School and district report cards published Tuesday by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) showed that the 16 school districts located mostly or completely in Dane County met or exceeded expectations in the 2023–24 school year, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. The state’s public school districts’ overall saw performance on par with recent years.
Last year, 94% of the state’s 377 public school districts met or exceeded expectations, roughly the same as in 2022–23. The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) earned a 66.8 out of 100 on its district report card, a slight decrease from 2022–23 and 2021–22, when it earned a 68.3 and 67.5, respectively.
In 2023–24, MMSD’s graduation rates declined slightly compared to the prior year, while chronic absenteeism increased. Target student groups’ performance and growth also dropped.
Results from individual schools within the district varied; four of Madison’s 47 schools that receive a DPI report card significantly exceeded expectations, including Marquette, Randall, Shorewood Hills, and Van Hise elementary schools. Eight Madison schools saw scores in the bottom two categories, either not meeting or meeting only a few expectations; those included Capital High School, Cherokee Heights, Sherman, Whitehorse, and Black Hawk middle schools, and Kennedy and Anana elementary schools. According to DPI, the six Madison schools scored with an alternate accountability process are all demonstrating “satisfactory progress.”
The Wisconsin Heights and Waunakee school districts earned the highest report card scores in Dane County, with 81.1 and 78.9 points, respectively. Marshall and MMSD earned the lowest of the county’s scores.
