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Measuring What Matters
Each year, the School Board measures key metrics to monitor academic progress and operations at Eden Prairie Schools. To improve communication, the School Board has developed “Measuring What Matters” to provide visibility and transparency into the progress at Eden Prairie Schools.
The School Board hopes that “Measuring What Matters” will give the community concise, timely, and relevant information on the performance of our schools.
Third Grade Reading and Individual Growth Metrics: 2023-24 School Year
Introduction
Before reviewing student results for the 2023-24 school year, here is some background on how the board measures and monitors them. The Board is accountable to the state and District owners for the District’s performance. The Board is responsible for setting policies which state the results for students the Board expects to see accomplished by the District. We call these our “Ends” policies. The Superintendent is responsible for students achieving reasonable progress for each Ends Policy.
The timeline for Board monitoring of the Ends Policies is as follows.
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For example, the Eden Prairie School Board formally reviews student achievement including third grade reading and individual growth metrics each year when Ends Policies 1.2 and 1.3 are monitored. Ends policy 1.2 states: “Each student is reading at grade level by the end of third grade.” Ends policy 1.3 states: Each student achieves individual growth expectations and proficiency annually in, but not limited to, Language Arts, Math, and Science.
During the monitoring process the Superintendent provides evidence to support whether reasonable progress has or has not been achieved. Studies show that in third grade students transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. If students are not reading at grade level in third grade it can negatively impact their academic achievement in future years, so the Board continues to prioritize this goal in its policies. In Eden Prairie, we know that each student must possess strong skills in English language arts, math, and science to excel in all other academic areas. In addition to English language arts, math, and science, it is our goal that all students will perform at or above grade level in all content areas, including business, fine or applied arts, health, physical education, social studies, technology, and world language. Therefore, it is important to ensure that each student’s proficiency grows annually as needed for them to achieve expectations for their grade level.
Data
The data for the 2023-24 school year was presented to the Board on September 23, 2024.
The data presented can be reviewed in the appendices a and b below or in the monitoring reports for Ends Policies 1.2 and 1.3.
While the Eden Prairie School District’s performance is above average for the state of Minnesota, we believe in setting high expectations. For the 2023-24 school year the Superintendent asserted, and the board agreed that reasonable progress was not made as targets were not achieved for these policies.
School Board’s Perspective on the Data
There are many factors that impact student achievement. For example, 2023-24 third grade students were in kindergarten during the 2020-21 school year meaning their early literacy learning may have been negatively impacted by the disruptions resulting from the COVID pandemic. This makes monitoring their growth in future years even more important to ensure that they recover academically.
When reasonable progress has not been made, what happens next? The board requires the Superintendent to come back with a thorough report of actions being taken in the classroom to improve student achievement. On February 24, 2025 the board received an extensive report of programs and strategies being implemented to improve student achievement at all grade levels. You can watch this presentation beginning at the 38 minute mark of the February 24 board meeting video.
For approximately 2-½ hours, the board learned about the work being done in every classroom by every teacher to ensure that each student achieves their potential academically. The specifics are too numerous to mention. The guiding principles of the district’s continuous improvement work are:
- Clarity and Intentionality – there are many approaches that could be taken but which are the best for Eden Prairie students and educators.
- Conditions for Learning – taking care of first things first – making sure students and staff have what they need.
- Professional Development – improving our capacity.
- Partnerships – connections among students, staff, families and the community. School improvement is a team sport.
The board is grateful for the hard work and commitment of district staff to the success of each student. Although the achievement of Eden Prairie students is above average for the state of Minnesota, we set a higher standard. Improving student achievement is not easy and we look forward to seeing the results of the extraordinary work happening in every classroom every day.
The board will be approving targets for the 2025-26 school year at our June 23, 2025 meeting and reviewing results for the 2024-25 school year at our September 22, 2025 meeting.
Appendix A – Ends Policy 1.2 Data
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Appendix B – Ends Policy 1.3 Data
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Past Measuring What Matters updates
- A Rigorous, Broad-Based Education
- Financial Planning & Budgeting: 2020-21 School Year
- Graduation Rate Metrics: 2020-21 School Year
- Graduation Rate Metrics: 2021-22 School Year
- Graduation Rate Metrics: 2022-23 School Year
- Third Grade Reading Metrics: 2020-21 School Year
- Third Grade Reading Metrics: 2021-22 School Year
- Third Grade Reading Metrics: 2022-23 School Year
- Financial Planning & Budgeting: 2023-24 School Year
