Colby schools see ‘22‘23 DPI scores increase

By Nathaniel Underwood

At the latest school board meeting held on Monday evening, Colby school district superintendent Dr. Patrick Galligan discussed the results of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s annual district report card. The district as a whole saw a rise in its overall rating for the 2022-23 school year, moving up from “meets few expectations” to “meets expectations.” This bucks a recent trend of the district receiving the second lowest rating on their DPI scorecard. In addition to the whole district receiving a score, the elementary, middle and high schools all received individual scores as well, with the high school also receiving the “meets expectations” designation while both the elementary and middle school received “meets few expectations.”

The report cards are based upon test scores, improvement of test scores over time, how well students with the lowest test scores perform and improve over time and on-track graduation rates. Each of these criteria are weighted differently based on the level of the school being graded.

The school district saw a rise in scores across a number of categories from years prior to receive the new overall designation. It received an overall score of 58.7, which is a full point increase over the 2021-22 report card score. The high school had a 2.4 point jump and had a six point jump in their targeted students test scores. There was also an increase in ACT and other test scores overall at the high school level.

“This is very important, especially in the areas that we are trying to make gains and help kids the most,” Galligan said. “So that’s a really strong performance.”

The elementary scores also increased slightly, with a half point increase in their overall score, which sat at 53.5.

“It’s important to note that at the elementary level that we have 28 percent of our students who are considered to be English learners,” Galligan added. “So there’s a challenge there that we have to work through.”

The middle school was the only school to see a drop in score from the 2021-22 school year to 2022-23, though that drop was minimal, going from 57.0 to 56.9.

While it was noted that seeing such improvements is a good thing, Galligan also made sure to impart on the board that this is only one metric of how the district is helping its students succeed.