Aug Prep Achieves Five-Star Status on Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Report Card
Milwaukee, November 16, 2021 – St. Augustine Preparatory Academy (Aug Prep), a high-performing K4- 12 non-denominational Christian school located in Milwaukee’s south side, achieved five-star status on the State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) report card. This is the highest ranking possible, indicating the school significantly exceeds academic expectations. As a result, Aug Prep is in the top 2% of all schools in the city (#6 of 264 total schools) and scores the highest among schools who serve grades K4-12 in the State of Wisconsin.
With 94% of Aug Prep students participating in the Wisconsin state assessments in spring 2021, the report card noted a growth score of 96.3 out of 100, exceeding 98% of other schools across Wisconsin.
The state also recently released spring of 2021 statewide ACT data with Aug Prep’s current senior class of 2022 achieving almost twice the national average (pre-covid) of ACT composite growth. Their official average composite ACT score was 17.1, representing 4.7 points of growth during their first three years at Aug Prep. This compares to Milwaukee Public Schools average of 14.3 and a Wisconsin Hispanic student average of 16.3.
“We are incredibly proud of our student’s growth, hard work, and perseverance, especially during what was a difficult year,” said Abby Andrietsch, chief executive officer of Aug Prep. “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Aug Prep teachers and staff remained steadfast in their efforts to serve our students and families and continue to foster an environment where our young learners thrive academically, physically, creatively, and within their faith. A five-star rating is validation of what we have long known – that the focus and rigors of Aug Prep are purposeful and driven to unlock the potential of our students. But beyond rankings, Aug Prep is simply a special place where our students, families, teachers and staff come together to equip and empower our students to thrive in life and be the leaders of tomorrow.”
As part of the state accountability system, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction releases report cards for every publicly funded school and district in Wisconsin. These report cards include data on multiple indicators for multiple years across four priority areas: achievement, growth, target group outcomes, and on-track graduation. The report cards are intended to help schools use performance data to improve their efforts to prepare students for their futures and can be found online.
This year, AugPrep’s report card is listed under the name “Achieving Academic Excellence,” the founding legal entity name for Aug Prep, which was officially changed to St. Augustine Preparatory Academy earlier this year.
Persevering through Adversity
Though the 2020-2021 academic year created tremendous pressures on our community, Aug Prep persevered thanks to an unwavering commitment to its mission and the resiliency of its students, parents, and staff. Last spring, Aug Prep graduated 77 students in its first senior class. Of the inaugural class, 100 percent were accepted to a 2- or 4-year college or university and received nearly $7 million in scholarship offers. This includes more than 50 percent of last year’s seniors who were accepted to Marquette University.
During the pandemic, Aug Prep incorporated increased safety protocols to keep students safe while giving the instruction they needed to excel. Due in part to this innovation and proactivity, Aug Prep was one the first schools in Milwaukee to return to in-person. As a partner to schools throughout the community, Aug Prep shared its COVID safety plan and systems with 19 schools, seven networks, allowing 8,500 kids in the Milwaukee area to get back to school faster. More importantly, recognizing the tremendous needs of our community, throughout the pandemic, Aug Prep served or delivered more than 179,010 meals to students and families, helping make sure hunger was not a deterrent to families’ health and wellbeing.
About St. Augustine Preparatory Academy
St. Augustine Preparatory Academy (Aug Prep) is a K4-12 non-denominational Christian school located in Milwaukee’s south side at 2607 South 5th Street. Serving nearly 1,500 predominantly low-income students of color, Aug Prep is a student-centered environment where young learners take ownership of their education not only in academics, but also physical health, creativity, and faith. Graduates of Aug Prep will go on to achieve their highest potential and make our city, and ultimately the world, a better place.
To learn more about academics at Aug Prep, visit augprep.org.
