3 improved districts vow to keep it up

Boardman, Salem and
Howland all racked up
improved designations.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Mahoning Valley school districts that showed improvement on the latest state report cards say using data from previous report cards added up to success.

After two years in continuous improvement status, Boardman jumped two ratings on the 2006-07 report card to excellent — the biggest gain in the valley.

It’s one of three districts in the tri-county region to earn a higher designation on the state-devised 2006-07 report cards than in the previous year.

Howland improved from effective to excellent, and Salem moved up from continuous improvement last year to effective on the most recent report cards.

Boardman’s plan

Boardman racked up 27 of the 30 performance indicators. All but two schools, Glenwood and Center middle schools, earned excellent ratings. Both middle schools remained in effective status.

“It’s really the contribution from the overall staff,” said Kenneth Beraduce, school board president.

Beraduce said it was a team effort from Dr. Linda Ross, district director of instruction, who developed the programs aimed at improving scores, to the teachers who used those programs to instruct students.

“There was improvement in our subgroups’ performance, and I’m so happy with that,” said Superintendent Frank Lazzeri.

The district met adequate yearly progress in all but one of 10 subgroups, special education in math. That combined with a performance index of 100.4 out of 120 points enabled the excellent designation.

But even in that special education subgroup, the district made gains.

“We very closely analyzed the data at each grade level and in each department,” Ross said.

That data was then implemented to develop strategies the teachers used in their classrooms.

“The teachers set our goals” based on adequate yearly progress measures and other state requirements, the director of instruction said.

That strategy will continue this year in preparation for next year’s report cards.

Teachers working together

“The most important thing we’re asking our teachers to do is to analyze the data, not just in their individual building but for the whole district,” Ross said.

Standardized tests in general have prompted lots of grumbling from many educators and while Lazzeri doesn’t like all aspects of the report card, he sees a bright spot.

“If it were not for adequate yearly progress [measurements] and No Child Left Behind, I don’t know if schools in general would be as focused as they are on helping all children,” the superintendent said. “I believe that all children deserve a high quality education.”

Additional efforts are planned in Boardman this year to continue to bolster report cards. Pilot programs in math and reading are planned that focus on teaching the concepts first before instruction in technique.

There’s also a co-teaching approach in the works in some classrooms at both middle schools, Lazzeri said. It’s aimed specifically at special education pupils but expected to help all children in those particular classrooms. There isn’t space to have additional special education classrooms, but a special education teacher will be in those designated classes along with the regular classroom teacher.

“The teachers will be cooperatively teaching all children, not just special education students,” Lazzeri said.

Salem’s performance

The Salem district hit 21 of the 30 performance indicators and garnered a 93.6 performance index score out of 120 points.

Marguerite Miller, Salem school board member, attributes the boost to “just hard, hard work.”

She pointed to teachers, school administrators, parents and the students themselves.

“We are effective,” said Louis Ramunno, Salem’s interim superintendent since Aug. 1. “We’d like to be excellent.”

With all of the staff reductions, cutbacks and turmoil the district has endured during the last year, he said, the work of the school staff should be commended.

Ramunno said the results include some positive elements, citing improvements in math and reading scores for special education students.

Despite the improved ranking from continuous improvement to effective, only one school in the Salem district, Reilly Elementary, rated excellent, up from effective on the 2005-06 report card.

Teachers’ efforts

Lori Thayer, Reilly principal, credited the teachers who strove to instruct pupils to the standards outlined by the state.

The school implemented reading intervention programs during, before and after school to help pupils who struggled with the reading portion of the tests. Those efforts paid off as many pupils scored in the accelerated performance level in reading.

“We plan to do that this year with math as well,” Thayer said.

The other Salem schools either remained the same or fell in their ranking. Buckeye Elementary dropped from excellent to effective. The junior high remained at effective and the high school and Southeast Elementary fell from excellent to effective and from effective to continuous improvement, respectively.

“Obviously, there’s still lots of work to do,” Ramunno said.

He plans over the next few weeks to review all of the subgroups, categories and subject areas where more work is needed.

Howland’s development

John Sheets, who began as Howland superintendent Aug. 1, said the district realized an increase in math scores with professional development geared toward math.

All of the district’s schools earned the excellent rating except for the middle school, which remained effective for the second consecutive year.

Sheets said that this year saw the introduction of science and social studies achievement tests that figured into the report card results. Middle schools saw the majority of those.

“The first time out, you always collect back data and use it to improve, to get better,” Sheets said.