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Career center report cards show some changes
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Both Choffin and Mahoning County career and technical centers improved between the simulated state report cards released last month and the actual report cards publicized last week.
The career and technical center in Trumbull County slipped slightly, and Columbiana County’s held steady.
Choffin, which is part of the Youngstown City Schools, scored C’s in both four- and five-year graduation rates and an A in post-program placement.
Post-program placement is the proportion of students who were enrolled in post-secondary education, advanced training, military service or employed within six months of leaving secondary education.
On the simulated report cards released in July, which were based on 2010-11 data, Choffin rated F’s in both graduation rates and an A in placement.
Choffin Director Joe Meranto said he traveled to Columbus a few months ago when report cards for CTCs were being discussed to share his concerns. Generally, students are in the career and technical center for only two years, so the four- and five-year graduation rates include time before they’re even in the school, he said.
He’s not sure why the grades changed but points out that state performance targets, which measure graduation rates based on just the years students are at Choffin, consistently score in the high 90s.
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center scored an A in four-year graduation rate, a B in five-year graduation rate and an A in placement on the latest state report card. The simulated report released last month gave the school a C in five-year graduation rate and A’s in the other two categories.
Trumbull Career and Technical Center, which racked up straight A’s on the simulated report, earned a B in the four-year graduation rate component on the latest report card with A’s in the other two categories.
Jason Gray, TCTC superintendent, said the change from A to B was a difference of 1.3 percentage points.
The A was based on preliminary information known at the time.
He said about 35 percent of TCTC students are special-education students who have individual education plans. By law, those students can enter a career and technical center after four years of high school as long as they don’t receive a diploma.
If they stay in the program for two years, which they’re allowed to do by law, they would be considered six-year graduates, thereby affecting a career center’s graduation rate.
“I don’t care about an A or a B if it means 60 kids get an opportunity to go into another program,” Gray said. “It’s about opportunities for students, not about percentage points.”
Columbiana County’s CTC maintained its A in four-year graduation rate, B in five-year and D in post-program placement on the latest report card.