First, the good news.

According to Waukee school board member Cindi McDonald, a majority of students in the Waukee school district are performing well above state standards.

The bad news? There is always room for improvement.

At Monday night's meeting of the Waukee Board of Education, board members voted to approve goals recommended by the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC), a board of 40 appointed parents and faculty members from the Waukee district charged with establishing student achievement goals for the upcoming year.

The board was presented with and approved the following district-wide goals for the 2012-13 school year:

• Increase the percentage of 7th grade students who score proficient or above on the Iowa Assessments Mathematics test.
• Increase the percentage of 9th grade students who score proficient or above on the Iowa Assessments Reading test.
• Increase the percentage of 6th grade students who score proficient or above on the Iowa Assessments Science test.

McDonald distributed additional goals for the upcoming school year broken down by individual schools. The goals, both academic and behavioral, are set based on data from the previous school year. These include decreasing the average number of tardies per student at Waukee High School; decreasing the percentage of students with six or more office and/or classroom referrals at South Middle School; and increasing the percentage of parents who feel their child is provided opportunities to demonstrate leadership skills at Brookview Elementary, among others.

According to McDonald, the district achieved the goals set by the SIAC for the 2011-2012 school year.