by David Hill
Editor

The World’s Best Workforce report to residents of School District 564 in Thief River Falls delivered a mixed bag of results, evidence of the challenges brought about by the COVID pandemic.

Minnesota statutes require school boards to adopt a long-term, comprehensive strategic plan to support and improve teaching and learning. This plan, called the World’s Best Workforce, has five goals:
• All children are ready for school

• All third-graders can read at grade level

• All racial and economic achievement gaps are closed

• All students are ready for career and college

• All students graduate from high school.

Sara Olson, director of teaching, learning, and technology for School District 564, reported to the Board of Education that as the District entered a distance learning model for its students, they were unable to administer formal assessments in the spring of 2020. Guidelines for attendance also changed, of course, and this data was not available.

Olson said they kept the learning of students at the forefront, and tried to measure or gauge improvement in different ways.

The outcomes for fall 2021 and spring 2022 show:

• The number of at risk students ready for school was at 46.3 percent in the fall of 2021. By spring 2022, the number of students at high risk dropped to 30.6 percent, but Olson said, more work is needed.

• The number of third graders who can read at grade level increased from 49.10 percent in the fall of 2021 to 54.70 percent by spring 2022. Olson said the goal is for 80 percent. It’s a multi-year target.

• Data clearly shows the impact the interruption of the pandemic had on closing the racial and economic achievement gaps between students. In 2017, attendance records show the average percentage of free and reduced plan students at 68.90 percent, while attendance for all students at 82.28 percent. The gap widened significantly between 2018 and 2019.

Olson noted that attendance data through North Star Data is no longer available, and they will have to seek an alternative data source.

• Again, the impact of the pandemic on learning was evident when looking at whether students were ready for career and college.

For this goal, the District measures whether 11th graders are proficient in understanding complex texts as measured by the ACT. In 2019, 45 percent of students tested were proficient in understanding complex texts. In 2020, that dropped to 25 percent. In 2022, the percentage had risen to 32 percent.

Olson said they are seeing an upward trend. For 2022-23, new strategies are being put into place to increase this score. New English courses have been developed, and the District is again offering ACT prep. The ACT prep course previously used was dropped due to a significant cost increase.

• Graduation rates. School District 564 has traditionally had a high graduation rate, and the pandemic had little effect on that rate. In 2021, the graduation rate was 95.5 percent, while the state rate was 83.3 percent.

Conclusion
Olson said each of the schools – Preschool, Challenger Elementary School, Franklin Middle School, Northwest Area Learning Center, and Lincoln High School – have adopted goals and strategies designed to improve student learning and meet the goals set forth by the World’s Best Workforce.

More information, including this report, can be found on the District’s website at www.trf.k12.mn.us.