WAUSA – Faculty members, staff members, administrators, students and parents may describe Wausa Public Schools as “good,” “great” or even “excellent.”
Now the school district is officially classified as such by the Nebraska Department of Education. Wausa received high marks from the state’s accountability system classification, called AQuESTT (Accountability for a Quality Education System Today).
The system classifies schools based on state test scores, particularly the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS). NSCAS English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments are given in grades three through eight. NSCAS science assessments are given in fifth and eighth grades and Nebraska juniors take the ACT assessment.
“AQuESTT is a school accountability piece where schools across the state are rated and compared to each other in a more holistic approach,” said Shane Anderson, Wausa’s principal for grades 5-12. “The rankings are based primarily on academic standards and growth, college and career readiness and attendance.”
Wausa Elementary was one of only 27 percent of schools in the state to receive an “Excellent” ranking for the 2022-23 academic year, while the school district’s middle school received a “Great” classification and its high school received a “Good” ranking.
“We are super excited to see our elementary rating jump from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent,’ and for our middle school to maintain its ‘Great’ ranking, and our high school maintained a ‘Good’ rating,” Anderson said of Wausa’s rankings from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
During the past year, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) had the opportunity to set new cut scores – the scores that determine levels of proficiency. This happens anytime there is a new assessment or a significant change in an existing assessment. The English Language Arts assessment was new for 2022.
State and federal law require the NDE to annually classify and designate schools to provide signals for specific supports.
Nebraska’s system, AQuESTT, helps ensure all students across all backgrounds and circumstances have access to opportunities. AQuESTT annually classifies schools and districts as “Excellent,” “Great,” “Good” and “Needs Support to Improve.”
A breakdown of classifications indicated that 303 (27 percent) of the state’s schools were classified in 2022-23 as “Excellent,” 437 (40 percent) were designated as “Great,” 288 (26 percent) were classified as “Good” and 76 (7 percent) were designated as “Needs Support to Improve.”
“In smaller schools, sometimes these rankings can be a little volatile, but we feel that WPS has done a great job of providing a challenging curriculum along with providing our students with opportunities for them to explore many careers,” Anderson said.
AQuESTT recognizes and rewards school initiatives that support student learning, the school environment and educators, including those that: - Supported student success through positive school partnerships and relationships.
- Helped students successfully transition between grades, schools and programs.
- Provided student access to comprehensive instructional opportunities.
- Helped students prepare for college and careers.
- Used multiple assessments to measure student learning.
- Supported education effectiveness.
AQuESTT encourages school districts to build a system for continuous school improvement that supports students, educations and the school learning environment.
“We will always strive to improve our test score(s) from one year to the next, but many of these ratings involve longterm planning on how to use and maintain qualified staff, lower absentee rates, and the collecting and utilizing of data,” Anderson said.
“The growth we experienced is a culmination of our students, staff, administration and school board working towards common goals,” he said. “It can be a great celebration, but also gives us areas to continue to improve on.”
More information on assessment and accountability results may be found online on the Nebraska Education Profile, nep.education.ne.gov.
