State gives schools extra credit

By Harold Gwin

Campbell is moving up from continuous improvement to effective.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Hubbard school district will get an “excellent” rating when the annual state report cards come out Tuesday, even though the district is still deficient in meeting some state-required educational standards.

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Hubbard assistant superintendent Lucille Esposito

A change in the report card calculation system this year, giving credit for pupil academic growth although a district hasn’t met all or nearly all of the 30 standards of pupil achievement, will enable Hubbard to move from effective to the excellent category, said Lucille Esposito, Hubbard assistant superintendent.

The Ohio Department of Education calls it a “value-added measure,” reflecting how much progress pupils made in taking achievement tests since last year.

It uses the test results in reading and mathematics in grades four through eight. All pupils in grades three through eight are tested in those two subjects, allowing the state to compare the performance of last year’s third-graders with their performance as this year’s fourth-graders, last year’s fourth-graders as this year’s fifth-graders, and so on.

Districts where pupils made above-expected progress from year-to-year, based on a state formula looking at previous years’ statistics, get a positive value-added measure.

Showing that progress two years in a row allows a district to move up one level in the rating system, although it may not have achieved the mandated level of 75 percent proficiency in specific grade-level testing.

Hubbard, which was rated as effective last year, has met the value-added requirement and has been moved up to excellent this year, Esposito said.

“Our students have shown growth,” she said, noting it’s the first time Hubbard has achieved the excellent rating since the state began the report card program a decade ago.

“We have some pockets of weakness, but we still had growth,” Esposito said, noting that school officials have been pushing for some form of recognition of academic advancement on the report card for years.

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Thomas Robey

Ohio was looking at it as far back as 2001-02, she said.

Campbell isn’t moving to excellent this year, but it is moving up from continuous improvement to effective as a result of the value-added measure, said Thomas D. Robey, superintendent.

“For Campbell City, it’s been a good thing,” he said. “We’ve shown a lot of improvement. It just reflects the work a lot of teachers and administrators have done over the years.”

The value-added benefit gives schools a chance to show that improvement, he said, adding that it reflects that children are learning, “And that’s the bottom line.”

Tracking pupils’ progress as they move from grade to grade is something that should have been done all along, said Donald Thompson, Lisbon superintendent.

It’s a better measure of pupil growth than comparing this year’s third-graders to last year’s third-graders, he said, adding that it gives schools “another set of eyes” to judge performance and pinpoint any curriculum weaknesses.

Although it is helping with some of the tested pupil subgroups, it’s not expected to improve Lisbon’s overall rating of effective from last year, Thompson said.

It can also be a positive factor for schools already rated excellent on their report card.

Earning a positive value-added measure two years in a row will boost an excellent district to an excellent with distinction rating, a new, sixth category on the report card this year, said Scott Blake, an ODE spokesman. (The ratings are academic emergency, academic watch, continuous improvement, effective, excellent and excellent with distinction.)

Adding the new, higher category recognizes districts that are still making significant progress although they are already among the top tier of schools, Blake said.

One other significant change on this year’s report card is something called “growth model.”

It helps school districts reach their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goal, which is part of the federal No Child Left Behind mandate. AYP focuses on math and reading proficiency in grades three through eight as well as test participation, attendance and graduation rates.

Although a federal directive, the AYP goal is set by the state based on each district’s past statistics.

The new growth model will give districts credit for children who are making significant gains but have not yet reached the proficiency level on their achievement tests.

A nonproficient pupil who is projected to be on a path to proficiency within two years will be treated as proficient in the current year, thus boosting a district’s proficiency numbers and chances of meeting its AYP goal.

gwin@vindy.com