The majority of Wisconsin schools meet or exceed expectations, according to school report cards released by the Department of Public Instruction.
For the 2012-2013 school year, 1,910 schools received ratings, with 88 percent of those schools meeting, exceeding, or significantly exceeding expectations. Only 3 percent, or 58 schools, failed to meet expectations.
“The report cards provide a way to look at how a school is performing or not performing in terms of academic achievement, and graduation rates, and drop outs,” says John Johnson, a spokesman for the Department of Public Instruction. “In some places its cause for celebration and in some places it's a wakeup call and it's a call to action.”
This is the second year individual school report cards have been released and the first year the report cards include ratings for school districts as a whole. Of Wisconsin's 424 school districts, all but 11 met or exceeded expectations. Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) was the only school district that failed to meet expectations.
Tina Flood, MPS's chief academic officer, says the district has significant work ahead, but she says it's making steps in the right direction. “What we're noticing is that we've made significant progress, even since the report cards were done from last year to this year,” says Flood.
She says MPS has increased the number of schools meeting expectations from 29 to 34, and have decreased the number of schools not meeting expectations 60 down to 49.
Gov. Scott Walker released a statement saying the report card results are great news for parents and children. However, he says, there is still room for improvement and the goal is to have no failing schools.
