Here's how Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools stacks up against 'World's Best Workforce'

Prior Lake American

Though Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools met several benchmarks set by the state for academic achievement and equality, some measures are slipping and some offer room for improvement.

The Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board took a look during a meeting on Monday at how the district compares to "World's Best Workforce," which are goals set by the state for districts to make progress on each year.

Per Minnesota Statutes, school districts are required to hold an annual presentation on compliance with "World's Best Workforce." World's Best Workforce has five objectives for districts to make progress on each year:

• Having all children ready for school

• Ensuring all third graders read at a third-grade level

• Closing racial and economic achievement gaps between students

• Getting students ready for college and careers

• Working toward having all students graduate from high school

During the meeting on Monday, District Teaching and Learning Director Kevin Schuttinger presented data to the board on how the district compared to each of the "World's Best Workforce" goals.

1. Having all children ready for school

While most kindergarteners are ready for school, the number of students ready has fallen slightly since 2015.

There are two targets for being considered ready for kindergarten — letter-naming fluency and letter-sound fluency. In fall 2018, about three-fourths of students met or exceeded the readiness target for letter-sound fluency and 73.5 percent met or exceeded the target for letter-naming fluency.

"This work has a lot to do with working with other early childhood providers (and) our early childhood providers to make sure they are aligning with what our kindergarten teachers expect," Schuttinger said.

The fluencies have decreased a small amount since 2015, when 76 percent of students met or exceeded the letter-sound fluency target and 77 percent met or exceeded the letter-naming fluency target.

2. Ensuring all third graders read at a third-grade level

About 73 percent of students in the fall and 71 percent of students in the spring read at or above grade level in 2017-18. That is a slight decrease from 2016-17, where 74 percent of students in the fall and 72 percent of students in the spring read at or above grade level.

The most recent peak was in 2014-15 — exactly three-fourths of students in the fall and 78 percent of students in the spring were reading at or above grade level, according to the AIMSweb oral reading assessment.

Per the MCA-III test, the district fell five percentage points in students reading at or above grade level from 70.6 percent in 2014-15 to 65.2 percent in 2015-16. The percentage has since risen from 63.4 percent in 2016-17 to 66.5 percent in 2017-18.

In comparison to other metro districts, Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools has the fourth lowest percentage of third-grade students who met or exceeded the reading target with 69.2 percent. Lakeville came in at 68.5 percent, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan at 66.4 percent and Shakopee at 63.7 percent.

The top three districts were Minnetonka with 84 percent, Wayzata with 81.7 percent and Edina with 78.2 percent.

Schuttinger said that those districts tend to build curriculum around the standards and have been doing that for 10 to 15 years, whereas Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools has done that for three to four years.

"Compared to the south metro, we're right on," Schuttinger said.

3. Closing racial and economic achievement gaps between students

The district faces significant gaps in achievement for some students of color as well as students who qualify for aid programs — a gap that district administration say school districts across the state and nation are facing.

For the reading portion of the 2018 MCA-III, 72.5 percent of white students were proficient, compared to a little more than half of Hispanic and Latino students, less than half of American Indian students, 72.8 percent of Asian students, a little more than half of Black students, all of the Hawaiian students and 70.3 percent of students who identified as two or more races.

For math, 76.6 percent of white students were proficient, compared to less than half of Hispanic and Latino students, 38.1 percent of American Indian students, 78.6 percent of Asian students, half of Black students, all Hawaiian students and 66.1 percent of students who identified as two or more races.

"The first step is looking at the gaps and saying, 'We are not OK with this, we are not satisfied with these gaps existing,' so the next step is what do we do," Schuttinger said. "We do know the more students are engaged with academic content in class, the better they do. It's all about keeping kids engaged from bell to bell."

Superintendent Dr. Teri Staloch said the conversation on how to close those gaps is one that every school district in the state is having.

In 2018, the district had five goals for improving American Indian education, four of which were met:

• The percentage of students prepared for kindergarten increased from 36.4 percent to half of all students. The goal for 2018-19 is 80 percent.

• The goal to increase MCA-III third-grade reading proficiency from 60 to 65 percent was not met, with none of the students meeting proficiency. The 2018-19 goal is to have the proficiency at 65 percent.

• The percentage of students not earning a C or better in Algebra 1 decreased from 28.6 percent to 17 percent — the goal was 20 percent. The 2018-19 goal is to have a 10 percent gap.

• ACT composite scores increased from 17 to 20, which was the goal. The 2018-19 goal is to have a composite score of 21.

• All American Indian students graduated in 2018 with a rate of 100 percent. The goal for 2018-19 is also to have all students graduate.

• For the 2018 MCA-III reading proficiency, 34.8 percent of students receiving special education services, less than one-fifth of students receiving English learner services and nearly half of students receiving free or reduced lunch were considered proficient.

For the math proficiency, 37.1 percent of students receiving special education services, about one-fourth of students receiving English learner services and a little more than half of students receiving free or reduced lunch were considered proficient.

4. Getting students ready for college and careers

The ACT is used as an indicator by the state for college and career readiness. In 2016-17, the reading ACT benchmark was 18. The state met that benchmark with 21.8, and the district exceeded the state with an average score of 22.4.

In 2017-18, the benchmark was also 18, which the district exceeded with 22.6. The state's results are not yet available.

The math ACT benchmark was 22 in 2016-17, with the state coming in at 21.5 and the district at 23.2. In 2017-18, the district came in at 23.2 again.

The district has had 1,240 students enroll in Honors and AP classes at Prior Lake High School, 188 students in Post-Secondary Enrollment Options and 83 students enrolled in the Minnesota Center for Advanced Professional Studies.

Schuttinger said the district is also preparing students early on by using project-based learning and teaching students computer science and coding.

5. Working toward having all students graduate from high school

In 2017, 94.1 percent of students graduated from high school, up from 2012 when 95.9 percent of students graduated. In 2012, 5.2 percent of students dropped out of school whereas 1.9 percent of students dropped out in 2017.

All American Indian students graduated in 2017 compared to 91.3 percent of Asian students, 83.3 percent of students who identified as two or more races, more than three-fourths of Black students and more than three-fourths of Hispanic or Latino students.

The district outperformed the state in the four-, five- and six-year graduation rates. In 2018, 72 percent of graduates reported that they were going to a four-year school, 16 percent said they were doing a two-year school, 6 percent said they were going to work, 2 percent said they were going into the military and 4 percent had a different answer.