2023

The mission of the Pine-Richland School District is to focus on learning for every student every day. The vision at PRSD emphasizes the fact that learning is reflected in both achievement and growth. We believe that learning happens differently for different people, requiring flexibility and variation in the approach. Learning also requires effort and persistence, as well as the support of everyone (e.g., students, staff, and parents). 

While data analysis is an ongoing process for us to drive improvements to our curriculum, instruction, and even the assessments themselves throughout the school year, we pause each fall to create a reflective, aggregate profile of the outcomes for the prior school year within the Academic Achievement and Growth Report. Teams consistently leverage real-time formative data to drive instruction within the classroom level and leverage lag data from standardized assessments both at the classroom and building level for course recommendations and intervention mapping. Over time, these concepts of using both real time and lag data to ensure appropriate student learning opportunities to improve outcomes has been coined Data for Action within the Pine-Richland School District. We do not simply curate sets of data to admire statically, yet view these sets of facts as criteria from which to launch measurable educational programming and hold ourselves accountable to successful outcomes. 

This collaboratively-authored report includes the most densely detailed, net results for the district, allowing individuals to quickly analyze the learning outcomes in the district at the highest level. We have included the following demographic subgroups in the companion document and in this report for the years since the pandemic: (a) gender; (b) IEP status; (c) economically disadvantaged; and (d) ethnicity. While segmentation can also be accomplished for English Learners (EL), our count of students within this subgroup is very low and would jeopardize the confidentiality of these students’ achievement and growth levels.

The aggregate, summative district standardized testing results, in addition to the ones we monitor throughout a given school year (e.g. universal screening results), provide us with direction as to the next areas of improvement we can target, as we prioritize our relative areas of strength and opportunity. Senior leaders, principals, Academic Leadership Council members, and other teacher leaders own the analysis process together and assist with segmentation through their respective lenses as well. Concerted efforts have been made over time to include data reflective of the entire student development process, captured by our PR Graduate Portrait. We believe that student learning outcomes (measured through both achievement and growth) are evidenced across several factors, not just the snapshot of one standardized assessment measure. Data  reflective of these more holistic outcomes are included in the PR Graduate Portrait section. Those measures would ideally include a holistic look at our schools and students, such as: classroom-based assessments; school climate; participation in extra- and co-curricular activities; graduation rates; attendance; discipline; post-secondary readiness; social-emotional development; wellness; and more.

Data contained in this report is also used as an input to the internal findings citations by the “data” subcommittee during our In-Depth Program Review Process when we study our K-12 programming within departments or support areas to prioritize recommended improvement actions for systematic implementation and integration with other aspects of our learning system. Additionally, it is used as an input to our Strategic Planning Process as we design impactful, high leverage long-term goals and short-term strategy actions, particularly within the Teaching & Learning category. Resulting recommendations impact students directly through improvements at the Tier 1 (all students), Tier 2, and/or Tier 3 level of services.

While general education teachers own the improvements within Tier 1, our interventionists implement and own improvements within the interventions embedded in the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). District and building level MTSS teams are continuously reviewing the efficacy of interventions for individuals and groups of students alike to make recommendations for improvement. 

Stakeholder surveys are conducted annually to assess satisfaction levels among students, parents, and staff members. A portion of the survey questions focuses on elements of learning (e.g., academic programming, support services, level of challenge and pacing, meaningful nature of homework assignments, learning goals and feedback, teacher expectations and curricular consistency, etc.). Buildings review this data annually as they are setting goals for their collective focal
areas.