NOTE: Statewide assessments in Math, English Language Arts, and Science did not occur in South Dakota for 2019-2020 school year.
RCSD 51-4 Districtwide Academic Performance from 2016 to 2019 under Superintendent Simon:
The initial contract for RCAS' current Superintendent Simon began 7/1/2016 and ended 6/30/2019. During this same timeframe, RCSD 51-4 Academic Performance has DECLINED for three straight years. The results from the latest District Report Card 2018-2019 released 9/17/2019 by the SD Dept of Education is most aptly described as ABYSMAL. Academic performance in Math has dropped all three years, academic performance dropped in Science for the two years it was measured (not recorded in the 2016-2017 report), and academic performance was flat for English Language Arts (ELA). The academic performance results for all three subjects are well below State Averages. Further, student attendance is well below the State Average, and student chronic absenteeism is far greater than the State Average, both indicating "student disengagement" or "academic withdrawal" from RCSD 51-4. The conclusion is the current Superintendent and her Administrators are failing the students, parents, taxpayers and voters of RCSD 51-4. A NO vote on 2/25/2020 on the $189.553 million School Bond would send a clear message to the RCSD 51-4 Board of Education that current RCSD 51-4 Districtwide Academic Performance is unacceptable and the school district leadership must be replaced immediately! It is time to put the student's needs first which means a single-minded focus on academic performance built upon a fundamentally sound classical education!
EXHIBIT 15: RCSD 51-4 ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE LAST THREE YEARS (SOURCE: SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - 2018-2019 REPORT CARD)
EXHIBIT 16: RCSD 51-4 ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE VERSUS STATE AVERAGE (SOURCE: SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - 2018-2019 REPORT CARD)
EXHIBIT 17: RCSD 51-4 STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM VERSUS STATE AVERAGE (SOURCE: SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - 2018-2019 REPORT CARD)
RCSD 51-4 Districtwide Academic Performance (Full Report Cards):
2020-2021 Rapid City School District 51-4 Academic Report Card - COMING SOON
2019-2020 Rapid City School District 51-4 Academic Report Card - NO TESTING IN SOUTH DAKOTA
2018-2019 Rapid City School District 51-4 Academic Report Card
2017-2018 Rapid City School District 51-4 Academic Report Card
2016-2017 Rapid City School District 51-4 Academic Report Card
Only half of S.D. students proficient in English; less than half in math and science RCSD 51-4 Academic Performance results were the second LOWEST of 14 School Districts shown in the article (see Table)!
Rapid City School District below marks in some assessments
Report: Rapid City graduates unprepared for college
Educators struggle to reduce need for remedial classes in S.D. colleges
First Common Core High School Grads Worst-Prepared For College In 15 Years - the Class of 2019 is the first to "experience" all middle and high school years under Common Core “ACT is one of the best barometers of student progress, and our college-bound kids are doing worse than they have in the ACT’s history,” said Center for Education Reform CEO Jeanne Allen in a statement. These recent results are not anomalies, but the latest in a repeated series of achievement declines on various measuring sticks since Common Core was enacted.
9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination Up
Stick A Fork In Common Core—It’s Done
Building the Machine: The Common Core Documentary
Home-Schooling Taking Off While Public School Enrollment Declines RCAS and many other public school districts, have simply failed the schoolchildren, the parents, and the community for many years! Homeschooling and private schooling is filling the student needs as public schools refuse to fulfill their primary objective!
Questions voters should ask regarding RCSD 51-4 Academic Performance Failures:
(1) Would more money solve the districtwide academic failures? The answer is a resounding no, since under current Superintendent Simon in the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 budgets, the average budget expenditure per RCAS student is approximately $15,502 per student. Under the prior Superintendent Mitchell in the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 budgets, the average budget expenditure per RCAS student was approximately $13,219 per student. So under Superintendent Simon, the expenditure per student has increased 17.3% while student academic performance has declined every year during her tenure. The bottom line is more taxpayer money will not solve the systemic academic performance failures at RCSD 51-4.
(2) Does Stevens or Central High School recognize the academic title of valedictorian or salutatorian at their respective high school graduation ceremonies? The answer is no and they haven't recognized this academic standard of excellence since the Class of 1999! This is just another data point that RCSD 51-4 simply doesn't care about or prioritize academic performance.
(3) What is the true purpose of the STEAM2 Program introduced into some of the Middle Schools in the Fall 2018 and the remainder of the Middle Schools in the Fall 2019? Given that only 43% of RCSD 51-4 graduates are proficient in Math and only 37% of RCSD 51-4 graduates are proficient in Science, does it make any sense to implement an untested STEAM2 program at this time? At the Middle School level, STEAM2 mandates a significant REDUCTION in weekly instruction time from 250 minutes per week to only 150 minutes per week in Math, Science, English, and Social Studies. How in the world is reducing instruction time by 100 minutes per week in these subjects going to do anything but further REDUCE failing RCSD 51-4 Academic Performance? Also keep in mind that the majority of STEAM2 course offerings were previously offered at the Middle Schools as extracurricular activities so this is an exercise in "recycling." There is nothing new under the sun.
(4) Please read this heartfelt letter from a local mother who describes in detail the insidious and destructive nature of the Common Core curriculum which is used exclusively in almost all academic courses in RCSD 51-4. The blame for failing student standardized test results rests solely with the South Dakota Department of Education and the “leadership” of RCSD 51-4. Prediction: there will be exactly zero improvement in these abysmal student test scores until Common Core is repealed in its entirety in South Dakota, something that neither of these organizations are even discussing. Talk about denial and a complete lack of leadership and accountability to the students, parents, and taxpayers!
