Press Release: MacIver Issues Grades to 50 Largest Wisc. School Districts

[Madison, Wisc…] The state’s 50-largest school districts received report cards today from the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy. The Madison-based think tank ranked the district on a variety of areas, taking into account student performance, graduation rates, minority student achievement, advanced placement offerings and more.

“We believe in standards and benchmarks and if letter grades can be given to students, the school districts themselves should also face a rigorous examination,” said Brett Healy, President of the MacIver Institute. “Obviously some districts are going to react negatively to the grades we’ve assigned, which is nothing unusual when it comes to report cards.”

The goal behind these rankings was to create a basic, but wide-ranging, program to gauge the performance of Wisconsin’s public school districts. The hope is that by creating a level playing field in district-to-district comparisons across the state, parents and policymakers will be able to use these rankings to demand more of their school districts. Several metrics were used to create an aggregate rating system. This includes:

  • Global Report Card performance (math and reading)
  • WSAS (WKCE) performance – 4th grade reading
  • WSAS (WKCE) performance – 8th grade mathematics
  • ACT scores and participation
  • AP scores and participation
  • Four-year graduation rate
  • District attendance
  • Concentration of students from economically disadvantaged families
  • Concentration of students with limited English proficiency (LEP)

In our first year of data collection, Elmbrook School District led the pack of the 50 largest school districts in the state. Marshfield, New Berlin, and Verona joined the Elmbrook at by earning “A” grades. Racine and Milwaukee were the only districts to earn failing grades.

“The rankings are fair and our findings are significant,” Healy said. “Contrary to the proclamations from nearly every administrator in Wisconsin, we see that there is no correlation between per pupil spending and student performance.”

A chart of the districts and their grades is below. The full report can be found online here. A map of all the districts and their rankings can be found here.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for parents who now, thanks to a dramatic expansion of Wisconsin’s open enrollment law, have unprecedented public school options for their children,” Healy said. “We provide parents with the ability to rank the 50 largest districts in the state on a variety of metrics and access to more data is a good thing for everyone.”

Rank District County Students Score Grade Funding/ Student
1 Elmbrook Waukesha 7,212 8.0355 A $14,409
2 Marshfield Unified Wood 4,038 7.8272 A – $11,719
3 New Berlin Waukesha 4,687 7.8196 A – $12,706
4 Verona Area Dane 4,889 7.8061 A – $13,790
5 Middleton-Cross Plains Area Dane 6,104 7.5971 B + $13,145
6 West Bend Washington 6,963 7.3506 B $11,005
7 Kimberly Area Outagamie 4,641 7.3136 B $11,516
8 Germantown Washington 4,034 7.2758 B $12,351
9 Hamilton Waukesha 4,600 7.2475 B – $11,940
10 D C Everest Area Marathon 5,646 7.2016 B – $11,917
11 Kettle Moraine Waukesha 4,367 7.1764 B – $12,231
12 Hudson Saint Croix 5,530 7.1609 B – $10,646
13 Sheboygan Area Sheboygan 10,124 7.0679 B – $13,254
14 Green Bay Area Public Brown 20,376 7.0528 B – $12,710
15 Madison Metropolitan Dane 24,806 7.0500 B – $14,104
16 Wausau Marathon 8,546 7.0064 C + $13,201
17 Sun Prairie Area Dane 6,975 7.0003 C + $12,623
18 West Allis-West Milwaukee Milwaukee 8,976 6.9340 C + $12,427
19 Oak Creek-Franklin Joint Milwaukee 6,146 6.9038 C + $11,144
20 Wauwatosa Milwaukee 7,208 6.8926 C + $11,463
21 Howard-Suamico Brown 5,745 6.8636 C + $11,024
22 Eau Claire Area Eau Claire 10,914 6.8635 C + $12,496
23 Holmen La Crosse 3,767 6.8476 C + $12,946
24 La Crosse La Crosse 6,932 6.8375 C + $14,620
25 Stevens Point Area Public Portage 7,401 6.8326 C + $12,595
26 Appleton Area Outagamie 15,194 6.8148 C $12,221
27 Neenah Joint Winnebago 6,345 6.8016 C $11,639
28 Franklin Public Milwaukee 4,300 6.7874 C $13,183
29 Muskego-Norway Waukesha 5,068 6.7846 C $12,375
30 Beloit Rock 6,891 6.7795 C $12,342
31 Fond du Lac Fond du Lac 7,365 6.7743 C $12,540
32 Oshkosh Area Winnebago 10,111 6.7717 C $11,533
33 Janesville Rock 10,339 6.7708 C $12,017
34 Mukwonago Waukesha 4,955 6.7434 C $11,682
35 Greenfield Milwaukee 3,723 6.7385 C $13,081
36 Waukesha Waukesha 13,796 6.7335 C $11,880
37 Oconomowoc Area Waukesha 5,044 6.7274 C $12,143
38 Kenosha Kenosha 22,986 6.6995 C $12,452
39 Menomonee Falls Waukesha 4,411 6.6788 C $13,843
40 Pulaski Community Brown 3,792 6.6472 C – $11,654
41 Chippewa Falls Area Unified Chippewa 5,028 6.6038 C – $11,014
42 Wisconsin Rapids Wood 5,533 6.5599 C – $12,541
43 De Pere Brown 3,976 6.5275 C – $12,141
44 Oregon Dane 3,725 6.4482 D + $13,449
45 Manitowoc Manitowoc 5,452 6.2882 D + $11,599
46 Kaukauna Area Outagamie 3,959 6.1574 D $11,250
47 Superior Douglas 4,858 6.1465 D $12,495
48 Watertown Unified Jefferson 3,951 6.0568 D – $11,600
49 Racine Unified Racine 21,100 5.6641 F $12,221
50 Milwaukee Milwaukee 80,934 5.5429 F $14,863