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Verona Area School District exceeds expectations on state report card; staff cite growth and falling chronic absenteeism
Summary
District staff told the board the Department of Instruction report card places Verona Area School District in 'exceeds expectations' with an overall score of 76.6. Presenters highlighted a 3.8‑point growth increase, middle-school gains, and an attendance campaign that reduced chronic absenteeism from 17.7% to 16.8% across the reported period.
Amy, a district administrator presenting the state report card, said the Department of Instruction assigned the Verona Area School District an overall score of 76.6 and classified the district as "exceeds expectations." "Overall as a district, we were in the exceeds expectations. They ended up with an overall score of 76.6," she told the board.
Presenters spent time explaining how the state report card is structured and why the single overall score should not be interpreted as a percentage or classroom grade. The report card aggregates results across four priority areas — achievement (language arts and math), growth (rate of improvement), target group outcomes and on‑track indicators such as attendance and graduation — with different weightings based on the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a district.
Staff emphasized that some report‑card components are not directly comparable year to year because DPI changed calculation norms, but noted that growth measures are comparable. The district reported a 3.8‑point improvement in its overall growth score from 2023–24 to 2024–25, with some middle schools seeing growth increases as large as 24.6 points.
District staff also described an attendance campaign, "Be Here, Be Great," and other family‑engagement strategies aimed at lowering chronic absenteeism. They said chronic absenteeism — 17.7% at the end of 2023–24 — declined to 16.8% at the end of 2024–25, a nearly one‑percentage‑point improvement. The presenters noted that the report card uses lagging and multi‑year calculations, so recent improvements might not yet be fully reflected in the state score.
School community connections were offered as a next step: staff proposed starting outreach with realtors in January to explain school finance and mill rate and to invite community members to see schools in action. The plan would later expand to include business leaders, service organizations and retirees.
Board members commended staff for clarifying the report card and for focusing on attendance and growth measures. No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational and intended to guide ongoing results‑policy work.
