May 22, 2012
Dear Families,
To help achieve MPS’ vision of every child college and career ready, we wish to share in‐depth school performance information to increase transparency, provide equitable access to information and – most importantly – support and encourage family engagement in our school improvement efforts.
MPS monitors the performance of each school through a comprehensive accountability system. We also use other state and federal performance measures to understand how our schools can better meet students’ needs. We know that each of our schools has room to gain better results for students and accomplishments to celebrate. We are working with urgency to implement gap‐closing strategies, especially at schools that have the farthest to grow, and to raise academic achievement for all students.
We want to help families better understand the school performance measures we use to help make our
schools stronger. For that reason, we are excited to launch two new performance tools to help you learn
more about the progress we are making at your school and across the school district:
MPS Online Scorecard: This online tool allows you to see how we are progressing as a whole toward school district goals and how performance varies within the school district. View the scorecard
online at http://mpsscorecard.mpls.k12.mn.us.
School Progress Reports: This report shows the progress each school has made on the same measures, indicates how individual schools are performing and shares the strategies schools are
using to improve their outcomes and/or continue their high performance. View the school progress
reports online at http://mpls.k12.mn.us/performance.
I believe these accountability tools will help us in our work to become a more transparent and data‐driven school district. Having quick access to rich data in an easy to understand format will only enhance our work to fully implement my top priorities ‐ focused instruction and teacher evaluation.
In February, Minnesota learned that it was one of 11states to receive a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. I am intentionally informing you about MPS’ new performance measurement tools on the same day that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is releasing its new performance ratings and designations for 2012‐14. More information about MDE’s new ratings and designations is attached to this page. With the release of our new tools, you will have quick access to more district and school performance data than ever before.
Your school does not have a new state/federal performance designation at this time.
Bernadeia H. Johnson, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
No single factor should be used to measure a school’s performance. We hope these new tools will help you better understand the progress of MPS and our schools. We need you to continue to be engaged in your child's academic progress. It is always important to look at your child’s test scores and other class work and talk with your child’s teacher and principal to learn more about their efforts to meet your child’s needs.
Every child deserves to attend a great school. It is my priority to ensure that every neighborhood has strong school, every school has strong school leaders and every student has an effective teacher. Thank you for engaging in your child’s education and for supporting the success of Minneapolis Public Schools.
Sincerely,
Bernadeia H. Johnson
Superintendent of Schools
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