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September 19, 2025
GLPS Families,
Now that we are a month into the school year, the routines have set in, learning is happening in our classrooms, and the kids are engaging daily in experiences and activities that help ensure they are on their way to mastering the content they need to be successful now and in the future. To those ends, for my update today, I thought this would be a great time to share some data points with you that indicate the academic success that is happening throughout the district.
To start, as you may or may not know, each spring, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders take the PSAT, and 11th graders take the SAT. One huge measure of academic progress for a district is the growth that students show from one PSAT assessment to the next, and most importantly, the jump that they make between the PSAT 10 in tenth grade and the SAT in 11th. After all, the SAT is not only used for accountability purposes, but students use those SAT scores for college admission and scholarships. So with that in mind, I am pleased to share that not only does Grand Ledge High School consistently score well above the state average, but that we also far outperform the state average in growth. This means Grand Ledge High School students are learning more and growing more than the average student in the state Michigan, which is a direct result of the hard work, dedication, and expertise of our incredible high school staff and students, as well as the support of our families and community.
For our students in grades BK-8, a great measure of achievement and growth is the NWEA, which is taken three times a year and measures progress toward grade-level learning. It also serves as an excellent predictor of success on the statewide MSTEP assessment. District-wide, our students are far outperforming other districts across the state and the nation. In reading, our growth is in the 62nd percentile, which means that Grand Ledge students grow more than 62% of their peers. Reading achievement, or overall performance, jumped from the 60th percentile to the 66th, which means that on the fall test, GLPS students performed better than 60% of their peers, but by the spring, they performed better than 66%!
Even with that level of success, our math performance has been even better. We are in the 65th percentile for growth, meaning our kids grew more than 65% of their peers, and our achievement jumped from the 58th percentile in the fall to the 66th in the spring. Again, credit goes to all of the hard work, effort, and skills of our staff and students, as well as the support form our families and communities.
In future communications, I will focus on how we have made these gains and the efforts and energy that have been put into realigning our teaching and learning systems to maximize student growth and achievement. Our strategic plan highlights, elevates, and holds us accountable to growing learners and preparing students, and I am very proud of the work that our school community has done to build the instructional infrastructure to move our district forward. We still have work to do to ensure that all students learn and grow every day, but I appreciate the efforts from our team and the support from all of you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you and your students, and as always, I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools
