The first Smarter Balanced test scores and district report cards were released on Tuesday, September 22nd, for school districts across the state of South Dakota. Testing was based on the Common Core State Standards, which has been adopted by South Dakota. The exams that were administered to the students are measuring how prepared a student is for life after high school. The report card for each district includes performance information, including results from the Smarter Balanced test.
Dell Rapids Superintendent Dr. Summer Schultz said, “I’m pleased South Dakota schools again have access to standardized achievement data in English Language Arts and Math. The infancy of Smarter Balanced Assessments leaves districts little opportunity to determine student growth or school improvement, therefore, it’s difficult to generalize a district-wide response to our data. At this time, building administrators and teachers will dig into student and grade level data. Focus areas will be determined and building level goals will be created.”
58.30% of all Dell Rapids students who took the test last spring tested at or above the benchmark for reading, compared to 50% of all the students in South Dakota. 44.98% of all Dell Rapids students tested at or above the benchmark for math, compared to 41.29% of all the students in South Dakota. 72.13% of students received an ACT score of 20 or higher for math, and 73.77% of students received an ACT score of 18 or higher for English at Dell Rapids.
Schultz also said, “I am very pleased to congratulate our Elementary on being labeled a Status School. This means that they earned School Performance Index (SPI) value ranks in the top five to 10 percent of all schools in South Dakota. I believe this is a reflection of the hard work our staff displays each school day and the quality implementation of new standards.”
The full report and breakdown by class can be found by clicking here.
Report cards from other districts can be found on the Department of Education’s website.