Youngstown district scores low against those of similar size

The district is continually seeking ways to progress, the superintendent says.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- When compared with 10 similar Ohio school districts, Youngstown's school district ranks among the lowest in the group on state-issued report cards.
Youngstown, like many urban districts, is struggling. On the recently released 2003-04 report cards, the system achieved modest performance gains.
But it still trails most other school systems that the Ohio Department of Education says are most like Youngstown's.
The state establishes similar districts by examining several statistics such as average daily enrollment and the percentage of minority pupils in a school system.
Other markers are those relating to the surrounding community. They include poverty, typical income, the percentage of people in the area with a college degree and the percentage of people with administrative or professional jobs.
One primary measure of a school district's report card achievement is its "performance index," which is based on pupils' marks on proficiency tests.
Earning the report card's top rating of "excellent," requires a district to score 100 or better on the index.
Youngstown scored about 30 percent below that benchmark and was next to lowest of the 10 other districts.
Dayton's school district was in the cellar among the group, which posted an average performance index score of 73.1.
Dayton also met the fewest state standards recorded on the report cards. Tied for next worse were Youngstown and Warren.
There are 18 standards, 16 of which reflect proficiency test performance. Two others are based on attendance and graduation rates.
Like the performance index, the number of standards met is used to help determine which of the five ratings -- ranging from "excellent" to "academic emergency" -- a school district will be awarded.
In other measures, Youngstown tallied the next-to-lowest proficiency rate on the new third-grade reading test.
Thesystem also was near the bottom when graduation rates were compared.
On the brighter side
Two of Youngstown schools' brighter spots in the comparison were the system's fourth-place finish on the fourth-grade science test and its third-place finish on the 10th-grade writing test.
"We're certainly not satisfied," Youngstown Schools Superintendent Wendy Webb said of the district's performance.
But the district is intent on bettering itself and not fretting about how other districts are performing, Webb added. She noted the district has been improving.
The system's performance index score, for example, has increased 12.2 points since the 2001-02 school year.
Youngstown nearly doubled the percentage of state standards it achieved compared with last year.
"We have moved in the right direction," Webb said. Now it's a matter of finding ways to accelerate and expand that improvement.
With that in mind, Youngstown schools representatives will meet with leaders of other large urban districts in Ohio to learn what steps they're taking to try to progress.
The Youngstown district already has started a kindergarten-through-third-grade reading program and is more frequently assessing pupils' performance to aid in fine-tuning their lessons.