by Robert Recker
Senior Editor
More districts earned top ratings on the Ohio Report Cards this year than ever before. While some point to a change in scoring measures as a possible reason for the surge in high rankings, state school officials maintain it's a reflection of rising student achievement.
The report cards, which the Ohio Department of Education released to the public Aug. 26, saw 74 of 610 districts statewide receive the new top designation of "Excellent with Distinction," while 152 systems were labeled "Excellent," the top category in previous years' report cards.
Four districts in the Record Publishing Co. coverage area grabbed the "with Distinction" designation (Hudson, Stow-Munroe Falls, Tallmadge and Twinsburg), while three others took home the Excellent title (Aurora, Nordonia Hills and Woodridge).
Designations also include "Effective," "Continuous Improvement," Academic Watch" and "Academic Emergency." Cuyahoga Falls and Streetsboro were both tagged Effective.
State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman said she felt this year's report cards showed a "clear picture of student progress," with 85 percent of districts statewide earning a designation of "Effective" or higher, and 70 percent of individual school buildings earning that mark.
For the third year in a row, she said, no school districts were in Academic Emergency.
Designations are calculated using a handful of factors detailed in the report cards, including Performance Indicators, Performance Index and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress).
See the info boxes at the bottom of this story for more details on each component.
Matter of semantics?
More than a third (226) of all districts this year earned the Excellent or the new Excellent with Distinction designation, compared to 139 -- about one in five -- school systems last year that earned the previous top mark of Excellent.
During an Aug. 25 ODE press conference, several reporters questioned whether this sudden surge in top-rated schools reflected true academic improvement or were more a result of the state lowering its standards. According to report card data, students across the state actually scored lower in 17 of the 30 indicators, while improving their marks in only 12 categories, compared to last year.
"There are outside [measurements] that would validate this improved performance," said Zelman. For instance, she said, more Ohio students are taking the ACT and scoring higher, compared to previous years, even though ACT scores across the nation dropped last year.
"Designations may be the banner item that people focus on first when they look at a report card," said Paolo DeMaria, ODE associate superintendent of school options and finance, but "it is more important to look at the data over time."
Another area questioned was the new "Value-Added Measurement" that helped determine which "Excellent" districts received the "with Distinction" upgrade.
According to the ODE, the Value-Added factor analyzes only certain tests (reading and math in grades four through eight), measuring how each student has either improved or declined in their scores from year to year.
Districts receive a "plus" if students are raising test scores at a rate that exceeds state requirements (they are "above expected growth"), a "minus" if they are "below expected growth," or a "check" if they are "meeting expected growth."
Districts that earn pluses for two years in a row can have their overall designation bumped up to the next highest level. The ODE said 160 school systems this year earned this bonus designation hike, meaning 74 that were already labeled "Excellent" received the "with Distinction" title.
"We want to make sure we give adequate credit to those schools whose students are not meeting [proficiency requirements], but they are still making gains," DeMaria said of the Value-Added Measurement.
And he noted that while many school systems benefitted from the Value-Added scoring this year, next year, districts which get minuses three years in a row could see their designation drop.
"We know the potential will exist for some districts and schools to go down a rating," DeMaria said, but added "it's hard to tell" what that impact will be.
ODE officials also were questioned about the new "growth model" measurement used in determining the AYP component of report cards.
Under the growth model, explained an ODE press release, even if certain students fail to meet AYP requirements for their subgroup, if those students are projected to meet that requirement in future years, the state will "count" them as having obtained AYP for that year.
But when asked how the state would follow through with these forecasts to make sure students were, in fact, meeting AYP in future years, DeMaria said there would be "no attempt to validate ... the forecasts that are being made this year."
To see your school district's report card, visit www.PAPERNAMEHERE.com, find this story and click on the "Document" icon attached to it.
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Performance Index
This is an average of nearly all the students' test scores. This year's statewide rating of 92.3 (on a 0-120 scale) is slightly greater than last year's 92.1 score, but less than the highest mark in 2005-06 of 92.9. First reported in 1999-2000, Performance Index has increased about 25 percent from its initial statewide mark of 73.7.
Adequate Yearly Progress
This component takes test scores, test participation rates and graduation/attendance data and divides them into 10 subgroups, based on the test-taker's ethnicity, economic situation and any disabilities they have. Each subgroup must hit certain requirements for that district to reach AYP, and districts that do not reach AYP for consecutive years can have their report card designation reduced.
The ODE points out that some school districts may not have enough students of a certain subgroup, such as "Asian/Pacific Islander," to "count" that group toward AYP.
State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman said more school systems met AYP this year than last.
"We are making progress with a diverse group of students," she said.
Performance Indicators
A component of the state report cards since their inception about a decade ago, Indicators are "points" given to a districts if a certain percentage of students pass 28 different state tests, spread out from third to 11th grades, in various class subjects. An additional two Indicators can be earned if a district reaches a 93 percent attendance rate and a 90 percent graduation rate.
Excellent and Excellent with Distinction districts this year had to earn at least 28 of 30 Indicators, although other factors such as AYP and Performance Index could affect their designation. The state average for districts was 18 out of 30 Indicators.