SAULT STE. MARIE — Sault Area Schools has kicked off the new school year with an annual report showing important statistics and areas of growth for students.
The PA-25 report, or the Michigan Public Act 25 report, is an annual requirement for public schools in the state to show the progress and development of educational programs. Sault Superintendent Amy Kronemeyer delivered the district’s report during the school board meeting on Monday, Sept. 8. The report highlighted the strengths and challenges in the district over the last three years.
Post-graduation paths
According to the report, Sault students who have recently graduated are more likely now to enroll in post-secondary education. In total, 57.1% of the Class of 2024 and 62.1% of the Class of 2023 enrolled in college or another type of further education within six months of graduating. This is an improvement over the Class of 2022, when 46.9% of graduates went on to higher education within six months post-graduation.
Some of this increase can be attributed to the district’s Career Center and the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that help connect students with real work experience. A vast majority of students from the CTE program have stated their intention of getting either a two- or four-year degree after high school, with others planning on secondary school or apprenticeships.
“Not all students go into the program they experience but they get to try it here first and it saves them money having work-based experiences and having a CTE program to help them decide what they like and what they don’t like,” said Kronemeyer.
The Class of 2025 boasted a 93.5% graduation rate. In the 2024-25 school year, Sault students took 950 credits from Lake Superior State University, saving over $400,000 in tuition costs and earning $75,000 more in scholarships. Those who don’t plan on going to college may already have had their careers planned out, as 190 students earned CTE certificates.
In fact, Sault students are more prepared than ever to join the workforce, with 829 work-based learning experiences logged and 366 industry-recognized credentials earned.
Highs and lows in testing
Statistics for the past three years show a trend of improvement in some academic areas and a decrease in others. Reading and math scores have both improved in the last year, but social studies scores dropped. Science scores remained neutral.
Students were judged by their scores on the SAT exam and the state’s M-STEP test. The 2024-25 results showed:
“We are really pleased with the results that we saw in terms of improvement from the prior year,” said Kronemeyer. “With all the efforts to improve in language arts and math we are seeing a dip in science and we need to realign our curriculum. We have had significant conversations about making sure that our kids are taking the full scope of hard sciences. They are taking the required sciences but maybe not giving themselves the best opportunities to score proficient on the science test.”
Younger grade levels saw overall improvements in social studies and science, and stayed at around average in English. Math saw decreases in proficiency in grades 3, 7 and 8.
Attendance, services and more
One area that has been steadily improving is attendance. Attendance rates dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have been steadily increasing each year since. Last year, there was a 90% attendance rate at the high school. According to the report, chronic absenteeism has dropped as well, with 35% of students being regularly absent last year compared to 49% in 2022.
Other statistics included in the report show that 17.9% of students have a diagnosed disability and 40.5% of those students require some form of speech and language services. This can be made more difficult since 60% of students in kindergarten and first grade are reported as economically disadvantaged.
The report also revealed a teacher-to-student ratio of one teacher for every 6.9 students.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Highs and lows: Annual report highlights strengths, challenges for Sault Area Schools
Reporting by Brendan Wiesner, Sault Ste. Marie News / The Sault News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
