The kids are back in school and as they begin the hard work to earn good grades on their own individual report cards, they can take heart in the fact that their schools get graded as well. Last week, the Ohio Department of Education released state report cards for all school districts and school buildings in Ohio.
I want to take this opportunity to commend the hard work of school administrators, teachers, parents and especially the students in many school districts throughout the 12th Senate District for their performance on state report cards. Of the school districts I represent in Allen, Auglaize (part), Darke (part), Mercer, Preble and Shelby counties, 10 schools were rated “Excellent with Distinction,” 17 were rated “Excellent,” 14 were deemed “Effective” and three are in “Continuous Improvement.” No schools were deemed to be in “Academic Watch” or “Academic Emergency.”
The State began issuing state report cards in 1999 as a way to provide more information to parents and the general public about how well their local schools were doing in their core missions to educate Ohio schoolchildren. The state’s annual ratings are based on a number of factors that have changed and evolved over the years, including students’ performance on standardized statewide tests, rates of improvement on those tests from year to year and over time, student attendance and graduation rates. The data collected provide schools a valuable snapshot in time to see where they are excelling and where they should focus their energies to always be making improvements on behalf of students.
While statewide achievement gaps remain as it relates to poverty-level, gender, race, disability and amongst students for whom English is not their first language, the data show that many schools are making good progress in ensuring all kids are getting a quality education in Ohio classrooms. I am concerned that on a statewide basis, graduation rates went down slightly this year. This will need to be an area of focus in the year ahead. On the bright side, we know that a record number of students elected to take the ACT test in 2009 – 65 percent of high school graduates. This could indicate that more students are considering going to college or pursuing other opportunities to continue their education after high school.
In this changing economy and a competitive job market, it is absolutely critical that we hold our students and schools to the highest standards to ensure Ohio children getting the education they need to be successful. I encourage you to visit the Ohio Department of Education website at www.ode.state.oh.us to take a closer look at the data specific to your local school.
For information about pending legislation, state programs or to seek help in dealing with a state agency, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: sd12@senate.state.oh.us, via phone: (614) 466-7505 or via mail: State Senator Keith Faber, Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio 43215.
