Rochester Scores Well on Statewide School Assessment

Rochester Community Schools graded well in the Michigan Department of Education's (MDE) 2012-13 Accountability Scorecards and Top to Bottom Rankings, according to the results of 2012-13 standardized tests.

The scores are used to determine whether a school is meeting Michigan School Proficiency Targets and where it ranks in relationship to other schools based on student performance. As a result of their ranking, schools are designated Reward, Focus or Priority Schools.

Database: View the scores for each school here.

Rochester Community Schools has 11 Reward Schools and four Focus Schools, based on the state's scorecards. It does not have any Priority Schools. 

Reward Schools are in the top 5 percent of the Top-to-Bottom ranking. In addition to the top 5 percent, the MDE included any school that is designated as a “Beating the Odds” school (school that is outperforming schools with similar risk factors and demographic makeup), or is in the top 5 percent of schools on the improvement metric in the Top-to-Bottom ranking.

Focus Schools are identified as the 10 percent of Michigan schools having the widest gap in student achievement between their lowest and highest performing students. Priority Schools include those schools in the bottom 5 percent in the Top-to-Bottom ranking. 

The Reward Schools are: Brewster Elementary, Delta Kelly Elementary, Hugger Elementary, Long Meadow Elementary, Musson Elementary, North Hill Elementary, University Hills Elementary, Hart Middle School, Van Hoosen Middle School, West Middle School and Rochester Adams High School.

The Focus Schools are: Brooklands Elementary, Hampton Elementary, McGregor Elementary and Reuther Middle School.

A Focus School label does not necessarily imply low achievement for that school as a whole. A school can be in the top quarter of the Top-to-Bottom-ranking and still be a Focus School if the metric used places it in the 10 percent of Michigan schools having the widest gap in student achievement between their lowest and highest performing students.

Rochester Superintendent Robert Shaner said there still is work to be done to close the achievement gap between students.

“Rochester Community Schools has implemented school improvement processes and targeted interventions to address gaps in student achievement in all of our schools,” Shaner said. “We will continue to monitor and assess these strategies as we work toward the goal of ensuring all students are college ready, career ready and life ready."

Schools and districts have also been assigned an accountability scorecard color, which replaces the report card containing a letter grade for each school and district.

Using newly adopted college and career readiness cut scores, the MDE has developed a five-color code system for district and building level scorecards. The Scorecard color, which includes green, lime, yellow, orange and red, is intended to represent how students are performing on assessments by combining the percentage of students who score “proficient” in five tested subjects (reading, math, science and social studies).

The overall color is based on whether the students met their school’s unique proficiency target for all students, plus the proficiency of each subgroup (any group of 30 or more students who share economic, ethnic, gender, or other characteristics) in meeting the same target.

Rochester Community Schools has 20 schools that received Yellow scorecards, one school, Long Meadow Elementary, which received an Orange scorecard and one school, Rochester Adult Education, which received a Red scorecard.

Overall, the district received a Yellow Scorecard. It is common for schools to receive a yellow or orange scorecard. For example, if a single subgroup is not on track to reach 85 percent proficiency, then the school or district cannot receive a color higher than yellow.