RASD students continue to exceed state average | News … – Ripon Commonwealth Press

Students at the Ripon Area School District (RASD) continue to exceed statewide average testing scores, according to Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) exam results for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Students participate in standardized testing each year to measure how they are progressing toward grade-level expectations and to assess how well schools prepare them to be college and career ready. WSAS results are a component of the state-legislated school and district report cards issued in November each year.

“District efforts to write a new curriculum, select materials and adjust instruction to meet the needs of our students has helped us stay ahead of other districts across the state, though the interrupted face-to-face instructions has, as expected, impacted our younger learners to a much greater extent than our high school students,” RASD Superintendent Mary Whitrock said. “Now more than ever, we appreciate the community’s continued support of the BRAVE Afterschool Program which provides interventions to students and offers homework help at all levels after school. 

“Credit also goes to our community for passing recent operational referendums to support important curriculum materials and professional development. Parents are engaging with their children at home, getting them to school, asking about their school day, inquiring about their homework and checking their grades. All of this makes a huge difference.”

Educators will use these results in conjunction with other data to drive school improvement. WSAS results are high profile, but only one of many data points that districts consider in a school improvement planning process.

Wisconsin Forward Exam

The Wisconsin Forward Exam online assessment tests elementary, middle and high school students in four main subject areas, including grades 3-5 in English language arts and mathematics, grades 4 and 8 in science and grades 4, 8 and 10 in social studies.

In each of these areas and grade levels, students in RASD continue to exceed the state average, though the average for both Ripon and the state remain below the pre-COVID-19 2018-2019 levels. 

Overall comparable data for previous years are reflected in the table below. Comparable data is not available for the 2019-2020 school year, as schools were under the COVID-19 stay at home order, and now state assessments were issued in spring 2020.

In English language arts, overall scores show 47.7% of Ripon students compared to 39.2% at the state level were proficient or advanced. In mathematics, 51.4% of Ripon students compared to 41.1% statewide were proficient or advanced. The percentage of students performing in the advanced and proficient categories is on the rise at the state level, though local data indicates a slight decrease from 2022. The district continues to recover from the increased absences and loss of learning caused by COVID-19.

ACT

Students in grades 9 and 10 took the PreACT Secure assessment in English, reading, mathematics, science and writing. Overall results for PreACT Secure show 49.8% of students were proficient or advanced in English language arts compared to 39.5% of students statewide. In mathematics, 42.6% of RASD students in grades 9 and 10 were proficient or advanced, compared to 33.4% statewide. These scores predict future ACT scores.

The ACT exam tests students in grade 11 in ELA (English, reading and writing), mathematics and science. Overall results on the ACT show 59.1% of RASD students achieved proficient or advanced performance levels in English language arts compared to 37.7% statewide. In mathematics, 37.4% were proficient or advanced, compared to 26.9% of juniors statewide.

Historically, Ripon’s district-wide results have consistently been among the top-performing districts in the state. These results reflect the high quality instruction RASD provides for all students, according to RASD Curriculum Director Chrissy Damm.

“We have seen tremendous growth at the high school in both ELA and math in comparison to 2019,” she said.  “In both English language arts and mathematics, Ripon students continue to exceed the state average. The district has aligned the curriculum and curriculum resources with the expectations of the Common Core standards, which are aligned with each of the domains of the ACT assessments. The high school math curriculum materials/resources were updated in 2020 and our teachers are benefitting from the coaching support received the last several years to align our instructional practices with the Common Core standards for math.

“High school teachers across all departments have aligned their standards to specific skills in which they will be reporting on. Teachers have been using their professional development days to develop assessments and rubrics tied specifically to unit standards/skills. There is an intentional focus of transferable skills to align instruction and assessment.”

Administration and staff are committed to continuing to raise achievement scores and close any achievement gaps between groups of students in the district, according to Damm. Literacy continues to be a focus of learning for the elementary staff and new resources have been purchased to help align instruction to the latest best practices, which include phonics instruction. 

District interventionists will continue to collaborate to develop a systematic approach to supporting students who struggle with reading. Improving access to post-secondary readiness options is one way to close the achievement gap and address equity issues in Wisconsin, according to RASD.

“Our staff, students and parents are to be commended for their efforts to improve achievement through engagement and ongoing communication,” Whitrock said. “These results show all students can achieve when supported by their schools and community. I look forward to continuing this work with the RASD team and district families to ensure we see solid gains in the years to come.”

For more information on these test results or to comment on them, call Chrissy Damm, 920-748-4687.