{"id":55632,"date":"2014-09-16T07:55:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=55632"},"modified":"2014-09-17T07:35:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T12:35:21","slug":"local-school-officials-address-state-report-card-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2014\/09\/16\/local-school-officials-address-state-report-card-results\/","title":{"rendered":"School officials talk about report cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

Van Wert County school district officials had several comments to make on the recent State Report Card results released late last Friday.<\/p>\n

\"Crestview<\/a>Trent Kreischer, director of curriculum and instruction at Crestview Local Schools, which had the best marks of the three county districts, said a highlight for him was that Crestview improved in the gap-closing (AMO) portion of the report card.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause many small districts, including ours, do not have enough students to create all the possible subgroups, receiving an A on the AMO measure tougher to achieve,\u201d Kreischer said. \u201cWe worked very diligently to identify subgroups in AMO and remediate those students to the level of proficient and beyond. We did the same in targeting the value-added subgroups to provide additional intervention and enrichment for gifted (students).\u201d<\/p>\n

The only areas where Crestview did not ace the report card was in the subgroupings on the value-added portion of the test, where the district received Cs, and the Performance component, where the district earned a B.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we received an A in overall progress (district value-added), we are already looking a methods to improve our Cs in that group,\u201d Kreischer noted. \u201cStatistically speaking, a C represents an average of nearly \u2018one year\u2019s growth\u2019 for students; however, our goal is to excel to more significant growth that will push our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u00a0other area that didn\u2019t receive an A at Crestview was in the performance-based area, although Kreischer said he was pleased with the grade received, noting \u00a0it represented Crestview\u2019s highest score ever in this category.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo achieve an A in Performance Index, we estimate that we would need to have around 70 percent of our students in the Advanced and Accelerated categories on the OGT and OAAs,\u201d Kreischer explained. \u201cThis was achieved at the high school level, but was just short in the elementary and the junior high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kreischer said the district would continue to work in areas such as enrichment for upper level learners and data-driven, targeted instruction for all students to achieve a better performance grade.<\/p>\n

Kreischer added that he feels the district\u2019s State Report Card grades are a \u201cdirect reflection\u201d on the Crestview staff\u2019s extra time spent on professional development that allowed staff members to be up on current standards and instructional techniques, as well as their willingness to teach and help individual students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased with our results and all the hard work that our teachers have put in, but we know we have deficiencies to improve on for our students,\u201d Kreischer concluded. \u201c Our main goal this year will be to target those areas, as well as continue to maintain the scores we have in our areas of strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Wert Superintendent Ken Amstutz said he was also pleased with the districts overall grades on the State Report Card, but did note there were areas such as value-added and fifth-grade achievement the district plans to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, things overall look pretty good,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Amstutz noted that the gifted area of the State Report Card\u2019s value-added category has been a problem for the district for some time, but that staff members are continuing to work on that area. Achievement testing at the fifth-grade level is a statewide problem, he noted, but added that testing requirements in that area may be at least part of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a lot to do with the change of the dynamics of the test, of the expectations, and a change on how they administer it,\u201d Amstutz said of the fifth grade achievement tests, but also added \u201cwe\u2019re getting closer\u201d in finding a handle to get fifth-grade results more in line with the district\u2019s other results.<\/p>\n

Van Wert met all of its indicators except those for fifth-grade reading, math and science.<\/p>\n

Amstutz said the district faces more challenges than its smaller, and more rural, county counterparts, largely because of the greater number of economically disadvantaged students in the district (54.1 percent of VWCS students are considered economically disadvantaged). The link between poverty and academic achievement was also a highlight of state education officials\u2019 comments on this year\u2019s State Report Card results, where it was noted that, overall, students who were economically disadvantaged did worse on tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomics and academic achievement go hand-in-hand,\u201d the Van Wert superintendent said, but also noted he felt Van Wert\u2019s scores were \u201cstacking up\u201d with more affluent districts in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, our people are doing a tremendous job,\u201d Amstutz said. \u201cWe\u2019re really doing what we should be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Lincolnview Local Schools had the lowest grades of the three districts on this year\u2019s State Report Card, Superintendent Jeff Snyder said the district has been taking steps to rectify the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the school district of the Lincolnview community, we realize where we are and where we want to get to, and we have spent a lot of time this past school year reorganizing and developing a new foundation for improvement,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cWith new standards comes new accountability, plus more report card measures for our students and teachers. Like many districts, we are all trying to understand the new report card with additional measures and then break down our weaknesses and complement our strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting that the district received a B in performance and a C in indicators met (Lincolnview met 18 of 24 indicators, versus 21 for Van Wert and 23 for Crestview), Snyder said the results meant his district has more areas for growth, but added: \u201cI really believe our teachers and administrators are up for the challenge on striving for higher results.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lincolnview superintendent outlined a number of areas the district has focused on recently, or is focusing on, including:<\/p>\n