Crawford AuSable School District (CASD) in northern Michigan has a lot to be proud of. Not only did they use teamwork to move many of their students closer to college and career readiness, but they also earned state and national recognition for their efforts.
CASD serves a financially vulnerable rural community—61% of their students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch—and has been hit hard by budget and personnel cuts. But they didn’t let any of that knock them down. As of 2017, performance on Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests had improved by 9.24 percentage points compared to state proficiency averages.
“In our district, it’s not about bringing every kid up to a minimum level,” says Joseph Powers, CASD superintendent. “It’s about taking each kid to his or her highest levels.”
How they did it
Teachers and district leaders worked together to do right by their students. Teachers pitched in by integrating MAP® Growth™ assessment data into their instructional planning, beginning in the fall of 2006, and:
- identifying areas for improvement, especially in the elementary grades
- writing goals for student achievement and using strategies in their classrooms to meet the goals
- focusing on early interventions and setting high expectations early on
- reporting students’ data to their principals
District leaders played an important role, too, by:
- keeping the Advanced Placement program funded, which gives high school students eight AP classes to choose from
- instituting professional learning communities
- starting to educate board members on data analysis
For more on how CASD used MAP Growth assessment data, read the case study. Get practical advice for making changes in your school or district in our 2017 blog post “Three examples of how to put assessment data to work in the classroom.”
