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Youngstown schools get higher marks on new report cards
By DENISE DICK
denise_dick@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
2015 Report Cards
Document
School report cards for Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The first of the 2014-15 Ohio Department of Education report card results produced few surprises for Mahoning Valley school districts. Those districts that traditionally scored high continued that trend. Those that usually struggled were unchanged.
There is one exception to those scores released Thursday: Youngstown earned a C on the kindergarten through third-grade literacy measure — the same grade achieved by Campbell, South Range, Boardman and Austintown.
The data released measure kindergarten through third-grade literacy, four- and five-year graduation rates — and a category called “prepared for success” that includes student participation in college admission tests and industry-recognized credentials.
Districts weren’t given grades for the prepared-for -success category.
GRADES K-3 LITERACY
For the literacy grades, Stephen Stohla, interim Youngstown superintendent, points out that the latest score is about 15 points higher than last year’s. If ODE had used last year’s cut score for this year, the district would have earned a B, he said.
“It’s a high C,” Stohla said. “I think it’s a 7⁄10 of a point away from a B.”
“It’s nothing I did,” Stohla said, crediting teachers and students for the improvement. “It’s things that happened before I got here.”
A few years ago, the district implemented the Literacy Collaborative, a comprehensive school literacy program, to help those students who need reading help.
For a lot of Valley districts, though, there’s no grade included for K-3 literacy. No grade under this measure means the district has a lot of strong readers.
Districts with fewer than 5 percent of kindergartners reading below grade level during the 2014-15 school year received no K-3 literacy grade. Canfield, Jackson-Milton, Lowellville, Poland, Springfield, Western Reserve, Struthers, McDonald, Maplewood, Lordstown, Lakeview, Howland are among those districts.
Mathews and Hubbard each got B’s and Niles, Warren, Girard and Liberty all got D’s.
“The way they do it, a C means you’re doing well,” said Vince Colaluca, Austintown superintendent. “That means you’re successful.”
Of course, he’d like to see even better scores.
Colaluca pointed out, though, that it’s a volatile time for education, and school personnel face a lot of change.
“Our teachers have worked hard to do that,” he said.
David Janofa, Poland superintendent, urged educators and the public to use caution in interpreting the latest data.
“With the release of last year’s data almost an entire year later, we’re uncertain of what we’re looking at,” he said.
Canfield Superintendent Alex Geordan said his district has been using guided reading to help students.
“I feel the staff has really grasped on to that,” he said.
This literacy program allows staff to work with students at their individual ability level. “It’s not whole- group instruction,” he said.
Jared Cardillo, Boardman schools’ director of instruction, said the district is studying the data to determine where improvement is needed.
“The data is obviously late this year,” he said. “That makes it more difficult, but it does give us something to work from.”
Campbell Superintendent Matthew Bowen agreed.
“It is a challenge for any district to receive accountability results late in the year,” he said.
New assessments being used by the state led to the later results.
The Campbell district has implemented new programs in the last couple of years, and Bowen said he will stick with those.
“The new administration has focused greatly on realigning all curriculum to the rigorous state standards,” he said.
Hubbard Schools Superintendent Raymond Soloman said he’s proud of the achievement of students and staff as the K-3 literacy rose from a D last year to a B on the latest report card.
“We have the support of the community and the parents, and I think that’s a great asset to the schools,” he said.
The district implemented a level-literacy intervention program to help students who struggled with reading.
GRADUATION RATES
Grades for districts’ graduation rates tell another story. The data list grades for each district’s four- and five-year graduation rates.
The four-year rate includes those students who earn a diploma within four years of entering ninth-grade for the first time. The five-year rate includes those who graduate within five years of entering ninth-grade for the first time.
Canfield, Poland, Springfield, Western Reserve,
Girard, Lakeview, Lordstown and Maplewood earned A’s for both the four-and-five-year rates.
Hubbard, McDonald and Lowellville all got A’s for the four-year rate while Hubbard and Lowellville each earned B’s for the five-year rate, and McDonald earned a C.
Boardman, Austintown, South Range, Howland and Liberty all got B’s in each category. Jackson-Milton got a B for the four-year rate and an A for the five-year. Struthers got a C for the four-year and a B for five-year and Mathews got a C for four-year and an A for five-year. Niles earned a D and a C for the four-and-five-year rates, respectively.
Youngstown got two F’s.
Both Campbell and Warren earned F’s for the four-year rate and D’s for the five-year rate.
ODE is expected to release the remaining results for tests administered last year in late February.