For the Tomahawk Leader
TOMAHAWK – The School District of Tomahawk earned a grade of “exceeds expectations” on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)’s report card for the 2022-23 school year.
DPI published school and district accountability report cards for the 2022-23 school year on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
DPI publishes school and district report cards annually, as required by state statute.
Report cards include data for multiple school years across four priority areas: Achievement, Growth, Target Group Outcomes and On-Track to Graduation. The Achievement and Growth priority areas are weighted based on a district or school percentage of economically disadvantaged pupils, as required by state law.
A district or school’s overall accountability score places it into one of five overall accountability ratings: Significantly Exceeds Expectations (five stars), Exceeds Expectations (four stars), Meets Expectations (three stars), Meets Few Expectations (two stars) and Fails to Meet Expectations (one star).
Report cards use up to three years of data, including achievement data from 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
“Statewide, achievement improved from 2021-22 to 2022-23, though for many schools and districts, 2022-23 achievement performance is lower than pre-pandemic levels; thus, report card achievement scores, overall scores and ratings may have decreased despite upward trending achievement performance,” DPI stated. “This is the first report card that does not include achievement data from assessments occurring prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
DPI said it urges caution when interpreting scores and ratings due to impacts resulting from the pandemic.
Of 378 public school districts receiving report card ratings for 2022-23, 357 met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations (94 % of districts). Among districts receiving report card scores for both 2022-23 and 2021-22, 19 increased by one rating category compared to the prior year, 52 decreased by one rating category and 306 had no change in rating, according to DPI.
Report cards are not produced for districts that represent a single school. In these cases, school report cards are produced.
DPI said there were 2,098 report cards produced for public schools for 2022-23. Among public schools, 158 (8%) were unable to be scored due to insufficient data. Of the scored public school report cards, 1,601 met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations (83%). Among public schools receiving scored report cards for both 2022-23 and 2021-22, 255 increased in rating at least one category compared to the prior year, 394 decreased in rating at least one category and 1,254 had no change in rating.
There were 405 private schools participating in a Private School Choice Program for 2022-23. Of scored private choice school report cards, 136 met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations (80%). Among private choice schools receiving a score for both 2022-23 and 2021-22, 26 increased in rating at least one category compared to the prior year, 48 decreased in rating at least one category and 80 had no change in rating.
A total of 235 private choice schools (58%) were unable to be scored due to insufficient data. DPI said this is in part due to the tested choice student population being too small to meet the conditions required to produce report cards, either because of low test participation rates or total choice student population size.
“In addition to achievement, growth and graduation rates, another component of the report cards is chronic absenteeism, which is the percentage of students (enrolled for at least 90 days) who missed more than 10% of school days,” DPI stated.
Wisconsin students (public and choice) had a 23% chronic absenteeism rate for 2021-22, the most recent year of data for absenteeism.
In line with national trends, this represents an increase from 2017-18 through 2019-20 (13%), and 2020-21 (16%), DPI said, noting that it “continues to work with schools, districts and CESAs to support strategies to decrease chronic absenteeism rates.”
“In addition to providing school leaders with an awareness of effective strategies to improve positive conditions for engagement within the school, the DPI emphasizes the importance of collaboration between students, families, school leaders and human services agencies,” DPI stated. “Each community has differing challenges with school attendance, and regular meetings between local partners promote local solutions.”
DPI said it has used federal pandemic relief funding to launch a program, ENGAGE Wisconsin, which “aims to re-engage chronically absent students through individual assessment and personalized coaching at no cost (in participating districts).” DPI continues to provide training and consultation to school leaders.
School District of Tomahawk data
The School District of Tomahawk received an overall score of 71.8 on its 2022-23 report card, earning a four-star “exceeds expectations” rating.
In the Achievement category, which summarizes how a district’s students performed on state assessments using a points-based proficiency system that gives partial credit for Basic test performance and extra credit for Advanced performance, Tomahawk scored 60.8, higher than 49.5% of districts in the state.
The Growth category measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests. Tomahawk earned a Growth score of 70.8, the same as or higher than 78.2% of Wisconsin districts.
Tomahawk scored 65.1 in Target Group Outcomes, which examines outcomes for students with the lowest test scores, known as the Target Group. Tomahawk’s score was the same as or higher than 75.5% of districts in the state.
The On-Track to Graduation category indicates how successfully students are progressing toward completing their K-12 education. Tomahawk’s score of 88.5 was the same as or higher than 77.9% of districts in Wisconsin.
Full data available online
For detailed district and school report cards, visit www.apps2.dpi.wi.gov/reportcards/.
Area overall scores and ratings
District Overall score Rating
Tomahawk 71.8 Exceeds Expectations
Abbotsford 63.8 Meets Expectations
Antigo 59.7 Meets Expectations
Athens 64.8 Meets Expectations
Chequamegon 73.3 Exceeds Expectations
Crandon 54.7 Meets Expectations
D.C. Everest 72.8 Exceeds Expectations
Edgar 68.1 Meets Expectations
Flambeau 64.4 Meets Expectations
Hurley 68.1 Meets Expectations
Ladysmith 57.4 Meets Few Expectations
Lakeland UHS 48.6 Meets Few Expectations
Marshfield 66 Meets Expectations
Medford 68.7 Meets Expectations
Mellen 55.7 Meets Few Expectations
Merrill 63.5 Meets Expectations
Minocqua J1 69.3 Meets Expectations
Mosinee 66.7 Meets Expectations
N. Pines 68.8 Meets Expectations
Phillips 65.4 Meets Expectations
Prentice 64 Meets Expectations
Rhinelander 65.9 Meets Expectations
Rib Lake 69.6 Meets Expectations
Stratford 77.6 Exceeds Expectations
Three Lakes 76 Exceeds Expectations
Wausau 65.7 Meets Expectations
Data courtesy of DPI.