SHELBY, Ohio – The Shelby Board of Education reviewed the first round of state report card results released at the end of January at their Monday meeting.
Assistant Superintendent Paul Walker explained each grading measure for both graduation rates and third grade literacy tests. The second part of the results will be released at the end of February.
Shelby City Schools were rated a C for the 4-year graduation rate for the class of 2014. Of the 157 students in the class of 2014, 139 of those students graduated, resulting in an 88.5 percent graduation rate.
Walker reported the district was only one student away from earning a B rating.
“It shows you how with this report card in the last few years literally every kid matters,” Walker said.
Shelby High School Principal John Gies noted that of the 18 students who did not graduate with their 2014 class, 11 of them have earned their diploma since then.
“It took them just a little bit longer,” Gies said. “And we’re working on a couple more. Our five-year rate next year will be good.”
The district earned an A rating for the 5-year graduation rate, which applies to students in the class of 2013 that graduated with the class of 2014. Shelby reported a 95.9 percent graduation rate in five years.
The state encourages districts to assess what the reasons are for students not graduating and whether there are certain subjects holding students back.
“It’s our job to make sure these kids are graduating,” Walker said. “Grades aside, that’s our goal for these kids.”
Shelby also received K-3 literacy data for both the 2014 and 2015 school year. In 2014, 91 percent of students passed the third grade reading Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) and 87 percent passed the third grade reading OAA in 2015.
The data also broke down how many students in grades kindergarten through third grade improved from being not on track to being on-track in reading levels. Walker explained students who are not on track are placed on reading improvement monitoring plans.
“Our expectations I feel are pretty high for a student to meet that criteria and not be on a reading improvement plan,” Walker said.
Last year, 70 third grade students were not on track to pass the reading assessment, and 80 percent of those students reached proficiency on the third grade OAA. In second grade students 49 were not on track and 14.3 percent moved to on track; in first grade 24 students were not on track and 20.8 percent moved to on track; in kindergarten 26 students were not on track and 50 percent moved to on track.
Walker explained it is not uncommon for the number of off-track students to increase by grade level.
“Part of the issue is the assessment gets a lot harder, and the expectation because they have to do a written retelling of a story is difficult at the beginning of the year for a third grader,” Walker said.
Walker stated the goal of K-3 literacy is to have less students on a reading improvement monitoring plan. However, he noted often teachers do not take students off the reading improvement plan even if they feel students have made the necessary growth.
“With the state, if you’re not on a reading improvement plan and you don’t pass the assessment, you lose points,” Walker said. “We’re trying to make sure if kids are close and they’ve met the criteria, not to go the safe route.”
The teacher evaluation system is also a factor in not taking students off reading improvement plans when needed, Walker admitted.
“The teacher evaluation system is actually based on a kid’s beginning reading level,” he said. “If you wait to evaluate a kid and then you have to show growth, it throws off your evaluation system.”
“That’s just messed up,” mumbled board president Lorie White.
Walker also shared numbers for the 2016 computer-based assessments given to third graders, showing that currently 46 percent of Shelby’s third graders have met criteria to be proficient. There will be two more testing opportunities in April and July to improve this percentage.
Still, Walker advised the board not to get too caught up on the statistics.
“There’s a lot of number watching,” he said. “It’s like sports almost that you’re watching these scores for these kids, and they don’t even realize it.”
