Neenah Joint School District earned the Exceeds Expectations designation for the 2021-’22 school year report card and notified  parents and teachers via email on Nov 15.

“I am proud of our students and staff. So many people around here give their hearts and souls to doing good work, so I love that this work is recognized in some way,” Principal Brian Wunderlich said.

The school report card is one source that N.J.S.D. uses to reflect on its strengths and areas for improvement. The school report card is annually generated for every publicly funded school and district in Wisconsin by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The report card offers data regarding the district and school’s performance to help improve and create productive environments for students.

The 2021-’22 school year report card focused on four main areas: Student achievement, student growth, target group outcomes and on-track readiness.  

Student achievement is measured by the annual state assessments, which include mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). Student growth is represented by the growth from year to year using the state assessments. Target group outcomes compares the outcomes of targeted students versus their alike school peers. On-track readiness measures student progress toward graduation by using reliable predictors. 

These four area scores are then used to calculate an accountability score from 0 to 100. The DPI then designates a rating to the score. A school or district can receive one of the following ratings; fails to meet expectations, meets few expectations, meets expectations, exceeds expectations or significantly exceeds expectations. Each rating corresponds to a one to five-star rating. 

The Post~Crescent recently recognized the Kimberly School District in a headline for receiving the highest score of any Fox Cities district. Neenah High School failed to be recognized for its overriding score of 71.1 exceeds expectations compared with the Kimberly High School score of 68.0 meets expectations. 

The article does note that Neenah was the only District in the Fox Cities to boost its score from a previous rating of meets expectations to now exceeds expectations. This is also represented with the five-star rating, going from three stars to a now four-star rating. 

Looking into the future for the 2022-’23 school year report cards, N.J.S.D. will never be satisfied by any measure.

“The Neenah Joint School District prides itself on continuous improvement so we will continue to look for ways to help our staff and students grow,” Wunderlich said.