OHIO SCHOOLS Official: Ratings changes improve fairness, accuracy

The state superintendent said she is pleased with pupil performance.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
The state superintendent of schools said changes in the way the Department of Education will rate school districts on upcoming report cards reflects a "tough system" that will have an impact in urban, suburban and rural areas.
Susan Tave Zelman also said the changes add up to a more complete representation of the achievement level of pupils in each district and each school.
"It's more fair, more accurate," Zelman said. "We also wanted to created a sense of hope on the part of our urban districts making improvements."
The report cards parents will see next week will have the same scoring mechanism as last year -- one largely based on 22 indicators that show if 75 percent or more of pupils passed various assessment tests. Ratings will also keep the same labels.
What's new
But there will be three additional ways of scoring school performance.
A "performance index score" takes into account the achievement level of each pupil; a "growth calculation" measures improvement; and a federal "adequate yearly progress" standard focuses attention on pupils in various subgroups, such as minorities, those with poor English-language skills and those with disabilities.
"What we've done is created a system that looks at every school in the state, every district in the state, according to four different lenses," said Mitch Chester, assistant superintendent for policy development. " ... What this system does is say, 'You can't derive a conclusion about a district based on one cut of the data.'"
The limitations of the system that viewed only the 22 indicators was twofold, Chester said.
"It doesn't do a good job of distinguishing between gradations of achievement, so if you place two districts side by side and one is 74 percent proficient and one is 25 percent proficient, both look the same," he explained.
Second, he added, the simpler system "doesn't give credit for working with kids who don't meet proficiency." It encouraged districts to focus on kids on "the bubble," while ignoring those with low skills and those with solid skills.
While the performance index erases those limitations, Chester said, the growth calculation was created to give credit to low-performing schools who are doing better each year but not quite hitting the 75-percent target. Under the former system, a district whose pupils move from 30 percent to 60 percent proficient is not recognized for that jump.
Showing progress
Once Ohio begins testing all pupils in grades three to eight, this calculation will reflect pupil progress from year to year, Zelman said. The standard is a tough one, the administrators said, and any district that achieves it has made significant improvement.
They said the system will also means each pupil is issued an "identifier" (it does not include names or addresses) that can be used to track progress if the pupil moves from school to school or between districts.
This further allows the state to distinguish schools and pupils who need the most help and customize support to serve those needs, Zelman said. It also helps educators target reasons why a pupil may slide or improve.
The fourth scoring mechanism -- the adequate yearly progress calculation -- is a "pretty complex measure" as well as a "tough standard," Chester said. Districts can no longer refrain from testing pupils who struggle with the English language or those who are disabled.
"It's not good enough for a school district or school to be doing well in the aggregate if a particular group is not enjoying that success," he said. "This is a very different system than schools have experienced in previous years because there are multiple measures looking at groups within schools. It's different ... because every student is accounted for."
How system came about
Zelman said the new system reconciles state law with the federal No Child Left Behind Act and was formed after at least 70 meetings with educators, business people and local leaders around the state.
At meetings, people asked for an fair accountability system that would drive instruction and was reflective of school progress, she said. The former system said that schools either met the "gold standard" of 75 percent or didn't.
She said the group also requested more timely data. While the Department of Education had been releasing data from a previous school year in January, it will release report cards five months sooner -- before the next school year begins.
This allows parents of pupils in low-performing schools to have time to make decisions about transfers before the school year begins, Zelman said.
Aside from the changes, Zelman said, she's been pleased with the success of Ohio's accountability system and the assessment data it generates.
On Tuesday, the DOE will release data that shows the state's sixth-graders gaining almost seven percentage points in reading proficiency, she said.
"I feel terrific about our assessment data," she said. "Ohio is no longer stuck in the middle. We're moving up and quite competitive with other states."