SIOUX CITY – The Sioux City school district saw major increases in school ratings in the Iowa School Performance Profiles for the 2024-25 school year.
The state Department of Education on Thursday released the 2024-25 annual accountability report, showcasing how public schools performed throughout the year.
Many of the schools in the district saw ranking increases, with schools such as East High, East Middle, Morningside and Spalding Park elementaries increasing by two rankings. Spalding Park saw the largest increase, jumping by more than 100 points.
The district also saw increases to the percentage of students proficient in English language arts, science and mathematics, but a decrease in the number of English Language Learners growing in proficiency.
“The Sioux City Community School District is proud of the positive growth shown by our schools on this year’s Iowa School Performance Profile,” according to a statement from Leslie Heying, district communications director. “Across the district, our schools have achieved tremendous progress over the past year – a testament to the hard work of our teachers, instructional assistants, administrators, students, and families.
“The initiatives, programs, and learning support we have implemented are making a difference. Students at every level have shown remarkable growth.”
The Iowa School Performance Profile gives each school a rating based on factors that include standardized test scores, attendance, staff retention and expulsion and suspension rates. Schools receive a score of up to 700 for elementary and middle school, and 900 for high school. Each school is then placed in one of six rating categories: exceptional, high performing, commendable, acceptable, needs improvement and priority.
This is the second year the review used Iowa’s new accountability system, which made various changes to the scores. One of the most significant changes was equally weighing “performance” and “growth” for math and language arts scores. Previously, growth was weighted heavier than performance.
The state profile shows 56.89 percent of Sioux City students proficient in science, 62.03 percent proficient in mathematics and 64.92 percent proficient in English language arts. While all three categories increased for the district compared to last year, they are still below the state averages.
The district received significant increases in the overall school ratings, with many of the schools increasing one or two ratings. No schools in the district dropped.
Last year, the district saw lower ratings, while some stayed in the same category. The drop was largely due to the changes to the performance profile system. At the time, most of the schools fell into the priority or needs improvement categories.
This year, only one school remains in the priority category – Unity Elementary. West High, North High, North Middle, Liberty and Irving elementaries all increased from priority to needs improvement. Spalding Park jumped two categories, from priority to acceptable, a 106.56 point increase.
Other highlights from the profile:
— East High increased two categories from needs improvement to commendable with an 85.86 point increase, from 504.01 to 589.87;
— East Middle increased two categories from needs improvement to commendable with a 34.94 increase, from 399.79 to 434.73;
— Morningside Elementary increased two categories from needs improvement to commendable with a 67.32 increase, from 367.06 to 434.38;
— Bryant Elementary and Loess Hills Elementary increased one category from needs improvement to acceptable;
— Riverside Elementary increased from acceptable to commendable;
— Nodland and Sunnyside elementaries increased from commendable to high performing and;
— West Middle and Hunt, Leeds, Perry Creek, Unity elementaries stayed in the same categories.
All of the data can be viewed at www.iaschoolperformance.gov
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Caitlin Yamada
Education and county government reporter
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