Although above state average, there’s room for improvement
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
Members of the Burlington Area School District administration have been stressing all year that test scores – tests given once a year, at what may or may not be a good time – provide a narrow snapshot of data.
The first snapshot came in the form of the district’s Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam scores, announced last spring. On Monday night, the district presented a report on district-wide ACT and AP testing – two predictors on success of students who will soon leave the district.
Burlington High School Principal Eric Burling provided an in-depth analysis of the district’s ACT and AP (or advance placement) scores, showing not just the 2011-12 data, but also a comparison to other schools in the area – in and out of the Southern Lakes Conference – as well as comparison to past years.
With the average composite score of 22.3 on the ACT for BHS – down slightly from the 22.5 average originally reported because the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction took out students who had retaken the exam – Burling found both the good and the bad in the average.
The good? The average held about steady with 2010-11 (22.4) and was pretty much about or in line with the last five years of testing averages.
In 2011-12, 200 strudents took the exam, which was about 58 percent of the total fall enrollment of the grade.
Not much has changed with the scores going up or down over the last 17 years, with the district recording a record low average in 2002-03 (21.0) and a record high in 1997-98 (22.6).
The highest percentage of students taking the exam was in 2009-10, when 62.8 percent – or 235 of 374 seniors – had taken the ACT exam.
The goal the district has stated is to get every high school student to take either the ACT or the ACT work keys in preparation for either post-secondary work or education.
Burlington is above the state averages when it comes to specific areas of the exam. For example, the average BHS English score was 21.9, while the state average is 21.5, and 22.3 compared to the state average 22.0 in math. The same goes for reading (22.6 compared to 22.1) and science (22.6 compared to 22.1).
BHS’s average composite score is .2 above the state average (22.1).
However, when it came to comparing BHS students with Southern Lakes Conference school, Burlington is ranked fifth. Badger has the highest average with a 23.0, followed by Westosha Central and Union Grove (22.7) and Waterford (22.6).
In an illustration of how various tests can indicate only a limited view, Elkhorn ranked eighth of the eight schools with an ACT average of 20.9. The significance there is that Elkhorn is at or near the top in all the WKCE exams.
Burling also compared BHS students with a similar conference in similar communities – the Greater Metro Athletic Conference. Brookfield East and Central ranked the highest with 25.8 and 25.1 averages, respectively, followed by Sussex Hamilton (23.7) and Menomonee Falls (22.9).
AP scores
Burling also presented AP score data, which covered several different courses.
AP classes at BHS include 2D design and 2D drawing, 3D design, art history, English, statistics, calculus, music theory, chemistry, physics, U.S. History, European History and both macro and micro economics.
However, AP students are not considered AP students until they take the AP test. Not all students, Burling said, go on to take the AP test – which can qualify students for advance college credits.
After reaching a high of 87 percent of students scoring a three or above in 2008 – the threshold for being college ready – the BHS average had dropped to as low as 57 percent in 2010.
However, 70 percent of BHS students hit that mark in 2012, matching the state average and finishing ahead of the global average (61 percent).
A total of 115 students sat for 181 exams (students can take more than one exam) in 2012. Eighty-one of those students scored three or above.
In comparison with other SLC schools, BHS ranked fourth behind Waterford, Wilmot and Badger.
Burling stressed that the AP classes are more rigorous, meaning some students have been avoiding the classes to prevent adversely affecting their grade-point averages. In one case, he said, a student dropped more than 80 spots in her class rank a few years ago when she earned a C+ in AP chemistry.
However, as of this year’s freshman classes, students receive weighted grades for AP classes, equivalent to one grade-point higher (5 for an A instead of a 4, 4 for a B instead of a 3, etc.).
“That’s my challenge,” Burling said, to get students to “quit worrying about the grade point.”
“There should be a little bit of an incentive,” he added.
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