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, Aug
Prep’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.