Report card coming soon
This year, the South Dakota Department of Education will again use SD-STARS to make Report Card data available to school districts before it is released to the public.
As a reminder, there are two versions of the Report Card: private and public. The private Report Card can be found internally in SD-STARS. It contains personally identifiable information via student rosters and unsuppressed aggregate data in tables and graphs that should not be released to the public. The public Report Card contains information that can be freely shared with the public because the data in it are suppressed for small group size and do not contain student-level data, making it Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act-compliant.
Tentative timeline
The state determined a tentative timeline for the release of the Report Card. Below are some key dates for districts to keep in mind.
- Aug. 26-Sept. 9 - Districts can submit appeals related to their Report Card data. This is the ONLY appeal window. Appeal window closes at 5 p.m. CT on Sept. 9.
- Oct. 1 - Department makes final decisions on appeals.
- Oct. 14 - Public Report Card goes “live” with state-, district- and school-level data.
Report Card highlights
In April, the South Dakota Department of Education shared information about the changes to the 2020-21 Report Card. You can find the changes outlined in a memo, guide, and PowerPoint presentation. These documents are below. Here are some highlights.
Overall Score: Overall scores will not be reported this year. Schools will not be assigned a School Performance Index (SPI) and points will not be attached to the reported indicators.
Student Performance: Student performance on the state summative assessments will be reported this year. Student participation on the state assessments will also be reported, but schools will not be held to the 95% participation requirement. The department expects participation may be lower than past years and that the resulting performance data may not be representative of the makeup of the state, districts, or schools.
Student Progress: Student progress, also known as student growth, will not be reported. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, state assessments were not administrated in the 2019-20 school year. Without assessment data from last year, South Dakota cannot accurately calculate student growth.
College and Career Readiness: College and career readiness data will be reported. This indicator is based on the previous year’s completer roster, meaning that this indicator will be based on students who graduated, completed a GED, or could have graduated or completed a GED in 2019-20. These students should have taken the state assessment in 2018-19 as 11th graders.
School Safety: School safety will be reported, but the data will be from the 2017-18 school year. The data come from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which is the biennial survey from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
Finance Data: The Report Card includes some school finance information. Financial data will be ready in January 2022. Once ready, it will be added to the Report Card.
Indicators/data that won’t change:
- High school completion and on-time graduation
- School environment, which is attendance data
- Chronic absenteeism data
- English learner progress
- Educator qualifications
Access to the Report Card
Access to the Report Card
During the appeal window, only people with Accountability permissions in SD-STARS will be able to access the private Report Card. There are two levels of accountability permissions: school or district.
District STARS Account Managers are responsible for making sure that district staff who are part of the district’s accountability team have access to the Report Card. This means that SAMs have assigned the Accountability permissions to these staff. This document [will hyperlink to file] includes step-by-step instructions on assigning permissions for staff to see the Report Card. This document is also available in the SD-STARS Content Library and Training Center.
STARS Account Managers who have questions or problems with creating accounts, approving accounts, or assigning permissions should contact STARSHelp@state.sd.us.
Science assessment results coming
Through a field test waiver, South Dakota requested to not report science performance data on the 2020-21 Report Card. The U.S. Department of Education communicated in July that South Dakota's waiver was denied. Hence, both participation and performance for science will be reported on the 2020-21 Report Card. The South Dakota Department of Education will be seeking science educators to help set cut scores in September. Science results will be available in SD-STARS in November and on the Report Card in January 2022.
Approval of ESSER state plan
In July, the U.S. Department of Education approved South Dakota’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund state plan. The plan details how South Dakota is currently using and intends to use ARP ESSER funds to safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and classrooms. It also addresses the needs of students, including by equitably expanding opportunity for students disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education distributed most of the ARP ESSER funds. With the approved plan, the remainder of the funds will be released to South Dakota.
Staffing and organization changes
The department’s accountability team saw some changes over the summer. Both Megan Aadland and Dorothy Aguilera-Black Bear have left the department. In their places are Jennifer Tschetter and Amy Gabriel. In addition, the accountability team moved from the Title Office to the Assessment Office, within the Division of Learning and Instruction.