Submitted by Mr. Ethan Sickels

I can finally share some fantastic news on our assessment results from Spring 2018, and our APR (Annual Performance Report), which is basically the report card that every school in the state receives each year. The information had been embargoed until February 1st, and this year especially has been a challenge due to the new testing we had last year . . . data and results were just released at the end of November. It has made it difficult for teachers all over the state to make adjustments to their curriculum to make sure they are covering what needs to be taught. Our hope for next year is that we will receive the results early in the school year, and be able to share them with you much sooner.

Enough of that, let’s get to the good stuff. First off, out of a possible 120 points this year we scored 120, so we earned a perfect score for the 2017-18 school year! I am extremely proud of the work our students and staff do to ensure we score well annually . . . but a perfect score is always a tough one to earn, as it involves many other requirements in addition to test scores. With all of the changes we have seen in our assessment system over the past six years, you never know where you stand until you see the results. With these scores being released, we can take a big sigh of relief, and then get right back to work to make sure we continue to score well on the APR annually. Since 2000-01, when the APR first began, Rock Port has never scored below 90%, earning Distinction in Performance every year. Another fantastic statistic our school and community can be proud of!

Our assessments are given to grades 3-8 in Math and Language Arts, and at the high school level in Algebra I, Language Arts 2, and Government. We also took the optional Language Arts 1 assessment. This year was a field test year for the sciences . . . so our 5th and 8th grade Science classes and Biology students took the test, but those results were not posted for us to compare with the state. You want your students to score at the Proficient or Advanced level … and out of the 16 scores that were available this year, we beat the state average in 15 of those! The only assessment we didn’t beat the state average in, we scored only 2.2% less than the state average (which means we missed by one student).

Even more impressive, of the 15 where we did beat the state average, 10 of the 15 we beat by 20+%. That is awesome work by our students and staff. Since we have had so many changes in the test the last few years, the only constant variables to compare would be our scores and the state scores. It speaks to the dedication of Blue Jay Nation that we scored so well compared to the state.

Thanks for letting me brag on our school district a little bit, and when you see our students and staff please give them a pat on the back. It takes all of us here in the community to make Rock Port R2 a great place to learn. As always, I leave you with three important words . . . GO BIG BLUE!