By MARK TODD and SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writers
Star Beacon
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An analysis of state report cards issued for the 2009-10 school year shows some significant gains and a few setbacks for Ashtabula County school districts.
No fewer than 15 schools earned “excellent” ratings from the Ohio Department of Education, including one — North Kingsville Elementary — that can boast an “excellent, with distinction” score, the best grade available.
Two districts slipped a grade in their overall assessments. Ashtabula Area City Schools fell from “continuous improvement” to “academic watch,” while Jefferson Local Schools dropped to “continuous improvement” after receiving an “effective” rating last year.
In both districts, superintendents said a new component helped cause dips. Districts that fail to meet the “value-added” standard automatically drop one rating.
In the latest report card, the state added a “value-added measure” for grades 4-8, Ashtabula Superintendent Joseph Donatone said. A school district must meet the value-added criteria for two years in a row, he said. Ashtabula’s fourth- and fifth-grade students did not meet the value-added criterion last school year. Numbers did increase but not enough, Donatone said.
Value-added numbers gauge whether districts experienced a year’s worth of student “growth.” Two consecutive years of this growth result in a district earning “with distinction” status.
Donatone gave the example of a third-grade student who scored better than 60 percent of his class in math at the end of the school year. To meet the value-added criterion, that student must score 60 percent better than his class at the end of fourth grade, too, or basically a year’s worth of growth, Donatone said.
AACS’s overall drop came despite gains recorded at many schools. Two schools, Plymouth and State Road Elementary schools, posted “excellent ratings,” according to the ODE. Three others — Lakeside High School, and Saybrook and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools — jumped one notch, to “effective.”
The district plans to make the value-added component a priority this year, Colucci said.
In Jefferson, the value-added component, along with a drop at the junior high school, helped that district drop a notch, said Superintendent Doug Hladek. The district plans to focus a lot of attention on the junior high this year, he said.
The value-added component is one of four used to compute report cards. The others are a performance index, indicators and adequate yearly progress.
District-wide grades didn’t change for the remaining five school systems: Buckeye, Conneaut, Grand Valley and Pymatuning Valley each earned “effective” ratings, while Geneva Area City Schools was given a “continuous improvement” grade. In Geneva’s case, the district notched four “excellent” buildings and two “effective” schools and yet received the “continuous improvement” rating.
“It’s not an accurate reflection of the progress we’re making,” said Superintendent Mary Zappitelli.
