Youngstown schools get good, bad news from state

There’s a sliver of light at the end of the dark tunnel that has academically defined the controversy-ridden Youngstown City School District for so long.

Earlier this month, the first part of the 2014-15 Ohio Department of Education report cards was made public, and it showed Youngstown with a grade of C – a milestone given all the Ds and Fs the district has received over the years.

Indeed, Interim Superintendent Stephen Stohla, who was quick to point out that he does not deserve credit for the grade, believes it’s closer to a high C and may even qualify as a B.

The grade relates to the kindergarten through third-grade literacy measure and is 15 points higher than last year’s. The improvement is directly tied to the Literacy Collaborative, a comprehensive school literacy program that was launched a few years ago. The aim is to improve the reading skills of students who need help.

Youngstown’s C grade takes on even greater significance when you consider that other Mahoning Valley districts that have historically fared well academically also received a C. They are Austintown, Boardman, Campbell and South Range.

There were four districts that got Ds, Girard, Liberty, Niles and Warren, while two, Mathews and Hubbard, earned Bs.

What about the other school districts in the Valley? They did not receive a grade in the K-3 literacy, which means that they had a significant number of students with outstanding reading skills.

In academia, a C usually means a middling performance, neither success nor failure. But, given the way the Ohio Department of Education has been evaluating the state tests, a C in K-3 literacy isn’t all that bad. Don’t take our word for it; consider this comment from Vince Colaluca, superintendent of the Austintown Local School District:

“The way they do it, a C means you’re doing well. That means you’re successful.”

That observation from the leader of a school system that over the years has performed well should give the parents, guardians, teachers and administrators in the Youngstown district reason for some optimism.

BUILD UPON SUCCESS

After all the years of disappointing results, the latest report card in at least this one category reflects somewhat of a change.

The challenge now is to build on that success. Just as the Literacy Collaborative is a major departure from the status quo, so, too, is the Youngstown Plan, which is designed to put the district on the road to academic success.

Unfortunately, special interests are bound and determined to prevent the plan from being implemented – and have gone so far as to file a lawsuit challenging its legality.

The Youngstown Plan was developed by a group of business and community leaders in the Mahoning Valley who saw the need for drastic action. It was adopted legislatively by the Republican- controlled Ohio General Assembly and signed into law by Republican Gov. John Kasich.

As a result, a new academic distress commission has been appointed, but it has been unable to go to work because of the legal impediments. The commission is statutorily required to hire a chief executive officer who would have total control of the district.

Such authority in the hands of one individual is necessary given the fact that the system has been in academic emergency and watch for four years.

Indeed, while the state report card on the K-3 literacy test was positive for Youngstown, the district received two F’s for four-year and five-year graduation rates. Campbell and Warren also earned Fs for the four-year rate, and Ds for the five-year rate.

As we noted in an editorial last week, graduation from high school is the ultimate measure of a student’s success and a district’s effectiveness.

A diploma opens many doors – to higher education and to the job market.

Youngstown’s students deserve every opportunity to succeed academically, especially given the socio-economic background of so many of them.

The F grades show a systemic problem that can only be solved by re- engineering the district. The Youngstown Plan would do that – and more.

Delays in its implementation are only hurting the city’s children.