The Burlington Area School District reported multi-year gains on the newly public state report cards, with district-level growth and several schools recognized for strong improvement.

Superintendent Jill Olslander told the board the district score increased to 74.9 from 67.5 three years earlier, representing "an impressive 7.4% growth in 3 years," and that the district "exceeds expectations" on the Wisconsin state report card system. Burlington High School recorded 6.2% growth in that span and was described as outperforming about 79% of high schools on the state's On-Track for graduation metric.

District leaders emphasized that while the Department of Public Instruction adjusted some scoring thresholds this year to align with national benchmarks, they still compare the district's performance against state averages to assess real improvement. "We are much higher than the state average than we used to be," a presenter said when asked whether score changes were wholly attributable to DPI adjustments.

Individual school highlights included Karcher Middle School receiving a Wisconsin Blue Ribbon-style recognition for significant growth, Cooper Montessori gaining roughly 10 points in one year, and several elementary schools moving into the 'exceeding' category. The district noted that alternate-rating schools such as Wisco and smaller alternative programs will have different reporting labels because they lack the minimum number of tested students.

Board members asked for clarification about DPI's threshold changes, and district staff said those changes were intended to align Wisconsin proficiency levels with national NAEP comparisons; administrators said the district remains confident the gains reflect local efforts and not only rating adjustments.

Administrators did not propose board action during the presentation; the report was informational and will inform ongoing improvement work.