NEWS

Suburban Milwaukee school districts dominate the top of the list in state report cards

Bob Dohr Alec Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Third-graders at Lake Country School in Delafield practice cursive writing on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. Lake Country School registered a 92.6 score in the 2018-19 state report cards, the highest score in the state.

State report cards for Wisconsin's school districts have been released, and nine of the top 10 scores come from suburban Milwaukee school districts. 

Three of those districts — Lake Country, Hartland-Lakeside and Swallow — occupy the top three spots. After those three, the rest of the top 10, statewide, are: Fox Point, Kohler, Merton, Arrowhead, Mequon-Thiensville, North Lake and Elmbrook. 

The report card ratings from the state range from five stars, indicating schools and districts that significantly exceed expectations, to one star for those that fail to meet expectations.

Scores are calculated in four priority areas: student achievement; school growth; closing gaps between student groups; and measures of students being on-track for postsecondary readiness, which includes graduation and attendance rates, third-grade English language arts achievement and eighth-grade mathematics achievement. 

Suburban school districts in the Milwaukee area made up a healthy chunk of the top-performing districts in the state. 

Of the 41 suburban Milwaukee school districts, 22 scored in the five-star range, 83 to 100, which is termed "significantly exceeds expectations."

Eleven were in the four-star "exceeds expectations" range (73 to 82.9) while eight scored in the three-star "meets expectations" range (63 to 72.9). 

For a database of schools, statewide, visit http://bit.ly/2019WIreportcards. To read more about statewide results and results from Milwaukee Public Schools, visit http://bit.ly/SchoolReportCards2019

Lake Country

The Lake Country School District was the top district in the suburban area with an overall score of 92.6 for a "significantly exceeds expectations" rating. Since the 2015-16 school year, the Lake Country School District has averaged a 92.1 overall score. 

"Lake Country is very proud of our students' work. This is a tribute to parents and our entire staff that works continually on improvement efforts," said Lake Country School Superintendent Mark Lichte.

Hartland-Lakeside

The Hartland-Lakeside School District had the second-best score in the suburban Milwaukee area with an overall score of 92 for a "significantly exceeds expectations" rating. The district's score was 4.6 points lower than its 2017-18 overall score of 96.6, but just 0.6 away from Lake Country School's score. 

Hartland-Lakeside School District Superintendent Glenn Schilling was happy the district landed among the top districts in the state. He also was proud of the school's administrators, teachers and the district's school board for their work.

"We were just 0.6 point away from (the) No. 1 spot. Having said that, we didn't look at that again and say 'Oh wow, OK, well we're two.' We said 'OK, we're No. 2, but what can we do better?'" said Schilling. "The past two months, we've been looking over our scores and looking over where our kids did well and where they didn't do well, what we could do better on. We always want to move forward. Our goal is to continue to improve that proficiency level."

Swallow

The Swallow School District had an overall score of 91.4, third best among suburban MIlwaukee school districts. Its score was a 2.3-point improvement from its 2017-18 overall score of 89.1.

The school has the top score (10/10) for eighth-grade mathematics in the state and is second for overall student achievement (97.9) and third for student growth (90.7), according to a news release from the district.

"While numbers and data are only a part of the picture of school performance and there are many other factors not included in this report card which are critical to understanding school and district performance, they do tell a part of Swallow’s story," said Swallow Superintendent Melissa Thompson in a news release. "This recognition validates the exceptional work of our highly qualified staff, dedicated students, and supportive school community underway at Swallow every day. The district is committed to celebrating this accomplishment and the continued work of personalizing learning for each student to ensure their highest performance and growth during their years at Swallow."

Fox Point-Bayside

The Fox Point-Bayside School District had an overall score of 90.9, the fourth-best score among suburban school districts for a "significantly exceeds expectations" rating. 

The district has now scored a "significantly exceeds expectations" rating for the past four years.

Merton, Arrowhead

The Merton Community School District had an overall score of 89.7, tied with the Arrowhead Union High School District, which it feeds into. Both districts scored a "significantly exceeds expectations rating." Merton has scored in the "significantly exceeds expectations" rating the last four years. Arrowhead saw a 6.9-point increase from its 2017-18 score.

"We at Arrowhead are pleased with our score of 'significantly exceeds expectations' (89.7); however, we recognize that the school report card only factors in a small amount of data that factor into what makes a school great," said Arrowhead Superintendent Laura Myrah. "The school report card relies heavily on state standardized test data, and while we value that data, our staff also focuses heavily on skills beyond those tests, such as application of knowledge, problem-solving and essential skills identified by our partners in the world of work." 

Mequon-Thiensville, North Lake

The Mequon-Thiensville School District and North Lake School District were seventh and eighth, respectively. Mequon-Thiensville had an 89.5 overall score while North Lake had an 89.3 overall score.  

Elmbrook  

Elmbrook’s overall score of 88.9 places it ninth among area districts and third in the state among K-12 districts.

It’s the fourth straight year Elmbrook has registered in the “significantly exceeds expectations” category, according to a district news release.

“We are proud of our district’s report card rating and feel it represents the high-quality education provided in each of our schools,” Mike Sereno, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning said in the release. “These results can be attributed to the dedicated efforts of our students and staff, and our commitment to meet the needs of all students. The report cards help us benchmark our results and practices to the best schools in Wisconsin, and we use that information to improve each year.”

Whitefish Bay

The Whitefish Bay School District was 10th-best among Milwaukee area districts with an overall score of 87.2. It was a 2.9-point drop, but still good enough for a "significantly exceeds expectations" rating.

New Berlin 

The New Berlin School District was 11th-best among Milwaukee area districts with an overall score of 86.9.

It's the second straight year New Berlin has seen its score climb. It was 84.7 in 2016-17 and 85.7 in 2017-18.

"We’re incredibly proud of the continued high levels of achievement by our district," New Berlin Superintendent Joe Garza said in a news release. "It says a lot about our students, staff and families that our district continues to be among a small percentage that is considered to 'significantly exceed expectations' in Wisconsin.

"We will use the report cards to identify strengths and areas where we can improve and continue to strive for the levels of excellence our community expects from its schools."

Other high-ranking districts

Other suburban Milwaukee districts that rated as “significantly exceeds expectations” were: Grafton (86.5), Hamilton (86.4), Maple Dale-Indian Hill (86.2), Richmond Elementary (86), Nicolet (85.6), Port Washington-Saukville (84.5), Pewaukee (83.9), Shorewood (83.8), Muskego-Norway (83.8), Cedarburg (83.8) and Mukwonago (83).

Cudahy 

Compared with the rest of the suburban districts, Cudahy sits near the bottom in terms of overall rating (68.9) but posted one of the biggest increases compared to the previous school year.

Cudahy’s 5.8-point jump was bested only by Maple Dale-Indian Hill (7.3) and Arrowhead (6.9).

“I attribute that to the effort we have made to our focus on continuous improvement and our outstanding staff who have kept a laser focus on helping students achieve,” Cudahy Superintendent Jim Heiden said in an email. “Over the past 5 years you can see a steady improvement. The larger than average gain is proof that we are getting it right.”

Contact Bob Dohr at (262) 361-9140 or bob.dohr@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BobDohr1.

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.