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GIPS State Report Card Shows Upward Trajectory & Continued Focus Areas

Kindergarten teacher at West Lawn Elementary smiling at a table with students showing them their worksheet.

November 27, 2024


A Message from Matt Fisher, GIPS Superintendent

Each day our educators — teachers and support staff alike — show-up to do the ever important work of inspiring students in the classroom.  Part of that work also includes opportunities throughout the year to see both the growth and areas of improvement we have in our district. 

The Nebraska Department of Education released their annual reporting of public schools assessment performance on November 27th.  Each year their reporting systems (NSCAS and AQuESTT) give Grand Island Public Schools (GIPS) an opportunity to look at the previous school year’s data to see performance and improvement areas in our schools.

While these yearly reports do not cover all we do in our schools, they are a helpful tool for us at GIPS as we continue our work of educating students to grow and succeed.

What is NSCAS & AQuESTT?

NSCAS stands for the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System.  AQuESTT stands for Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow.  Both are accountability standards developed by the Nebraska Department of Education and the Federal Government.

NSCAS and AQuESTT provide a measure of how our students are performing and demonstrating growth on Nebraska State Standards in English Language Arts, Math, and Science.

What does the school classification mean?

AQuESTT considers the broader educational experiences and success of each student, not just performance on mandated assessments. Student growth and improvement over time are just as important.  AQuESTT provides classifications for all schools in Nebraska annually.  Each school is placed into one of the following four categories:

  • Excellent
  • Great
  • Good
  • Needs Support to Improve

The assessments used in AQuESTT measures the progress during the previous year.  So, each school’s scores reflect the data from the 2023-2024 school year.

Our full district snapshot may be found on the Nebraska Department of Education’s website HERE.  (Be sure to select the 2023-24 school year at the top.)

What do classifications look like across GIPS?

Overall, we saw notable proficiency rate improvements at every school and have lowered the number of schools receiving the “Needs Support to Improve” classification. 

Our 2023-24 report card (based on last year’s assessments) shows:

  • “Great” GIPS Schools - 1
  • “Good” GIPS Schools - 15
  • “Needs Support to Improve” GIPS Schools - 2 

A few other notable growth points for our district include:

  • Half of our schools improved with less chronic absenteeism.

  • 15 of our schools improved in Science proficiency.

  • 13 of our schools showed growth in overall proficiency for English Language Learners.

Every GIPS School improved in at least one measured proficiency rate.  We are proud to see the continued upward trajectory for our students. 

Also, our continued upward trajectory, no matter how incremental, affirms for us that our teachers, support staff, academic coaches, curriculum coordinators, and Principals are doing a wonderful job of educating our students.  We want to keep our positive momentum going year after year.

What is our focus going forward? 

  1. While eight of our schools showed improved proficiency in English Language Arts and Math, we need to continue making those core competencies a primary focus districtwide.


  2. Our four year graduation rate is at 82.46%.  We want to keep working towards supporting our staff to improve the outcome of all students at the high school level.  Expect to hear more from us soon on how we plan to be more proactive in preparing our Graduates for life after high school.


  3. Tackling Chronic Absenteeism will be a theme across our district for the foreseeable future.  We are proud to see the improvements we made in the last year with having better overall attendance, but we still have work to do to get where we want to be.  Again, you will hear more from us soon regarding our efforts towards better attendance. 


We will be sharing a more in-depth report on our annual assessments at our next Board of Education Meeting at 5:30 p.m. on December 12th at the Kneale Administration Building.  As always, we invite our community and those interested in learning more about our Academic pursuits to join us or watch the live stream on the Grand Island Public Schools YouTube Page.

The work is never done at GIPS but we are proud of the growth we see in our classrooms.  Positive momentum is building and our commitment to providing high-quality learning experiences for our students drives our staff every day. 

- Matt Fisher
Superintendent, Grand Island Public Schools

#WeAreGIPS