Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Matt Fisher (Courtesy photo)
By Matt Fisher, GIPS Superintendent
GRAND ISLAND – Educating students through the work of public education is the most meaningful commitment a community can make. In that work, our educators, support staff, students, families, and community partner together to shape the learning experiences of our 10,000 students. Part of that work always includes reflection on the growth we see in our schools.
The Nebraska Department of Education released their annual reporting of public schools assessment performance on Nov. 26. Each year their reporting systems provide an opportunity to look at the previous school year’s data to see performance and improvement areas in our schools.
While these yearly reports do not cover all we do in our schools, they are a helpful tool for us at GIPS as we continue our work of educating students.
The biggest takeaway from our state report card is this: Students learn better and grow more when they are at school.
What are NSCAS & AQuESTT?
NSCAS stands for the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System. AQuESTT stands for Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow. Both are accountability standards developed by the Nebraska Department of Education and the Federal Government.
NSCAS and AQuESTT provide a measure of how our students are performing and demonstrating growth on Nebraska State Standards in English Language Arts, Math, and Science.
What are we proud of in our GIPS State Report Card?
- Every single GIPS school has shown growth in Math and English Language Arts (ELA) since the pandemic (2022). 11 of our schools showed growth in Math and ELA this year.
- Science proficiency across the district improved by 5.15% percent, our highest single year growth since the pandemic (2022). 13 of our schools showed growth in Science this year.
- Our chronic absenteeism rate improved by nearly 4% which means 455 students dramatically improved their school attendance.
- Our English Language Learners (EL) program has improved by nearly 10% in student English proficiency since the pandemic (2022). This year’s EL student English proficiency growth matches the highest single year of growth in four years.
Why has our Graduation Rate fluctuated?
Last year we reported a graduation rate of 85%. This year our graduation rate reports as 76%.
Behind that number is an important story.
We expected this year’s graduation rate dip. Why? The 76% reflects a “bubble year” for us, and it is all to an intentional adjustment we made a few years ago.
As our English Language Learner and Newcomers programs have grown rapidly the last few years, we made the decision to analyze how students were enrolled in these programs.
Our previous high school practice was to automatically enroll incoming English Language Learner (EL) students as Freshmen, regardless of their age or prior schooling.
However, a few years ago, we made a strategic shift to an age-appropriate enrollment model, meaning that our EL students are now intentionally placed in the grade level corresponding to their age. This ensures better alignment with their educational needs and peers while helping them adjust during such a big transition.
So, how do we get to 76%?
The dip in our graduation rate this year is largely attributable to the last class of students enrolled under our previous EL model, which created a temporary “bubble” in the data.
This class, which was automatically enrolled as Freshmen regardless of age or readiness, resulted in a disproportionately high number who did not complete their requirements within four years, or who left school because a four-year high school plan was not their original education goal.
We knew this reporting year was coming when we made the enrollment adjustment. Our current system, which has been in-place for a few years now, does a better job of honoring our students’ identities and educational needs.
We anticipate the graduation rate going forward will be consistent with our previous year’s range of mid-to-high eighties.
What does the school classification mean?
AQuESTT considers the broader educational experiences and success of each student, not just performance on mandated assessments. Student growth and improvement over time are just as important. AQuESTT provides classifications for all schools in Nebraska annually. Each school is placed into one of the following four categories: Excellent, Great, Good and Needs Support to Improve
The assessments used in AQuESTT measures the progress during the previous year. So, each school’s scores reflect the data from the 2024-2025 school year.
Our full district snapshot may be found on the Nebraska Department of Education’s website.
(Search for “Grand Island Public Schools” and be sure to select the 2024-25 school year at the top.)
What do classifications look like across GIPS?
Along with continued student growth, our overall ratings for schools are trending in the upward direction as well. We have more “Great” schools than last year, and a number of our “Good” schools are close to breaking through into the “Great” category.
Our 2024-25 report card (based on last year’s assessments) shows: “Great” GIPS Schools – 2; “Good” GIPS Schools – 14; “Needs Support to Improve” GIPS Schools – 2.
Our continued improvement, no matter how incremental, affirms for us that our teachers, support staff, academic coaches, curriculum coordinators, and Principals are doing a wonderful job of educating our students.
What is our focus going forward?
Our newly launched strategic plan charts exactly our focus for the next four years.
Seeing our state report card reflecting our focus only affirms that we are prioritizing the right things: Focusing on student growth; Maintaining better school attendance; and Empowering students to have a confident plan for after high school.
We need your help!
Obvious as this may sound, we’re seeing exciting student growth across the district while we’re also seeing better attendance across the district. This is not a coincidence.
As we continue working to tackle chronic absenteeism, we share the friendly reminder that we need your help. Helping students attend school regularly is a community effort. We’ll be sharing more about school attendance more proactively throughout the next four years. Expect to hear from us, and join us in this work.
At Grand Island Public Schools, we strive to provide an exceptional educational experience for our students across the district. We believe every student can succeed. Our invitation remains the same, in that we invite our families and community to join us as we seek to empower every student.
