Each year, as you know, the Public Education Department (PED) issues a School Report Card for all public schools in New Mexico. The grade is based upon many factors—student academic growth, opportunities to learn, bonus points—each worth a certain number of points.
This year, Zuni received a grade of A. This is an improvement over the B grade received last year. Zuni was one of a few schools to receive an A and one of a small group to see an increase in their score and grade. It is through the hard work of the staff, teachers, students and you, with the common goal for the students to achieve, that helped us earn this grade. As we continue the collaboration and teamwork, we’ll continue working together to move our students forward academically, which in the end, is why we are here.
As I talk about the areas in which we have improved, you may want to download a copy of our School Report Card (click here: Zuni’s School Grade Report) from the PED website.
There is a lot of data to decipher. I’m going to concentrate on the highlights in this blog post. A different post will discuss our areas of growth based on the Report Card.
The following four categories saw an increase in points awarded:
- Current Standing: A grade of B was awarded receiving 30.24 points out of a possible 40. Last year we received 27.33:40.
- Student Growth: A grade of B was awarded receiving 8.30 points out of a possible 10. Last year we received 6.43:10.
- Student Growth of Lowest Performing Students: A grade of A was awarded receiving 19.04 points out of a possible 20. Last year we received 7.79:20 (This was the largest increase of all points awarded).
- Bonus Points: We received 4.77 points of of a possible 5. These points were awarded for the events/programs with high student and family engagement.
- The total points increased from 46.80 to 77.00 over the past three years. This total points of 77.00 moved us into the grade of A band (75.00 points or higher).
Current standings refer to SBA scores for the current testing period. It refers to the number of tested students who met the scoring target for their grade level for this testing period.
School growth is in reference to how tested students improved in comparison to students last year (three years of scores are compared in this area).
Student growth of the lowest performing students is somewhat self-explanatory. Students are placed into one of two categories—Q1 and Q4. Q1 are the lowest performing students in comparison to their peers as a third grade cohort. Students are “recalibrated” at certain times throughout their school careers. This was the area of largest growth, helping to push us to a School Grade of A. As an aside, the Q1 group may include students receiving academic Special Education services, but is not exclusive of academic Special Education students.
The Bonus Points are awarded based on different programs or events related to student and parent engagement, which goes over and above the usual programs or events one might find at an elementary school.
There is one section on the School Grade Report entitled Supplemental Information. This shows how Zuni ranks against other, what is called Statistical Peer Groups, schools in the state. In all categories, with the exception of Opportunity to Learn, Zuni ranked in the top seven, and in some cases, was ranked number one, against our statistical peer group.
The bottom line is Zuni has great staff and teachers dedicated to moving your children to achieve at their highest possible level of academic achievement. Your support of Zuni, its programs, and staff and teachers, was, and is, crucial to the continuation of this level of academic achievement. We have come far and have more to go as a team for our students.
I look forward to our continued journey together.
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