Schools

How Are New School Achievement Ratings Determined?

We provide more detail on how the new Multiple Measurement Rating system works.

The Minnesota Department of Education this week released the details of the Multiple Measurement R 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.

Below is more explanation of how the scores and designations for MMR are determined. Find out more about schools' scores .

All schools receive an MMR score based on points earned in:

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Proficiency: Incorporates the existing adequate yearly progress measurement, with results broken down into different student subgroups.
  • Student growth: Measures how much schools helped students improve from one year to the next.
  • Achievement gap closure: Measures the ability of schools to coax faster growth from traditionally underperforming subgroups by comparing the growth of the lower-performing groups at a school to the statewide average for higher-performing subgroups. For example, students of color would be compared to white students or students receiving free and reduced lunches would be compared to those who are not receiving them.
  • Graduation rate for high schools

Scoring for the first three areas is based on state test results from 2009-10 and 2010-11, the release says.

Schools also receive two other ratings:

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Focus rating: Measures proficiency and growth of minority students and students receiving special services—English-language learners, special education and students receiving free and reduced price lunch.
  • Focused proficiency: A weighted percentage of students making adequate yearly progress—excluding the “all students” subgroup and the “white” subgroup.

Beyond that, 10 District 196 elementary schools are Title I schools, which are schools that receive federal funding for students who are economically disadvantaged. They are , , and in Apple Valley, and Deerwood, Echo Park, Glacier Hills, Oak Ridge, Parkview and Rosemount in the rest of the district.

MMR gives three additional designations to Title I schools, based on their scores. They are:

  • Reward Schools: Fifteen percent of the highest performing Title I schools in the state are recognized as reward schools. In District 196, Greenleaf Elementary in Apple Valley, Deerwood Elementary in Eagan and Echo Park Elementary in Burnsville are reward schools.
  • Focus Schools: Ten percent of the state’s Title I schools with the largest achievement gaps are designated as focus schools. District 196 did not have any focus schools.
  • Priority Schools: Five percent of the state’s lowest-performing Title I schools are designated as priority schools. District 196 did not have any Priority Schools.

The MDE will release new MMR scores in August based on the results of 2011-12 statewide academic tests. 

In August, the MDE will also announce which schools received two other designations:

  • Celebration Schools: Strong-performing schools that didn’t receive the Reward School classification.
  • Continuous Improvement Schools: The bottom 25 percent of schools.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here