The Iowa Department of Education recently released their Iowa School Performance Profiles for 2024. Area schools scores range from needs improvement to high performing in the assessments.
“Overall, Mount Vernon School District continues to perform well above the state averages,” superintendent Matt Leeman said. “While the State average isn’t our overall bar for performance it is noteworthy. As a district we do need to work to improve our growth in both ELA and math across the board. We need to maintain our higher levels of proficiency at the same time as we ensure that all students are making growth. “
Leeman also said the district is working on post-secondary readiness and work-based learning opportunities at the high school level.
“We have had conversations since my arrival about extending our offerings in the MOC and internship areas,” Leeman said. “Given that there is now a direct measurement focused upon this will only help to amplify and expedite this focus for us. Interestingly enough, prior it was very important to have a concentrator status in the CTE areas and that now is just completely gone from the scoring. My concern with this becomes we shift our focus for goals for the next five years and this could change again and our scoring will not be reflective of the work that we’ve then done.”
Leeman said with the district just establishing their “Big Rock” goals, the performance profiles arrived at an opportune time for the school to shift their focus for buildings to be presented at the December meeting.
“The Mount Vernon School district has a lot to be proud of with the profiles overall as many districts don’t compare to our data,” Leeman said. “Our bar, though, will continue to be high and moved higher. That just ensures that we are doing the best that we can for our students as a whole.”
Mount Vernon High School
Mount Vernon High School had a score of 545.2 out of 900 points for 60.58 percent. The district was marked as acceptable, slightly below the statewide average of 60.95 percent.
The district beat the statewide averages in proficiency in science (75 compared to 61.55), mathematics (83.71 compared to 69.81), English Language Arts (80.34 compared to 72.72) post-secondary readiness index (79.46 compared to 68.99).
The district had a 4-year graduation rate of 88.24 (ahead of statewide average 87.46) and 5-year rate of 95.74 (ahead of statewide average 89.65).
The district fell behind in growth in mathematics (44 compared to statewide average of 50), English Language Arts (34 compared to statewide average of 50) and post-secondary readiness of work-based learning (0.89 compared to statewide average of 25.47).
The district was also lower than the statewide average of chronic absenteeism (15.53 compared to 21.63) and was ahead of the statewide average on attendance growth (2.95 compared to 2.18).
Mount Vernon Middle School
Mount Vernon Middle School had a score of 514.76 out of 700 points for a 73.54 percent. The school was noted as high performing, exceeding the state average of 60.95 percent.
The school showed proficiencies above the state average in science (86.83 compared to 61.55), mathematics (89 compared to 69.81) English language arts (89.25 compared to 72.72) and in growth in mathematics (73 compared to 50), and English language arts (59 compared to 50).
The district was below the state average in chronic absenteeism (15.85 compared to 21.63) and attendance growth (1.92 compared to 2.18).
Washington Elementary
Washington Elementary School had a score of 460.76 out of 700 for a 65.82 percent. The school was noted as commendable, exceeding the state average of 60.95 percent.
The school showed proficiencies above the state average in mathematics (83.01 compared to 69.81), English language arts (77.67 compared to 72.72), and growth in English language arts (58 compared to 50)
The school was below the state average in growth in mathematics (46 compared to 50).
The district was below the state average in chronic absenteeism (9.13 compared to 21.63) but above the state average in attendance growth (3.66 compared to 2.18).
Lisbon Schools
Lisbon High School was marked as needs improvement and Lisbon Elementary was marked as an acceptable district.
“As a school district, we continue to look at opportunities for continuous improvement and intentionality in the ways that we empower student growth,” said superintendent Autumn Pino. “One area that we are proud of is the continued focus on individual students and efforts to meet them where they are at and stretch them to higher levels of performance. This is important to us and will continue to be work that we are committed to as a school system. We will continue to look at academic priorities and the most effective ways to allocate resources that support staff development and student learning.”
Lisbon High School
Lisbon High School was noted as a school that needs improvement. The district’s score of 533.99 out of 900 placed them at 59.33 percent, slightly below the state average and in the threshold of acceptable scores. The school was noted with a need to help students with disabilities (IEP) scoring lower and targeted for more help in the coming year. Because the district needs improvement and was targeted for improvement, they were dropped to the needs improvement category.
“At the secondary level we have started to implement the following action steps: Adjusted from MAP testing to FAST, which will provide us with an additional data point to monitor student performance (From two data points to three),” said secondary principal Jack Leighty. “This also creates an opportunity for more cohesion and district alignment. In addition, changes have been made to our master schedule to increase intervention time and support for all students.”
Lisbon High School beat the statewide average in science (70.71 compared to statewide 61.55), mathematics (76.25 compared to 69.81) and English and Language arts (77.5 compared to statewide average of 72.72). The district also had a four-year graduation rate of 97.67 (better than statewide average of 87.46) and 5-year rate of 94.12 (better than statewide average of 89.65).
The school fell below the statewide average in growth of mathematics (41.5 compared to statewide average of 50), growth of English language arts (37.5 compared to statewide average of 50) and post-secondary readiness of work-based learning (11.9 compared to statewide average of 25.47)
The district also had slightly higher chronic absenteeism than the statewide average (22.33 compared to 21.63).
Lisbon Elementary
“The Elementary has started focusing on growth measurements the last couple of years to make sure that we are monitoring progress of all learners in our system,” said elementary principal Justin Brown. “We look at rates of acquisition for students from progress monitoring of students that are in need of intervention. We want to make sure that students, regardless of their score, are making adequate progress. If those results are showing progress that isn’t meeting the expectation, instructional changes will be made.
“Though our scores are close to the state average in growth – That seems to be the area that we need to have our attention on, which we do. We will continue to work at it.”
Brown said that the district will also try to understand why they did go down a category from Commendable to Acceptable.
“We were .33 of a point away from scoring in the same category,” Brown said. “There is a lot of good work going on in our building and we want to continue for that to be our focus.”
Lisbon Elementary School had a score of 424.33 out of 700 points, for 60.62 percent. The school was marked acceptable, and slightly behind the state average of 60.95 percent.
Lisbon Elementary School was above the statewide average in proficiency in science (70.91 compared to state average of 61.55), mathematics (76.39 compared to 69.81), and English Language Arts (79.83 compared to state average of 72.72).
The district was below average in growth in mathematics compared to the state average (46 compared to state average 50) and English language arts (49 compared to state average of 50).
The district had 100 percent participation from students in all categories.