Luxemburg-Casco continues to be among top school districts in area, state

LUXEMBURG, Wis. – The Luxemburg-Casco School District continued to be one of the highest-performing districts in Northeast Wisconsin and across the state based on the District Report Cards from 2023-24 released today by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

The district received an overall score of 73.9 for an Exceeds Expectations designation from DPI. More than one-third of its students (36.3%) were deemed Advanced learners in Mathematics, while nearly one in five of L-C students (18.1%) were Advanced in English Language Arts (ELA). Over the past decade (since 2013-14), there has been steady growth in those numbers, nearly tripling in Math (from 12.7%) and more than doubling in ELA (from 8.0%).

The L-C score of 81.4 in Achievement ranked the district among the top seven percent of Wisconsin districts.

“Congratulations to our teachers and students for continuing to demonstrate the highest levels of academic performance in the area and state,” says District Superintendent Jo-Ellen Fairbanks, Ph.D. “There has been a standard of excellence established at Luxemburg-Casco, which has been met year after year. Teacher development, along with always trying to improve our practices, has driven strong academic results. Paired with our career-readiness programs and facilities, L-C has become a ‘destination district’ in Northeast Wisconsin for a quality education experience.”

Its overall accountability rating of 73.9 made Luxemburg-Casco one of 142 districts in Wisconsin to fall into the Exceeds Expectations category (among 421 Public School Districts). L-C ranked among the top 20% among state school districts, finishing 82nd of 421 districts.

Luxemburg-Casco additionally ranked high among the 38 school districts of the Cooperative Educational Service Agency for Northeast Wisconsin (CESA 7). Its strong academic performance was spurred by 83.4% of L-C students being proficient and advanced in Math on the Forward Exam, up from 69.9% last year, to finish third. Comparatively, at the state level 53.1% of students were proficient and advanced in Math.

L-C has been among the top seven CESA 7 districts in Math and ELA each of the last five years that DPI reported test scores. Its highest Math ranking was second in both 2020-21 and 2021-22, while it was second in ELA in 2020-21.

The Luxemburg-Casco Intermediate School continues to be the district’s highest-performing school – ranking No. 30 in Wisconsin among 1,685 school buildings in the state, and maintained its DPI designation of Significantly Exceeds Expectations with an overall score of 93.1. Its 92.7 Achievement score places it in the top 2% of K-5 schools in the state, including 100.0 in Math and 85.3 in ELA – 35.5 and 26.7 points higher than the state average, respectively.

Of the Intermediate School students, 85.9% were either Advanced or Meeting Expectations in Math – 31 points higher than the state average of 54.2%. Similarly, in ELA 73.7% of L-C pupils were Advanced or Met Expectations, which was 21 points ahead of the state average (52.0%).

District Learning Services Director Mike Snowberry points out that Luxemburg-Casco Intermediate School students are growing at a much higher level than their peers outside the district, as evidenced by top-level scores in DPI’s Growth category. L-C Intermediate students posted Growth scores of 100.0 in Math and 92.6 in ELA, both more than 25 points above the Wisconsin average of 66.0 in each category.

“Our Intermediate School has maintained its standard of being exceptional,” says Dr. Fairbanks. “I attribute that to the phenomenal job that our teachers do in transferring students from ‘learning how to read’ to ‘reading for learning’ – the comprehension component.”

High Achievement scores also continue to be a hallmark of the performance of Luxemburg-Casco Middle School, which increased its Achievement score to 82.4, up from 78.5 last year while again Meeting Expectations. Its Math (82.7) and ELA (82.0) Achievement scores each were more than 23 points above the state average.

Middle School student performance at the Advanced or Meeting level was particularly strong. A robust 82.7% were at one of the two upper levels in Math, and nearly half of students (45.5%) tested at the Advanced level – two-and-a-half times the state average of 20.1. In ELA, nearly three in four (74.9%) were Advanced or Meeting.

Luxemburg-Casco High School continued to Meet Expectations while improving its overall score by more than a full point over last year, to 58.1. Its On-Track to Graduation score was 88.0.

The High School’s Work-Based Learning Curriculum remains one of the most vibrant in Wisconsin. It had 25.1% of students (153 total) participate in a work-based learning program – nearly triple the state average of 8.5%. Additionally, nearly one in 10 L-C students (8.7%) earned at least one industry-recognized credential.

Snowberry notes that L-C meets the needs of its students, no matter what their future path is, saying, “For our college-bound students the district’s average ACT score rose to 20.7, second-highest in the last five years. I attribute some of that to the fact we have more students than ever taking rigorous, college-level courses while still in high school. We also continue to have a very dogged focus on career readiness and helping students to figure out what they want to do before leaving high school. We want to trigger their passion and flip that switch.”

There are no test scores within the DPI Report Cards issued for K4 through Grade 2. However, the high achievement level of Luxemburg-Casco Primary School is reflected in the district’s most recent third-grade reading scores (2023), which ranked in the top 11 percent of Wisconsin.

Accountability Report Cards report on the performance of all public schools and districts in Wisconsin. They include outcomes in four priority areas:

1. Achievement, which measures the level of knowledge and skills among students in the school compared to state and national standards, including a composite of English Language Arts and Mathematics performance
2. Growth, which measures year-to-year student progress on statewide tests, using a value-added model that seeks to control for circumstances beyond the influence of educators
3. Target Group Outcomes, which examines outcomes for students with the lowest test scores, promoting equity by helping districts to focus on learners who need the most support while also improving outcomes for all students
4. On-Track to Graduation, which indicates successful progress by students toward completing their K-12 education

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) releases its Accountability Report Cards in the fall of most years, utilizing data from the past year. More information on the District and School Report Cards is available at https://dpi.wi.gov/accountability/report-cards. Student learning in Grades 3-8 is assessed through the Wisconsin Forward Exam. Student progress toward college and career readiness is measured in Grades 9-10 through the ACT® Aspire® Summative Assessments. Grade 11 students take the ACT® test, an entrance exam used by many colleges and universities to make admissions decisions, for the measurement of student learning.

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The Luxemburg-Casco School District serves more than 2,000 Northeast Wisconsin students annually through four schools located on a single campus in Luxemburg: the Primary School (4K-2), Intermediate School (3-6), Middle School (7-8) and High School (9-12). The district maintains a strong tradition of academic and extracurricular excellence while preparing students to thrive in a global community. U.S. News & World Report in 2024 ranked L-C High School as a top 10 high school within the Green Bay metro area. Located between Green Bay, Door County and Lake Michigan, the educational community has been in existence since the early 1900s, with Luxemburg and Casco operating as separate districts until they merged in 1968. More information may be found at http://www.luxcasco.k12.wi.us/home. “We Are Spartans”