MANSFIELD — Staff, visitors and board members applauded Tuesday night as Mansfield City Schools announced the latest overall score on the Ohio School District Report Cards.
Mansfield City Schools averaged a three-star rating, meaning it met state standards during the previous school year.
How do school report cards work?
School report cards are released each year by the Ohio Department of Education. The report cards evaluate schools and districts on a one- to five-star scale.
Three stars means a district mets state standards. Four or five stars means an institution exceeds or significantly exceeds state standards.
School report cards currently measure six components. Those components include achievement, progress, graduation, early literacy, gap closing and college, career and military readiness. The first five receive star ratings and factor into a school or district’s overall rating.
The component scores that contribute to an overall rating are weighted differently, according to Mansfield City’s Chief Academic Officer Stephen Rizzo.
Districts get 28.6 percent of their total score from achievement, 28.6 percent from progress and 14.3 percent each from the graduation, early literacy and gap closing components.
When individual schools are scored, they may not include all components. For example, elementary schools do not have a graduation score and high schools do not have an early literacy score.
Mansfield City earns overall three star rating
Rizzo said the overall three-star rating is a reflection of school staff, students and families working together.
“We are striving to meet or exceed or significantly exceed all measures,” Rizzo said. “We continue to make progress and we continue to have areas that we need support to work on.”
Mansfield City Schools earned the same component scores it did last school year in four categories — three stars in the progress component, four in gap closing, two in achievement and one in early literacy.
The district improved its graduation rate from one to two stars, with a four-year high school graduation rate of 85.9 percent.
Rizzo said the district also improved its early literacy outcomes, but those improvements didn’t result in a higher star rating. He told board members the Ohio Department of Education modifies the grade card system baselines from year to year, creating a “moving target” for educators.
“If we do the exact same thing this year, hoping to get the same results, we can take a step backwards,” he said. “We have to maintain and continue to refine.”
Rizzo also pointed out that much of the data analyzed in the report card comes from standardized test scores.
“A significant part of report card is based on performance on test days,” he said.
The grade card also stated that 36.9 percent of students in the district were chronically absent — meaning they missed at least 10 percent of instructional time for excused or unexcused absences. According to the report card, the annual goal for school districts was 20.2 percent.
Andrea Moyer, director of school improvement, said the district leadership team and educators within each school are working to address attendance issues.
“We’re calling people making personal phone calls or going to houses so we want parents to know how important that is,” Moyer said.
Board president Renda Cline said she was proud of the work district educators are doing.
“Continuous progress is what it’s all about,” she said. “We never get to that perfect place. We’re always striving to do better.”
“We can’t let one or two numbers define us because other people need to hear the entire story,” she added. “This is phenomenal progress. We’re coming out of a global pandemic and we are a school district that has a severe poverty issue.”
Career tech program earns high marks
Nikia Fletcher, director of career and college readiness, gave an overview of the Mansfield City’s career tech report card.
Although its housed within Mansfield Senior High School, the career tech program gets its own report card as the Mansfield City Career Technical Planning District (CTPD).
Last year, the Mansfield City CTPD received an overall four-star rating. The district earned three stars in achievement and four stars each in the graduation rate, post-program outcomes and career and post secondary readiness.
According to Fletcher, 97 percent of career tech students took the ACT. Seventy-nine percent scored proficient or higher on their technical assessments. One-third earned 12 points in industry-recognized credentials.
“Now they have resume builders,” she said. “They can go out and say ‘I didn’t just learn this, but here’s my evidence.'”
Fletcher also told the board the career tech department is starting to offer students work-based learning opportunities.
“We have almost 10 percent of our students who are going out — not just McDonald’s, not just Walmart, although those are wonderful jobs — but they’re going out into fields that match what they’re doing right now,” Fletcher said.
“That’s how we get our students connected with employers. That’s how we get here,” she said, pointing to the post-program outcomes metric.
According to the report card, approximately 88 percent of CTPD students were employed six months after leaving school.
Board recognizes outstanding students, staff
Principal Michael Brennan of Mansfield Spanish Immersion recognized the month’s Tyger Champion award winners, Zackory Walter and Kenton Baker.
Baker is a fourth grader. He scored a perfect 10 on the writing portion of last spring’s state English Language Arts assessment. Walters is a fifth grader. He earned a perfect score on his English Language Arts exam last spring.
“Both these kids are great,” Brennan said. “They’re shining examples of Mansfield Spanish Immersion students. They are the kind of kids that you’re proud to have in your school and in your classroom.”
Rizzo also presented the month’s Every Student, Every Day Champion Awards to Stan Gilbert and Sarah Fedeli. Fedeli is an intervention specialist at Sherman Elementary. Gilbert is Dean of Students at the Mansfield Senior High School.
“In addition to long days at the school and in the classroom, they are extremely dedicated volunteers overseeing one aspect of the Tyger Booster Club, which is Tyger Bingo,” Rizzo said.
Tyger Bingo meets every Tuesday and Sunday, plus several Saturdays each year. Doors open at noon on Sundays and 4 on Tuesdays; games begin two hours after the doors open. Tyger Booster Bingo is held at Groto Hall, located at 747 S. Main Street in Mansfield.
Bingo is one of several Tyger Booster Club fundraisers. The club helps fund team meals, athletic team gear, camps, personal equipment, classroom supplies and scholarships.
For more information on volunteering for the Tyger Booster Club, call Gilbert at 419-631-0792 or Fedeli at 330-284-8863.
