Schools get new state report cards

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With more and more school districts across the state improving performance on the former state report card system, the Ohio Department of Education, of course, decided this year to change the rules. With the changes, school districts across the state are again struggling to determine what is needed to do well on the new report card system.

“The 2012–2013 Ohio School Report Cards are the beginning of a new era of greater accountability and higher expectations for Ohio’s schools,” said Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Richard A. Ross. “Moving to a system of A–F letter grades on a broader range of measures will make it clearer for educators, parents and taxpayers to see how their schools are performing.”

No one school district “aced” this first test, since none received an A on all nine components of the test. Doing so could be even more difficult down the road, as the new report card system will provide grades on 17 items in six component areas by August 2015.

The three Van Wert County school districts all did reasonably well on the test, with all three, for the most part, scoring As and Bs on the traditional portions of the test –- although all three did struggle with the new value-added components of the test.

Van Wert City Schools met 23 of 24 of the performance indicators (state tests) as part of the achievement component of the test for an A, while receiving a 98.9 performance index score for a B. The district also received As for its graduation rates (95.8 percent after four years and 97.5 percent after five years), while garnering a B on the annual measureable objectives component, which measures academic performance of specific groups of students, such as racial and demographic groups, statewide.

The district didn’t do as well on the value-added portion of the report card, receiving a C overall and Cs on value-added for disabled students and those in the lowest 20 percent based on economics. Van Wert garnered a D for value-added for gifted students.

Crestview also met 23 of 24 state indicators for an A, and also received a B on its performance index of 102.6. The district also earned As on its four- and five-year graduation rates (98.6 and 97.3, respectively), and received an A overall for its value-added grade. Crestview did struggle with the individual value-added grades, though, receiving Cs for gifted and disabled value-added and a D for the lowest 20 percent economic category. The district also received a C for the annual measurable objectives category.

Lincolnview earned a B for meeting only 21 of 24 state indicators – the district’s lowest showing in years – and also received a B on its performance index (99.7). Lincolnview also struggled on the value-added portion, earning Cs across the board in that component area, and also scored a C on the annual measurable objectives component.

Meanwhile, although county school officials will now have to work on improving their test scores for the coming year, when overall grades will be issued, as well as 2015, when a K-3 literacy component will be added, the Ohio Department of Education must also improve how it disseminates the information. The ODE should have received a D-minus, at least, for the problems most media and school officials had in obtaining the information from the state agency’s website.

The interest from Ohioans in seeing the new report card results overwhelmed the website, making it nearly impossible to access report card information for most of Thursday. Although superintendents were supposed to receive an email telling them when the results would be available, both Van Wert Superintendent Ken Amstutz and Lincolnview Superintendent Jeff Snyder said they had not received an email by late Thursday afternoon. Crestview Superintendent Mike Estes was out of the office on Thursday.

Comments from the three county school superintendents will be in Saturday’s independent.

Vantage Career Center also received a state report card score this year, although only graduation rates and how well vocational schools kept track of student placement were scored this year. Vantage received As for its four- and five-year graduation rates, but fell to a C on how well it tracks placement of students after graduation. Superintendent Staci Kaufman said at the last Vantage Board of Education meeting that tracking students after graduation is often difficult, since students often move away from the area after graduating and don’t respond to requests for information from the school.