The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released results from the Wisconsin Student Assessment System exams given to students during the spring of 2023 and Oconomowoc Area School District (OASD) students continued to make gains.
The spring 2023 assessments included the Forward Exam, PreACT Secure, and ACT with writing. OASD students made the most significant improvements on the Forward Exam, with these noteworthy accomplishments:
- OASD English language arts (ELA) scores have increased by 9.6% since 2019.
- OASD math scores have increased by 9.7% since 2019.
- OASD students achieved improvements in both ELA and math scores for 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Please note that Forward Exams were not administered in 2020.
- OASD students outperformed the state proficiency rates by 17.6% in ELA and 24.4% in Math.
In 2019, the OASD embarked upon a new strategic plan that included several key performance indicators to help district staff ensure success. The indicator for success on the Forward Exam was to increase the percentage of students achieving “proficient” and “advanced” in ELA and math each year until OASD was among the top 3 school districts in Waukesha County at each grade level. In addition to monitoring overall achievement, we identified 3rd-grade ELA and 8th-grade math as key performance indicators toward our goals. These latest results show that OASD is meeting that goal and sustaining an upward trajectory of achievement in both math and ELA proficiency. These trajectories can be seen below:
OASD students also continued to outperform the State proficiency average in both ELA and math, a trend the OASD has sustained for many years. The widening gap between state and OASD proficiency further demonstrates the successes of our OASD students and staff who continue to perform in the top tier of school districts in Wisconsin.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Sereno celebrated the successes of our students and staff by saying, “Our community takes great pride in the achievement of our students and the positive trajectory of our results. As a system, we have maintained a focus on ensuring every student engages in rigorous, meaningful, and supportive learning in our schools; we look forward to continued growth in the years to come.”
While our ACT scores continue to show a flat trajectory, achievement remains above the state average.
Ninth and 10th graders took part in the first administration of the new PreACT Secure exam with strong outcomes, with our 9th graders outperforming the state average by 1.4 points and our 10th graders outperforming the state average by 1 point. These scores are a predictor of strong continued performance as students move through their school experience at the OASD.
“OASD continues to see high levels of achievement and annual gains on the state Forward and DLM exams in both ELA and Math. This can be attributed to our committed and hardworking community of staff, students, and families,” said Director of Continuous Improvement and Assessment, Stephanie Calarco. “While this particular information limits us to the performance of students on “one test on one given day” it allows us to benchmark ourselves against districts statewide to shine a light on our successes as well as further inform our continuous improvement work,” she added.
Calarco went on the describe how assessment data is used, by saying, “We examine standardized assessment data in conjunction with the student learning outcomes that result from rigorous instruction and engaging learning experiences. All of this information provides a comprehensive picture of our students’ success and acquisition of the skills and attributes within our graduate profile, and career, college, and life readiness standards. The opportunities that OASD offers students truly speaks to our vision of being an unrivaled learning community,” she added.
About The Forward Exam & DLM
The Forward Exam is administered in different content areas based on a student’s age. Oconomowoc Area School District (OASD) students took the following exams:
- Grades 3-8: Forward Exams in English language arts and mathematics
- Grades 4 and 8: Additional Forward Exam in science
- Grades 4, 8, and 10: Additional Forward Exam in social studies
The DLM or Dynamic Learning Maps assessment measures the academic progress of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the subject areas of:
- Grades 3-11: DLM in English language arts and mathematics
- Grade 4 and 8-11: Additional DLM in science
- Grades 4, 8, and 10: Additional DLM in social studies
About ACT
The ACT with writing consists of four multiple-choice tests in reading, math, English, and science; and an essay test that measures student writing skills. The ACT is completed by all Wisconsin high school students in grade 11 annually.
About Pre-ACT Secure
PreACT Secure is a summative assessment given to 9th and 10th grade students, that is aligned to the ACT and the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards. PreACT Secure measures what students have learned in the areas of English, Reading, Mathematics, and Science.
More Information
For more information on the OASD 2019-2024 strategic plan, key performance objectives, and graduate profile. Please visit the OASD Strategic Plan page.
Statewide school district assessment results can be found on the Wisconsin DPI data portal, WISEdash, at https://wisedash.dpi.wi.gov.
|