterisked grades, and how to disaggregate all three objectives to show results for students furthest from opportunity. The administration and RTI will reflect those refinements in the materials brought back for the August vote.