School report cards recognizes Wildcat academic perseverance

As many students grit their teeth in anticipation for the fated 10-week report cards, the teachers and staff of West buckled down for the release of the school’s own grades. Students returned to school in the spring of 2021 in time for their efforts and learning to separate West from the rest. Although many braced for record-lows, the Wildcats pulled through to earn an ‘exceeds expectations’ as their final grade. 

Principal Erin Kohl breaks down the importance of such reports.

“It is basically an accountability piece for schools,” she said. “[The State Department of Public Instruction and the federal government] really want to hold schools accountable to getting results for their students and to make gains with their students. Every public school in the state gets this report card, and kind of compares them to other schools.”

This report card is graded on four standards: overall achievement, growth, target group outcomes, and on-track top graduation. Overall achievement derives from scores earned from the English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics section of these standardized tests. Kohl saw growth in both standards. 

“Average growth is making a year's gain in a year’s time, and we were significantly higher than the state average,” she said. “The state average in both ELA and Mathematics was 66 and we were at 81.2 in English language arts and 88.8 in math. It was significantly above.”

This past year wasn’t the first time West had received the title. Kohl recalls the strides made by West within the past decade. 

“The last time we had a school report card was two years ago because last year, when there was a shut down at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we didn’t do the standardized testing,” she said. “The year before, we exceeded standards, so we were able to maintain that. The two years prior to that, we were at ‘meets expectations’, and then six years ago, we were at ‘meets few expectations’. So within a six-year period, we have improved significantly.”

Kohl is proud of West for not only persevering but thriving through pandemic-caused challenges in the transition between in-person and online learning. 

“It is a huge celebration because we were able to maintain our ‘exceeds expectations’ rating when many schools were unable to do that,” she said. “It shows how hard our teachers worked to provide meaningful instructions during virtual and hybrid learning. It also shows how hard our students worked to do their very best in a situation that wasn’t ideal.”

Although she remains ecstatic, Kohl acknowledges the subjectivity of test scores and believes the data isn’t everything.

“The school report card is a snap-shot and based on standardized test scores which, to me, is one little piece of data in the bigger picture of who our students are,” she said.  “I don’t place a whole lot of weight on test scores because it is just one point in time in our students’ lives and our students are so much more than a test score.”

Kohl finds more joy and accomplishment in the overall improvements of the school in recent months. 

“The biggest celebration is how high we scored in the area of growth,” she said. “I know it’s based on the standardized test score, but you can't really fake the growth.”

As the news of the report card was a surprise to Kohl, teachers across all departments felt likewise.

Social studies teacher Paul Stellpflug was pleasantly taken aback.

“I didn’t expect it,” he said. “I’m not pessimistic about our school, but through the pandemic and all that, I’m shocked. It was messy.”

Math teacher Doris Bailey has noticed a group of “super students” rise up from the chaos of the pandemic and acknowledges their self-motivation, responsibility, and accountability. 

“There are students who came back with such a good attitude and work ethic, and that’s where the difference is,” she said. “COVID has produced students who appreciate school a little more, and so they work harder. We’re proud of them for sticking to it and doing what they need to do.”

Modern language department chair Justin Hable understood the pain the past year brought to his students and believes that community helped the school pull through. 

“I was very happy for the students in this school because it has been a very difficult past couple of years to navigate with the different shifts of learning,” he said. “To persevere in order to come out with the test scores like that, I’m proud of the students and the teachers I’m working with.”

By Ruby Pluchinsky and Hannah Chung

Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue 3

November 29 2021