High school ranked as ‘Excellent’

RANDOLPH – Faculty, staff, administrators, students and parents may describe Randolph Public Schools as “great” or even “excellent.”

Now the school district is officially classified as such by the Nebraska Department of Education.

For the second year in a row, Randolph Public Schools received high marks from Nebraska’s accountability system classification, called AQuESTT (Accountability for a Quality Education System Today). The system classifies schools based on state test scores, particularly the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS). NSCAS English Language Arts and Mathematics are given in grades three through eight. NSCAS science assessments are given in fifth and eighth grades and Nebraska juniors take the ACT assessment.

Randolph High School was one of only 27 percent of schools in the state to receive an “Excellent” ranking, while the overall district, Randolph’s middle school and elementary school all received a “Great” classification.

“We are very proud,” said High School Principal Brandi Bartels. “Honestly if I could compare it to athletics, it would be like going to the playoffs and making it to state in academics.”

She said schools can gain or lose points based on attendance, participation on the assessments, graduation rate and a few other factors but none of those came into play for Randolph’s rankings.

“Randolph’s rankings were completely based off of our performance on those state assessments, which is awesome. . . . This shows that all of our students performed better on state assessments last year,” she said.

High NSCAS ACT scores go beyond the junior students who take the test, she said.

“Performing well on the ACT indicates that our students are receiving excellent instruction across the prior grade levels as well,” Bartels said. “It also indicates that our students are performing at or above benchmarks set by the state.”

In fact, the senior class who scored so well on the ACT took the NSCAS in seventh grade when Randolph’s middle school grades received a “Good” rating.

“It shows a huge amount of growth for that same group to go from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’ based on state assessment,” Bartels said.

As part of the ranking process, Randolph ranked No. 1 out of 13 comparable schools in Math and Science and No. 3 in English Language Arts.

This year, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) had the opportunity to set new cut scores, the scores that determine levels of proficiency. This happens anytime there is a new assessment or a significant change in an existing assessment. The English Language Arts assessment was new for 2022.

State and federal law requires the NDE to annually classify and designate schools to provide signals for specific supports. Nebraska’s system, AQuESTT - helps ensure all students across all backgrounds and circumstances have access to opportunities. AQuESTT annually classifies schools and districts as Excellent, Great, Good, and Needs Support to Improve.

A breakdown of classifications indicated that 303 (27 percent) of schools were classified as “Excellent,” 437 (40 percent) were “Great,” 288 (26 percent) were “Good,” and 76 (7 percent) were designated as “Needs Support to Improve.”

AQuESTT recognizes and rewards school initiatives that support student learning, the school environment and educators including those that supported student success through positive school partnerships and relationships; helped students successfully transition between grades, schools and programs; provided student access to comprehensive instructional opportunities; helped students prepare for college and careers; used multiple assessments to measure student learning; and supported education effectiveness.

AQuESTT encourages schools to build a system for continuous school improvement that supports students, education and the school learning environment.

More information on accountability results can be found at nep.education.ne.gov.