By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
Elkhorn Area School District Administrator Jason Tadlock has focused the district on student growth – and it showed in the release of the school report cards by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
As one of the few consolidated school districts in the Southern Lakes Conference, Elkhorn finished with an overall of 77.1 across three grade schools, one middle school, Elkhorn Area High School, the Elkhorn Options Virtual School and the Walworth County Alternative High School.
“We were happy overall,” Tadlock said. “We’ve been working really hard on improving our student growth, and the report cards showed that.
“I think it’s reflective on the staff as well,” he added. “I would say our staff and our students have worked really hard.”
Schools were graded on student achievement scores on one of two standardized assessments – the new Forward exams for grades K-8, and the ACT assessment suite at the high school level.
Schools were also assessed on student growth and on closing the gaps – the latter a comparative measure of how well different groups of students (economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and limited English proficiency) did.
Tadlock said the district is working on “meeting the student where they are at.”
It showed in the scores. Schools that scored between 83 and 100 were ranked “significantly exceeding” expectations, 73 to 82.9 as “exceeding expectations,” 63 to 72.9 as “meeting expectations,” 53 to 62.9 “meeting few expectations” and zero to 52.9 as “failing to meet expectations.”
Elkhorn had three schools – Jackson Elementary (79.1), Tibbets Elementary (74.5) and Elkhorn Middle School (75.8) – exceed expectations, while Elkhorn Area High School (72.5) and West Side Elementary School (70.1) met expectations.
Both the virtual school and the alternative high school received alternative ratings, making satisfactory progress.
Elkhorn Middle School Principal Bryan Frost said the students and staff did a good job preparing for and meeting the demands of mandatory testing.
“I think our staff is doing a wonderful job in building relationships with the students,” Frost said, adding that the staff motivated the students for the exams, “which aren’t always the most enjoyable.”
All five of the schools scored above 70 on the student achievement portion of the exam, and showed solid student growth scores as well, between 50.9 and 76.5.
The closing the gaps score, which took some schools in the Southern Lakes Conference down in the overall score, proved to be a strong point for Elkhorn.
The scores were between 59.1 and 75.5, where some schools in the SLC finished below 50.
Frost said the school district is focusing on not only helping struggling students, but helping every student.
“Focusing on how we can help each and every one of them grow,” Frost added.
