Kudos to West Bend...

http://maciverinstitute.com/2012/03/press-releae-maciver-issues-grades-to-50-largest-wisc-school-districts/

If ever we had more proof that more money does not equal a better education, this is it.

Press Releae: 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 – 4^th grade reading
• WSAS (WKCE) performance – 8^th 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.

“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