All School District of New Berlin schools continue to “significantly exceed” or “exceed” expectations according to 2020-21 state-issued District and School Report Cards released this week. The District also “significantly exceeds” expectations, one of just 39 of 421 districts in Wisconsin to reach that level, and one of only 19 K-12 districts to do so.

District and school report cards are intended to offer accountability of how well schools and districts statewide are preparing students to graduate. Report cards were not issued in 2019-20 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the DPI urges those who interpret the scores and ratings to consider the ongoing pandemic and its impacts on education over the last two years.

The SDNB’s Elmwood Elementary, Poplar Creek Elementary and Eisenhower Middle / High “significantly exceed expectations”; Orchard Lane Elementary, Ronald Reagan Elementary and West Middle / High “exceed
expectations”.

“The last few school years have been unlike any other in our lifetimes, and while we will use these report cards as tools to identify strengths and find areas in need of improvement, there is no doubt the data – and scores – reflect the impact of the pandemic,” Superintendent Joe Garza said. “That said, we continue to be proud of our high-achieving district and schools, and we continue to strive to provide the best educational opportunities to all of our students, as our community has come to expect.

Report cards provide an accountability index score from 0-100 based on performance in four priority areas:

• Student achievement, or how well the students performed on state assessments using a points-based proficiency system with the score a result of a multi-year average of English language arts and
  mathematics subscores;
• Growth, or year-to-year student progress on statewide tests;
• (NEW for 2021) Target Group Outcomes, which examines outcomes for students with the lowest test scores and is designed to promote equity by helping districts focus on learners who need the most
  support while also improving outcomes for all students;
• On-track to graduation, or how successfully students are progressing toward completing their K-12 education.

The 2020-21 DPI report cards include a few changes from previous years. In addition to a design change meant to make the report card more user friendly, there is also a COVID-19 statement urging caution when
interpreting scores and ratings. Additionally, the “closing gaps” priority area has been changed to “target group outcomes” (see above) and there are no longer deductions related to absenteeism.

All SDNB report cards can be viewed at www.nbexcellence.org/district/school-report-cards.cfm.

Please note: The SDNB has unique grade-level structures (elementary grades K-6, secondary grades 7-12) that should be taken into consideration when community members, media and others compare scores and ratings to other districts and schools.