State releases school report cards

The state has released school district report cards for the 2008-09 school year. The report cards measure the performance of school districts by examining English Language Arts and Mathematics testing results and graduation rates.

The data indicates that total populations are in good standing for most north country school districts. But the report cards look at subgroups of the total student population, including students with disabilities, limited English proficient students and economically disadvantaged students. The subgroups are where some districts fall under state benchmarks.

Take the Watertown City School District for example: the district report card indicates that students with disabilities didn’t meet the state’s graduation benchmark for the 2008-09 school year, while the total student population is more than the state benchmark.

The graduation rate for students with disabilities was 35 percent. The progress target for that subgroup was a 41 percent graduation rate. The graduation rate for all students at Watertown High School was 66 percent for the 2008-09 school year. The state benchmark is a 55 percent graduation rate.

The district was placed on the schools in need of improvement list under the No Child Left Behind Act because of testing results that don’t meet state benchmarks among economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities at the high school.

The school’s overall graduation rate is 66 percent,

You can find a complete listing of school report cards here.