Youngstown school district still not making the grade

Any way you cut it, Youngstown city schools are failing to show the kind of academic progress that would elicit a "well done" from the community. In the 2000-01 academic year, the district met five of 22 standards in the state proficiency test. In 2001-02, it met four of the standards. And the results of the 2002-03 academic year are expected to show only two of the 22 standards being achieved by the district.
However, Superintendent Ben McGee says it would be unfair to compare the latest results with previous ones because the scoring process was changed. That may well be, but the bottom line is this: Youngstown will remain in academic emergency. And that's not encouraging.
McGee says the likely decline in the number of standards met is attributable to the new state guidelines that include special-needs pupils' proficiency test scores in the district's overall test scores.
The superintendent contends that if the special-needs scores are excluded from the overall, six or seven of the 22 standards would be met.
"What this means is that you are not going to have an apples-to-apples comparison between years," McGee said. "I don't have a problem including special education students in the future ... Having this hoisted upon districts in one year doesn't give you the apples-to-apples comparison you would have had in previous years."
Not impressed
Fruit aside, McGee's analysis of the situation doesn't impress the spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education. To begin with, says J.C. Benton, the scores have not been finalized. But even if they had been, Benton contends that a district's failings cannot be blamed on how special-needs pupils fared.
"I don't think that schools can use the explanation that because special-needs students are included scores are going down," the state education department spokesman says. "Some districts are improving."
To repeat: Some districts are improving. But not Youngstown -- and that is cause for concern.
We are reminded of a letter to the editor earlier this year from school board President Lock Beachum in response to an editorial in which we voiced concern over Youngstown's seeming inability to turn the corner on the state proficiency tests.
We commented that "school board members and teachers can talk about how the system is much better than people assume, but in this case perception is reality." To which Beachum, a retired educator, responded, "As board president, I have commented many times that we must not seek to find excuses for academic failures but seek to concentrate on issues that may have impacted performances in specific disciplines. The district has an awareness of its strengths; therefore, we must continue to utilize these strengths to counteract areas of weakness."
Beachum also revealed that he had asked the board to conduct an independent curriculum audit, saying it would give a "no holds barred" overview of the district.
We were encouraged by the board president's honesty and forthrightness and his no-excuses approach to the district's academic failings. By contrast, we're disappointed with Superintendent McGee's explanation for the latest results -- not because it is invalid, but because it doesn't make a difference. The Youngstown school district is still not making the grade.
Yes, there are some good things happening in the schools that should help children learn, but everyone involved in the system must know that another year of substandard performance will be disastrous for the district and the community as a whole.