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Posted December 4, 2007

COLUMN: Assumption students exceed state averages

An Oct. 4 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article criticized Wisconsin's DPI for setting low proficiency benchmarks to comply with No Child Left Behind. Schools obviously are being asked to increase their transparency so that the quality of children's education can be evaluated.

At Assumption High School we have participated for years in a process developed by our accrediting institution (AdvancED, formerly North Central) using standardized measurements. Almost all of our students take the ACT each year, all juniors take the PSAT, and all sophomores take PLAN and the Stanford Achievement Test.

We have administered standardized surveys to measure student and teacher technology skills, and student knowledge and attitudes about religion and moral behavior. We have administered surveys for parents, students, teachers and alumni measuring our stakeholders' perceptions of our students. Several years ago Wisconsin Rapids Area Catholic Schools K-8 schools began the same process, using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills as well as multiple surveys to measure the growth of our students.

Reports from the testing agencies have grown complex. It requires many hours for our faculty to determine how to leverage our resources to provide for the most significant gains in students.

We have confidence that the following conclusions are substantiated by valid, reliable in-school research. AHS students demonstrate Catholic values and attitudes more consistent with the vision of the Catholic Church than the average La Crosse Diocesan high school student, or students in religious education throughout the diocese. Nearly all our stakeholders strongly believe that students at AHS are being taught Catholic values. According to the most recent ACT report, 93 percent of AHS seniors of 2007 were ready to write college compositions by the end of their junior year; 38 percent of AHS students met or exceeded ACT college readiness benchmark scores on all four subtests of the ACT, compared to 26 percent nationally.

In the last five years, the average composite ACT score for every graduating class at Assumption, as reported by ACT, has been above the Wisconsin state average. In each of those years, more than 90 percent of our students took the test compared to about 60 percent of students in local public schools. The average score of our top 60 percent is above 26.

As with students in the rest of the state, Assumption boys on average do better than girls on ACT subtests in math and science. Unlike students statewide, Assumption girls do better than boys on the subtests of English and reading and thus get a statistically identical composite score.

The second highest area of agreement among all our stakeholders is that graduates from Assumption are well prepared for college. The majority of alumni responding strongly agreed that AHS grads are competent in writing skills. A majority of alumni strongly agreed that they had an easy time adjusting to college.

In the most recent University of Wisconsin report, AHS grads entering UW schools from 2003 to 2005, in their first semester achieved a higher grade point than the state average and those who transferred did not leave the UW system because of a low GPA. The GPA of those who left was 2.75. In a comprehensive study of college graduation rates of AHS students after five years, 90 percent of those who entered college graduated (30 percent above the national average).

Those interested in reviewing the data can contact Paul Klinkhammer, WRACS Director of Instruction, at 422-0924. Carol Olson is president of Wisconsin Rapids Area Catholic Schools.