School board hears student performance profiles
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The latest Student Performance profiles from the Iowa Department of Education took center stage at the Monday, February 3 meeting of the board of directors of the Mount Ayr Community Schools.
Elementary report
Elementary principal Chris Elwood reported that for the third consecutive year, Mount Ayr Elementary was rated as a “high performing” school, the second highest rating attainable on the state report.
With a composite score of 64.23, Elwood stated Mount Ayr Elementary ranked 68th overall among the 1,295 Iowa elementary buildings that were rated, placing Mount Ayr in the top 5 percent of Iowa elementary buildings.
Elwood added the latest score is the highest ever achieved by Mount Ayr Elementary and ranks first among Pride of Iowa conference elementary schools as well as second behind Murray among all other area elementary buildings.
Mount Ayr students performed above the state average in all nine performance areas included in the report.
7-12 report
Secondary principal Bill Huntington reported Mount Ayr Middle/High School scored a composite score of 54.84, just below the state average of 54.94, for a rating of “Acceptable” on the performance profile. He added the 54.84 score was just .06 points away from the “Commendable” rating.
Huntington also noted the latest score represents a two-point increase over last year, reversing a downward trend in recent years. The latest score also moved Mount Ayr into third place among Pride of Iowa schools,up from sixth last year.
Huntington explained that while 7-12 students in Mount Ayr scored at or above the state averages in nine of the 12 performance categories, the district overall score continues to be handicapped by the report’s heavy emphasis on growth in math and English.
The report shows 82.3 percent of Mount Ayr students are proficient in English, compared with a state average of 69.81 percent.
The same is true in math, where 78.61 percent of Mount Ayr students show proficiency, compared to the state average of 70.16 percent.
Because Mount Ayr students are already far above the state average in proficiency in math and English, Huntington explained, it’s difficult to show significant growth in either area.
[In the coming weeks, the Record-News will examine in detail the results from the latest Student Performance Profiles for both the elementary and secondary buildings.]
Other business
In other business, the board:
• approved the contract with Jason Shaffer as the shared superintendent with Bedford. (See accompanying article.)
• approved the resignations from Tawnya Jones as food service director and Cyndi Sobotka as special education associate. Both qualify for the $500 early resignation stipend.
• approved the bid from Ardent Lighting of Knoxville for completing of the lighting upgrade project at the athletic complex. The bid was for $676,386.
• approved a $24,000 bid from Glendenning Motors in Mount Ayr for a van that will serve as a mobile library. A grant funded the purchase.
• approved a bid from Martin Brothers of $24,053.87 for a new dishwasher.
• heard preliminary budget numbers from superintendent Joe Drake. The final budget will be presented at the March meeting.
Drake noted the taxable valuation of property within the school district had increased $54 million dollars due to new assessments announced last year.
School performance ratings listed for area schools
Elementary principal Chris Elwood and 7-12 principal Bill Huntington shared results for their respective buildings from the 2019 Iowa Schools Performance Profiles.
Based upon their overall performance, districts are assigned one of five ratings (from highest to lowest): Exceptional, High Performing, Commendable, Acceptable, Needs Improvement, and Priority.
For the third straight year, Mount Ayr elementary was rated as “High Performing.”
Mount Ayr middle/high school was rated as “Acceptable” in the latest report.
In the coming weeks, the Record-News will examine the Mount Ayr performance profiles in detail.
This week, Mount Ayr student performance is compared to several other area schools. (Scores are rounded to nearest whole number.)
Elementary schools
School Overall performance Rating
Murray 70 Exceptional
Mount Ayr 64 High Performing
Bedford 63 High Performing
Martensdale-St. M 62 High Performing
East Union 61 High Performing
Lamoni 61 High Performing
Winterset MS 59 Commendable
Nodaway Valley 57 Commendable
Southeast Warren 56 Commendable
Lenox 54 Acceptable
Corning 53 Acceptable
Creston 53 Acceptable
Central Decatur 52 Acceptable
Mormon Trail 52 Acceptable
Wayne 51 Acceptable
Clarke 47 Needs Improvement
Interstate 35 46 Needs Improvement
Diagonal – No rating – sample size too small
Middle/high schools
School Overall performance Rating
Mormon Trail 59 Commendable
Diagonal 59 Commendable
Lamoni 59 Commendable
Nodaway Valley 59 Commendable
East Union 57 Commendable
Interstate 35 57 Commendable
Mount Ayr 55 Acceptable
Murray 54 Acceptable
Bedford 53 Acceptable
Wayne 53 Acceptable
Creston 53 Acceptable
Martensdale-St. M 52 Acceptable
Clarke 50 Acceptable
Winterset 50 Acceptable
Southeast Warren 50 Acceptable
Central Decatur 49 Acceptable
Lenox 49 Acceptable
Corning 40 Priority
