APS Sees District Wide Increases in School Index Scores
Alpena Public Schools recently received their School Index scores, seeing an improvement across the district. The report shows federally required school accountability measures coming from the “Every Student Succeeds Act” of 2015. This aims to measure student growth compared to targets in multiple components. While the district saw increases in many schools, Thunder Bay Junior High had the highest increase in student growth and Overall Index Score. APS communications director, Lee Fitzpatrick, explains the meaning behind these scores, “It means that kids are achieving academically, which is our core function. Kids need to learn and I think it’s an indicator that we’re pulling out of the fog of COVID, and hopefully we’re starting to recover from the damage it did to kids in general and education specifically.”
It has been a team effort to increase these scores. Multiple schools saw quite high increases, with Hinks Elementary improving their proficiency index score by over 36%, and Thunder Bay Junior High having a growth index score increase of nearly 97%. Fitzpatrick owes the success to the students and staff of the district, “We have a wonderful instructional staff and staff across the board working to try and make our schools a better environment for kids to learn. I think it indicates a lot of hard work on the part, of the staff, and good focus and effort on the part of our students and that’s what we look for.”
The district is proud of its dedicated students and staff for contributing to these scores and continuing to connect students to education. Students will return from winter break January 2nd for another semester of learning.
