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On November 9th, residents of the Northland Community School District will once again have the opportunity to vote on a building referendum. As is frequently the case when schools need public support, taxpayers begin asking questions about how their money is spent. One topic that has recently been discussed in the papers and at meetings is the performance of Northland's students on our state standardized tests and how that performance compares to other students in neighboring districts. This letter will attempt to summarize and clarify the five years of data that is available for the public to view on the Minnesota Department of Education website. You can find this data and more at http://rc.education.state.mn.us/# .

The Minnesota Report Card page of the MDE website graphs data from the 2011-2015 MCA tests administered in Minnesota's schools in the spring of each year. The data from four area school districts with similar demographics were compared, and the results show that Northland students perform as well as or better than students who attend neighboring schools. When proficiency percentages for math and reading over the last five years are averaged for each school then rank ordered, Deer River Public Schools rank first with a 1.6 average ranking, Northland Community Schools rank second with a 2.0 average ranking, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley School District ranks third with a 2.4 average ranking, and Cass Lake-Bena Public Schools rank fourth with a 4.0 average ranking. Generally speaking, Northland's students' academic performance for the last five years ranks just behind Deer River students and just ahead of Walker.

Students in our area face many challenges, and there is always room for improvement. At Northland in 2015, 49.7% of students tested in grades 3-12 demonstrated proficiency in reading, and 42.9% demonstrated proficiency in math. This does not mean that 50.3% of Northland's students can't read, and 57.1% can't perform math operations. What it does mean is that on the day of the test, students did not demonstrate understanding of the Minnesota State Academic Standards at the level which the state considers proficient. For example, sixth graders who were not proficient were unable to "cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text" up to the proficiency standard set by the state. Or a ninth grade math student did not "apply the properties of positive and negative rational exponents to generate equivalent algebraic expressions, including those involving nth roots" on test-taking day with the consistency and accuracy that the state deems proficient. These are just two of the many high standards to which students are held accountable. Not all of our students are currently achieving at that level of proficiency, but Northland students are well on their way.

In 2015, Northland students demonstrated tremendous growth. In a year when Minnesota's math scores flatlined, Northland grew in proficiency by 4%. In reading, the state averaged about 1% growth in proficiency, and Northland Community Schools grew a whopping 12.9%. No other area school has shown such an increase. Through the hard work and commitment of Northland's students and staff, this is bound to be the beginning of the upward trend that can be found at Northland Community Schools.

You are invited to come see for yourself. We would like to encourage you to contact the school and set up a classroom visit. Amazing things are happening at Northland Community Schools![[In-content Ad]]

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