By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
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 2021-2022 school year.
DPI released report cards for Wisconsin schools and districts on Tuesday, Nov. 15. State law requires DPI to create and publish the report cards annually.
A release from DPI explained that the report cards include data on multiple indicators 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 schools’ percentage of economically disadvantaged pupils, as required by state law,” DPI noted.
DPI said a school or district’s overall accountability score places the school or district 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).
The report cards use up to three years of data, including achievement data from 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Requirements were waived for the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and report cards were not produced.
DPI said it “urges caution when interpreting scores and ratings due to impacts resulting from the pandemic.”
According to DPI, of the 377 public school districts receiving report cards for 2021-22, a total of 358 met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations, accounting for 95% of districts. Compared to 2020-21 district report cards, 269 districts experienced no change, 24 districts moved up at least one category and 84 districts moved down at least one category.
DPI noted that district report cards are not produced for districts that represent a single school. In these cases, school report cards are produced.
School District of Tomahawk report card
The School District of Tomahawk achieved an overall score of 71.9, earning four stars and an “Exceeds Expectations” mark.
Tomahawk has earned a Meets Expectations or Exceeds Expectations grade each year since the report cards were first created for the 2012-2013 school year. Report cards were not produced for the 2014-2015 or 2019-2020 school years.
The district’s elementary, middle and high schools each individually earned an Exceeds Expectations grade for the 2021-2022 school year.
DPI explained that the Achievement priority area “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.”
The score is a multi-year average of English language arts and mathematics subscores.
In the Achievement category, Tomahawk’s score of 60.4 (61.1 in English Language Arts and 59.6 in Mathematics) was the same as or higher than 45.9% of districts in the state.
The Growth priority area “measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests, using a value-added model that seeks to control for circumstances beyond the influence of educators,” DPI said.
“A high value-added score means that, on average, students in the district are progressing more quickly than other, similar students,” DPI explained. “Growth is scored from 0 to 100 to match the other priority areas and is a conversion from the roughly 0 to 6 value-added score.”
Tomahawk’s Growth priority area score of 70.8 was the same as or higher than 72% of Wisconsin school districts.
The Target Group Outcomes priority area examines outcomes for students with the lowest test scores – the Target Group.
DPI said the Target Group Outcomes priority area is designed to “promote equity by helping districts focus on learners who need the most support while also improving outcomes for all students.”
“The priority area score combines component scores for achievement, growth, chronic absenteeism, and attendance or graduation rate,” DPI stated. “Data are not displayed when target groups have fewer than 20 students.”
Tomahawk’s score of 66.4 in the Target Group Outcomes priority area was the same as or higher than 76.4% of districts in the state.
The On-Track to Graduation priority area indicates how successfully students are progressing toward completing their K-12 education. The score combines component scores for measures of student engagement and achievement.
Tomahawk’s score of 88.2 in the On-Track to Graduation priority area was the same as or higher than 71.2% of Wisconsin school districts.
Full report cards available online
For detailed district and school report cards, visit www.apps2.dpi.wi.gov/reportcards/.
DPI said it recommends “careful review of not only the report card front page, but of the multiple pages of student performance data broken down by student group and across years to highlight trends and deepen analysis of group, school and district performance.”
Additional information on report cards can also be found on the DPI’s Office of Educational Accountability webpage at www.dpi.wi.gov/accountability/report-cards.
Local Report Card Data
District Score
Tomahawk 71.9 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Abbotsford 66.0 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Antigo 54.4 (Two stars; Meets Few Expectations)
Athens 68.1 (Three stars; Meet Expectations)
Butternut 67.3 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Chequamegon 72.3 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Crandon 55.2 (Two stars; Meets Few Expectations)
Edgar 69.0 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Flambeau 62.1 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Ladysmith 64.4 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Lakeland UHS 52.2 (Two stars; Meets Few Expectations)
Medford Area 70.5 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Merrill Area 65.6 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Mosinee 71.8 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
N. Pines 70.3 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Phillips 70.4 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Prentice 66.8 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Rhinelander 66.8 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Rib Lake 73.1 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Stratford 78.6 (Four stars; Exceeds Expectations)
Wausau 68.4 (Three stars; Meets Expectations)
Data courtesy of DPI.