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Tools track growth as well as proficiency in reading and math
By John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Aug 25, 2008
The state's school-district report cards, scheduled for release Tuesday, include two new measurements tracking student progress over time.
These measurements — called ''growth model'' and ''value added'' — will help schools clear a crucial federal hurdle on reading and math and could bump some district ratings up a notch.
That federal hurdle, known as adequate yearly progress, or AYP, carries the most significant consequences for schools.
Missing AYP on state-mandated reading or math tests brings increasing penalties to a district or school building, ranging from requirements to offer tutoring to loss of some federal funding.
Thirty-one of Akron's 56 schools missed AYP this year. Another 13 would have missed it if not for the new ''growth model'' measure that gives credit for a student's year-to-year progress.
''Obviously, it has significant impact on our results,'' Assistant Superintendent Ellen McWilliams said. ''I think the measure is doing what it's designed to do, which is to give credit for the positive growth over the years from where students started and where they're projected to end.''
Whether or not schools make AYP also influences the final rating that appears on the report card as excellent, effective, continuous improvement, academic watch or academic emergency.
Excellent is the equivalent of an A, and academic emergency is like an F.
This year, with the new ''value added'' measure, schools can receive an excellent with distinction rating — call it an A+.
Among area school districts earning the new top designation are Tallmadge, Stow-Munroe Falls and Hudson.
''We're very excited since it's the first time out,'' Sheryl Sheatzley, Hudson's communications manager, said. ''It's very tough to get, but it really helps you look critically at where you're at and where you want to go, and that's how we use the information.''
The two new measurements are designed to track the distance students have traveled during their time in the district, in addition to the snapshot of their proficiency at a single point in their education.
School officials hope the new measures will reflect the progress teachers have with students who start far behind and make significant gains, but still fall short on proficiency tests.
Until this year, schools had only three ways to meet the federal AYP standard, according to the Ohio Department of Education:
• They could meet the proficiency targets for math and reading.
• They could combine current scores with scores from the previous year if the average of the two years met AYP.
• Student groups (subsets of the student population based on race, disability, English proficiency and economic status) could show a 10 percent or greater reduction in the number of nonproficient students and meet goals for attendance and graduation.
Now, districts have a fourth way to meet the AYP standard using a ''growth model'' to track student performance on tests from year to year.
Students who missed proficiency in math and reading this year but are projected to reach proficiency within two years will be counted as proficient.
Last year, three-fourths of the school districts in the Akron-Canton area failed to achieve AYP. Statewide, 62.4 percent of school districts fell short.
The new measure comes just in time, because the federal proficiency targets for math and reading are harder to reach this year.
Under the No Child Left Behind law, the federal government raises the bar on the percentage of students scoring ''proficient'' or higher in math and reading every three years, aiming at 100 percent proficiency by 2014.
For example, last school year, 71.2 percent of third-graders had to be proficient in reading to meet AYP. This year, the goal is 77 percent.
The jump is even greater for eighth-grade math — from 47.5 percent proficient to 58 percent.
The second new measure on the report cards — ''value added'' — could help districts improve their overall rating.
The measure works like this: The state has determined the expected growth that a student should show in one year. A student who shows more growth in that time exceeds the goal. A student who shows less doesn't meet it.
A school that exceeds the goal two years in a row can raise its designation one level. So a district rated as ''continuous improvement'' could become ''effective'' and an ''effective'' one could become ''excellent.''
Value-added scores were calculated in 2007 for students in fourth through eighth grade in reading and math, but they didn't affect last year's cards.
Next year will be the first year that the value-added measurement could negatively affect a district. A district failing to meet value-added goals for three years in a row could be knocked down a notch.
The state, however, is not adding a designation lower than academic emergency, so no school or district will receive an F-minus.
IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL
The school year begins in most area districts today, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Among those in class today are students in Cuyahoga Falls, Woodridge, Streetsboro and Northwest schools.
Districts starting Tuesday include Copley-Fairlawn, Coventry, Mogadore, Springfield, Norton and Lake.
On Wednesday, Akron, Barberton, Green, Kent, Nordonia Hills, Hudson, Revere, Stow-Munroe Falls and Plain go back to school.
Jackson and Tallmadge start kindergarten through ninth grade today and high school on Tuesday.
Twinsburg schools opened Aug. 19.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
The state's school-district report cards, scheduled for release Tuesday, include two new measurements tracking student progress over time.
Get the full article here.
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