COLUMBUS — Every year, the Ohio Department of Education releases a report card evaluating every public school and school district in the state based on the results of the previous school year. Traditional school districts are assessed in six different categories and given an overall grade.
These categories include student achievement, progress, gap closing, improvement among at-risk K-3 readers, high school graduation rates and whether students are prepared for success in the workforce, a technical field or college.
Achievement: A school’s achievement score is broken down into two sections. Schools get three-fourths of their achievement points based on how students perform on state tests. The remaining quarter is based on a hodge podge of factors—end-of-course improvement and gifted indicators, rates of chronic absenteeism and the sum of up to 23 state tests designed to determine if students are proficient or higher in a grade or subject.
Progress: The progress component measures student growth from year to year based on past state test performances. Students in grades 4 thru 8 take a variety of assessments; high school students must take English language arts and math exams. Groups that have made more than expected growth earn an A or B grade. Expected growth gets a C and less than expected growth results in a D or F grade.
According to Dan Minnich, ODE’s executive director of communications and outreach, schools that meet “expected growth” have “maintained their same relative position” with respect to the average school or district in the state. For example, if a class scored in the 60th percentile on a fourth grade math exam, then scored in the 60th percentile again on their fifth grade math exam the following year, the class met its expected growth.
Schools’ progress scores are measured in four “value-added” categories: overall student population (55 percent), gifted students (15 percent), students with disabilities (15 percent) and students in the lowest 20 percent of statewide achievement (15 percent).
Gap Closing: The gap closing category measures how schools are closing achievement gaps between students in different groups based on income, race, ethnicity, disability and a first language. Evaluators compare the academic performance of each subgroup against the expected goals for that subgroup, according to the ODE’s website. Expectations for each subgroup are set individually for each school district.
Minnich explained that Ohio’s long-term goal is to eliminate achievement gaps among students, and to reduce the achievement gap by 50 percent over the next couple of years.
“Some subgroups are starting further behind than others, so their interim performance index goals are based on their curent performance levels and increase each year,” he said.
Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers: In this category, elementary schools are rated based on the progress made by struggling readers. The grade is based on results from two assessments: a reading diagnostic given to all students in kindergarten through grade 3 at the beginning of the school year and Ohio’s third grade English language arts test given to students in grade 3 twice during the school year.
While most of the percentage grading for the report card follows conventional grading standards, state law requires the grade for the improving at-risk reader measure to be based on the previous year’s state average. This year, anything above 78 percent is an A, 55.9 thru 77.9 percent is a B, 33.8 percent thru 55.8 percent is a C, 11.7 percent to 33.7 percent is a D and less than 11.7 percent is an F.
Graduation Rate: For the graduation rate component, high schools earn 60 percent of their score based on their rate of students who graduate in four years or less, and the remaining 40 percent based on students who graduate in five years or less.
Prepared for Success: This score is calculated based on student qualifications. Districts or schools can earn one point for every student who earns either remediation-free scores on the ACT or SAT, an honors diploma or an industry credential in a high-demand career field. They can also earn an additional .3 points for every student who earns at least three points on an Advanced Placement test, at least four points on an International Baccalaureate test or three credits in a College Credit Plus course. This score was then divided by the number of students in the 2017 and 2018 graduating class.
While state report cards can provide a helpful overview of schools and districts, they don’t tell the whole story. A press release by the Ohio Department of Education encouraged visiting schools to talk with students, teachers, parents and graduates to more fully understand the educational environment.
Local educators agreed, with many saying that the rating system is too dependent on high stakes standardized testing.
“I’m not content with the district grade but I also feel it is not accurate nor indicative of our students or staff abilities. We showed some improvement in some areas and decline in others,” said Centerburg Superintendent Mike Hebenthal. “I’ll leave you with a question I ask all politicians I can...If the School Board of Centerburg created a policy that stated Centerburg would have no more homework, quizzes, tests or projects throughout the year and would give one three hour test in April or May (before we could cover all content) and that would be the final grade assigned to the students for the year, would you agree with that? I think we know everyone would agree it wouldn’t be fair.”
Minnich stated that report cards do reflect academic achievement and progress and that the data can provide educators with a powerful tool.
“Armed with information and data...our expectation is that all schools and districts commit to getting better and better in service of student success,” he said.
