November 27, 2024

Dear Families and Staff:

The Iowa Department of Education released the state’s School Performance Profiles for the 2023-24 school year. These profiles provide a snapshot of how each school is performing across the state, helping us see where our schools are excelling and where we need to continue to improve. 

The profiles consider many factors, including student proficiency, growth, absenteeism, graduation rates, and postsecondary readiness. However, we have significant concerns with some changes that have been made, new to this year, in the state’s ranking framework. We want to give you a better understanding of how this affects our schools and share our perspective on what these ratings mean. 

Significant changes in the new framework include the removal of ACT participation, the de-emphasis on growth (how much individual students improve academically year over year, regardless of where they start), and the fact that schools with subgroups recognized as “targeted status” (i.e., Students with disabilities (IEP)) are automatically being dropped one category level regardless of overall achievements across the school community. Specifically, this new change impacted our elementary and high school buildings.

It is important to remember that our schools, our staff, and the educational experiences we provide have not changed. What has changed is the way the state calculates and weights the ratings. When comparing last year’s ratings under the previous criteria, many schools across Iowa, including ours, would have maintained or improved their ratings. It is essential to remember that this profile is just one measurement tool and does not reflect the full picture of our schools. 

Columbus CSD continues to produce great results, and we have witnessed many amazing achievements. Please see additional information that follows this letter for a list of our many accomplishments on the Iowa School Performance Profile. For example, Roundy Elementary School placed among the top 40% of elementary schools in the state of Iowa, which makes it a U.S. News Best Elementary School, and reflects the high quality of education and opportunities we provide. Our participation in dual credit courses is stronger than ever with 24 students in grades 11-12 taking 13 different classes online while another 11 academy students in grade 12 took 15 classes at the MCC Campus. You can find the full listing of opportunities available to our students in our District Career and Academic Plan. Finally, our schools continue to offer exceptional opportunities in music, art, athletics, and extracurricular activities. 

We do encourage you to review the Iowa School Performance Profile to better understand this new system and consider all the achievements and hard work that define our school community.

We are extremely proud of each of our schools and the hard work our students and staff put in every day. Thank you for your continued support as we work together to provide an excellent education for all our students. We invite you to stay tuned as Columbus CSD works to set goals to improve student learning, remove student achievement barriers, and maximize student achievement and experiences for all students! As always, we are here to answer any questions you may have. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael J. Volk, Superintendent
Columbus Community School District

Columbus CSD Accomplishments on the Iowa School Performance Profile:

• Roundy earned their highest score since the start of the Iowa School Performance Profile started.

• Roundy was only 1.3% away from scoring Commendable.

• Roundy had a 5.53% increase in attendance from previous year for those considered Chronically Absent.

• Roundy’s Chronic Absenteeism is below the state average.

• Roundy’s ELP Progress is 8% above the state average.

• Roundy’s ELA Growth is 5% above the state average.

• Roundy’s Math Proficiency, Math Growth, ELA Growth, and ELPA Progress ALL increased from last year.

• Roundy had 100% participation on state assessments.

• JH’s ELA Proficiency is 6% above the state average.

• JH had 100% participation on state assessments.

• JH has no targeted groups.

• JH had a 1.34% increase in attendance from last year for those considered Chronically Absent.

• JH/HS improved in 4 of the 5 areas on the CFL Survey.

• HS earned their highest score since the Iowa School Performance Profile started.

• HS had a 1.24% increase from the previous year in attendance for those considered Chronically Absent.

• HS Math Growth is 9% above the state average.

• HS 4 and 5-year graduation rates are both above state average.

• HS students earning college credit at Columbus are almost 7% above the state average.

• HS Chronic Absenteeism is the lowest it has been at Columbus-down almost 11% in just the past 2 years.

• HS has no targeted groups.