The Iowa Dept. of Education released its school performance ratings last week, with both Boyer Valley schools receiving a “high performing” rating, which is the second highest rating possible.
“That's what you hope for, is to show improvement,” Superintendent Jeremy Christiansen said. “I think we've done a pretty good job of making some adjustments on things in both buildings. Last year the elementary was high performing and the middle/high school was commendable, so we've shown improvement there.”
According to the state summary, the school rating provides an overall score and performance category for all Iowa schools across a number of performance measures. Based on these scores, schools are divided into one of six categories, listed from lowest to highest: Priority, needs improvement, acceptable, commendable, high performing and exceptional.
Here is a breakdown of the number of Iowa schools in each one:
Priority – 186 schools (14.51%)
Needs improvement – 229 schools (17.86%)
Acceptable – 278 schools (21.61)
Commendable – 411 schools (32.06%)
High performing – 159 schools (12.4%)
Exceptional – 16 schools (1.25%)
In Boyer Valley's particular case, the school district was right around average or well above average in nearly every single category. One category which it is good to be below average in is chronic absenteeism, with the state average being 21.6% and Boyer Valley slotting in at 16.58%. The district also had a 6% growth in attendance from students who were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year compared to 2023-24.
“We did add a position for Shelia Beam – she's our attendance interventionist,” Christiansen said. “She's done a very good job of being aggressive in making sure students are getting here.”
The state average rating for post-secondary readiness as it pertains to college credit is 69, and Boyer Valley received a rating of 48. However, the state average for post-secondary readiness as it pertains to work-based learning is 25, and Boyer Valley received a rating of 74.
Christiansen believes that this is a number that will always be different based on each senior class, and also that the college credit number is from two years ago, which is a year behind everything else.
“Boyer Valley has a very good work-based learning program,” Christiansen said. “... I think that number will fluctuate with each given senior class, because each one will have a different focus. That number is going to be the harder one to stabilize, but we're hoping we can keep it as high as we can.”
Since the embargo on the ratings just came off, Christiansen hasn't talked about them much with faculty and staff yet. Some key items he had written down, though, was to continue to improve attendance and increase the amount of students taking college credits. Boyer Valley was also well above state average when it comes to growth and proficiency in math, science and language arts, which is a trend Christiansen would like to see continue.
“In the last two years, our teachers have done a great job of focusing on student achievement,” Christiansen said. “... That has been huge for us to get to a high performing status. Last year we had a huge jump in the proficiency and growth, and we were able to maintain it and still grow this year.”
Other Harrison County schools' ratings
Logan-Magnolia
Logan-Magnolia Elementary School – Commendable
Logan Magnolia Jr./Sr. High – High performing
Missouri Valley
Missouri Valley Elementary School – Needs improvement
Missouri Valley Middle School – Acceptable
Missouri Valley High School – Commendable
West Harrison
West Harrison Elementary School – Commendable
West Harrison Middle/High School – High performing
Woodbine
Woodbine Elementary School – Commendable
Woodbine Middle/High School – Commendable
