NEWS

Maher: 'We can do better'

Sioux Falls schools have some areas they need to work on according to a group tasked with redrafting the district's strategic plan

Patrick Anderson
panderson@argusleader.com
Brian Maher

At a glance

  • Sioux Falls public school officials are revising the district’s strategic plan.
  • Data released as part of the planning process emphasizes areas for improvement, including gaps in graduation rates and third-grade math and reading scores.
  • A steering committee of educators is going through the information highlighted by a Boston-based consulting firm and prioritizing which problems deserve the most attention.

Low-income students are less likely to graduate on time than other Sioux Falls high school students.

Third-graders are lagging behind the rest of the state when it comes to reading.

And teacher turnover rates have nearly tripled.

All of these troubling trends were highlighted in a presentation this month as Sioux Falls public school leaders overhaul the district’s long-term goals for classrooms and students. The push to revise the Sioux Falls School District's strategic plan began shortly after the arrival of Superintendent Brian Maher, who took over in July as Sioux Falls’ top administrator.

Some of the information gathered during the early stages of the process has been eyebrow-raising, Maher said.

“Gut-level and overly simplistic: We can do better,” Maher said.

A 59-slide PowerPoint presentation created by the District Management Council, a Boston-based company hired by school officials in July, is one of the initial steps in an extensive plan to improve learning for Sioux Falls’ students.

School board members received an update Monday about progress on the strategic planning effort.

What needs improving at S.F. schools?

Officials have appointed a steering committee made up of school board members and educators to review the company’s findings and propose answers, also relying on input from parents and community members. Solutions to the learning gaps and hiring struggles mentioned in the extensive report are still months away, Maher said.

School board member Doug Morrison serves on the steering committee. He said the group is still brainstorming key areas to focus on for the district’s long-term goals.

“Eventually you have to get to an agreement on what we want to work on,” Morrison said. “And then put plans in place.”

Re-writing the Sioux Falls district’s strategic plan is expected to take about six months.

The report from the District Management Council includes demographic information, including a steady increase in enrollment, wavering per-pupil spending rates and the lack of diversity among teachers. Just 3 percent of Sioux Falls instructors are non-white.

As South Dakota faces a teacher shortage, its biggest school district has experienced an increase in the turnover rate among teachers. Sioux Falls’ teacher turnover rate has nearly tripled since 2010, increasing from 2 percent to 5.8 percent, according to the report.

“There are two big pieces when it comes to that work force,” Maher said. “One is to be able to attract a quality work force, and the second piece there is to be able to retain that quality work force once you have them.”

The presentation also included classroom data. It touched on some successes, such as better-than-average proficiency rates for middle school students, but Sioux Falls students are struggling in other areas.

Graduation rates hang just below the state average at 82 percent and the likelihood of finishing high school in four years is even worse for some students. While 87 percent of white students in Sioux Falls graduated in 2014, rates suffered for almost every other sub-group.

Native Americans were the least likely to graduate on time, with just 38 percent earning a diploma. The rates were higher for non-native English speaking students and low-income students, but still worse than the rest of the district and state.

Despite success among middle school students, some of the district’s youngest students are falling short when it comes to math and reading. Third-graders in Sioux Falls had lower proficiency rates than their peers across South Dakota.

“That speaks to a readiness issue,” Maher said. “Are our kids ready for school? And what can we do to help our kids in those earliest years?”