Apple Valley Schools Get Mixed Results Under New Accountability System

District 196's Apple Valley schools got mixed results in their ratings under the new system Minnesota will use to determine public school success and achievement, but fared slightly better than under the former federal requirements.

Eight Apple Valley schools scored above the 50 percent state average achievement under the new Multiple Measurement Rating system, while five were below average. Two programs—Transition Plus and the Cooperative Area Learning Program—did not receive ratings.

reported last fall that under the AYP system, scores in reading and math.

The Minnesota Department of Education this week released the details of the MMR system, which the MDE believes is a "fairer, more accurate" measurement system to replace the federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards of the No Child Left Behind act.

Minnesota earlier this year. Superintendent Jane Berenz said in a press release that she was "pleased when the state’s waiver was granted and the fiscal sanctions from not making AYP were removed."

An article from the Star Tribune, however, says that the new MMR scores are "generally the same as the old system."

"Schools with less-affluent student bodies land often at the bottom of the list, while their affluent counterparts rise to the top," the article says. The new system does use reading and math data the district already had from 2010 and 2011 to put into new formulas.

Apple Valley's scored in the top 15 percent of Title I schools—schools that receive federal funding for economically disadvantaged students—statewide, earning a “Reward School” designation under the new school accountability system. All the district's Title I schools avoided the negative designations of "Priority Schools" and "Focus Schools" given by MMR.

Here are Apple Valley schools' MMR scores:

Find more about your schools' scores on the MDE website under "What are our Multiple Measurement Ratings?"

Here is the report from last fall on which schools made and did not make Adequate Yearly Progress under the old system:

Apple Valley schools that met AYP requirements in 2011:

• (did not make in 2010)
• (did not make in 2010)
• (did not make in 2010)

Apple Valley schools that did not meet AYP requirements in 2011:

• (did make AYP in 2010)

Berenz said in the release that data from MMR is not the only factor determining a school's success, and that staff will use a combination of MMR and other data to assess and develop instruction for each school.

Read more information about how the new MMR ratings are determined.