Today the Ohio Department of Education released the annual Ohio School Report Cards.
“We’re pleased with our performance in K-3 literacy, as are many schools across the state,” says Lorain City Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham. “This is great news. At the same time, there are many areas we need to look at more deeply to understand how the data was calculated this year.
“For instance, when we look at Value Added, we know that the score is impacted by End of Course (EOC) exams data this year,” continued Graham. “The good news is that our students have multiple opportunities to pass the EOCs to meet their graduation requirements. The bad news is now our measurements are off balance because of it. If I’m a student who passes it on the first try, I’m only going to take the exam that one time, and my passing score counts one time. If I’m a student who underperforms on the test and it takes me multiple times to pass - each failing score counts against the district score. Now, we could raise our state report card scores by limiting the number of times a student takes the EOC exams, but that isn’t the right thing for kids. Instead, we need to do a better job of providing remediation between test attempts, which the high school has been proactive in putting into place for this year.
“Since this is the first year in which negative EOC retakes are included in our Value Added score, they are weighted much heavier; therefore we expect our Value Added scores to be much higher moving forward.”
Districts and schools were graded on six components for the 2016-2017 school year. The components are Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation Rate, K-3 Literacy and Prepared for Success. Districts and schools received A-F grades on each of the six components and most of the individual measures.
The Lorain City Schools received a C in K-3 Literacy, a C in K-3 Literacy Improvement, a D in Performance Index Scores, and an F in remaining areas(please indicate the areas where we are failing as well and state that our overall score remains an F). More information about the components can be found here.
"It takes two data points to initiate a trendline and right now our trendline indicates that we are not meeting the needs of our students. However, there are bright spots and tons of opportunities for us to grow. The context surrounding these results will really help us to evaluate where we are,” shared CEO David Hardy Jr. “We’re a district with many challenges, but from what I’ve seen in my short time here, there is an opportunity to turn things around in a big way if we put our students first. All of our students can achieve. The work will be hard and at times we will disagree with the right path forward. At the end of the day, we will find a way for all of our students, regardless of their circumstances, to unlock their full potential. We have a lot work to do, and I am confident that this district will turn this around because we care so much about our children’s future. We need the city of Lorain on board to ensure they get there.”
Lorain City Schools CEO David Hardy Jr. presented an update on the 90-Day Entry plan at the Lorain Academic Distress Commission Meeting on Thursday, September 7, 2017. In alignment with House Bill 70, the Lorain City Schools has completed its initial community engagement process within the 30 day deadline of the law by conducting an initial listening tour and review of existing processes, practices, and student data as of September 7, 2017.
Next up the district will engage staff and the community in the development of a draft improvement plan that is deeply grounded in student and teacher experience and data on school quality, instruction, and equity, by October 22, 2017. The draft plan will be available online October 22, 2017 and a community town hall meeting will commence to discuss the draft and provide feedback to the district.
The district will then continue tow partner with staff and community members to refine the improvement plan to be presented to the Commission by November 6, 2017.
Find the grades and other data for all schools and districts, including community and other schools, at reportcard.education.ohio.gov.