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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > August > 14 > Entry
State report cards: How local schools rate
UPDATE: Go here for more local highlights from the state report card release.
State report cards are out today for school districts and individual schools. I’ll have a lot more later, but for now I’ve put together a list of all school districts in the 12 counties that surround Dayton that shows which of the five state rating categories they fall into — excellent, effective, continuous improvement, academic watch and academic emergency.
I did notice Dayton Public Schools fell back from continuous improvement to academic watch. And I noticed fewer districts are now rated excellent. Very few are now rated in continuous improvement or academic watch and no local districts now are in academic emergency. Again, I’ll have more information on other trends in the data as the day goes on.
Here’s the list of how are school districts rate:
Excellent
Anna
Beavercreek
Botkins
Brookville
Cedar Cliff
Centerville
Coldwater
Fort Loramie
Fort Recovery
Kings
Lakota
Lebanon
Little Miami
Marion
Mason
Miami East
Minster
New Bremen
Newton
Northmont
Oakwood
Russia
Southeastern
Springboro
St Henry
Sugarcreek
Tipp City
Vandalia-Butler
Versailles
Wayne
West Liberty-Salem
Yellow Springs
Effective
Ansonia
Arcanum
Bethel
Carlisle
Celina
Clark-Shawnee
Covington
Eaton
Edgewood
Fairfield
Fairlawn
Franklin
Franklin Monroe
Graham
Greeneview
Greenon
Hardin-Houston
Huber Heights
Jackson Center
Kettering
Mad River
Madison
Mechanicsburg
Miamisburg
Milton-Union
Mississinawa Valley
Monroe
New Knoxville
New Lebanon
New Miami
Northwestern
Parkway
Piqua
Ross
Sidney
St Marys
Talawanda
Tri-County North
Tri-Village
Troy
Twin Valley
Valley View
Wapakoneta
Waynesfield-Goshen
Continuous Improvement
Bradford
Fairborn
Greenville
Hamilton
Middletown
National Trail
Northeastern
Northridge
Preble Shawnee
Tecumseh
Triad
Trotwood-Madison
Urbana
West Carrollton
Xenia Community
Academic Watch
Dayton
Jefferson Township
Springfield
Academic Emergency
None
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Testing
Comments
By Cheri
August 20, 2007 8:09 AM | Link to this
You need only look at the list of excellent schools to see the impact that inequitable funding has on the results. Low income = low scores, high income = high scores. Surprise, surprise! Shame on you for not pointing that out in your article.By 1 Involved parent
August 15, 2007 4:11 PM | Link to this
I am a product of the DPS, I work in the global market and I have a child in public school. My parents where involved with our education and it paid off; I have a BS in CIS and currently working on my MBA, I have a brother that retired as an account from the US Army and a brother who is a automotive engineer. If we want more for our children we have to invest in the community, if our schools are failing, we (the entire community) are failing. It is easier (dps-grd) to ridicule the district but what have you done in support of it. When your educational system fails it is not long before your community dies. The problem is far reaching than just the educational standings, it has to do with value, value that our children have for them selves and their possibilities. We have failed them and we still want to point fingers and degrade our public and appointed officials. The State report cards are a joke, I say that because it does not measure academic standings for the country-just the state � an excellent standing in Ohio will not be equal to that of our neighbor in Indiana or Michigan, because each state has set its own standard � there is no national standard. The no child left behind has taught us how to teach our children how to test but not how to learn. Just take a look out the intellect of the president; it mirrors that of our educational system - defunct. I disagree with the year around schedule that DPS has adopted, if your child, any child, is struggling in the nine weeks to comprehend a subject matter, then you give them a 2 week-break, the natural process for that child is to be further behind when they return, there is no intervention available for that child during break. Our children are taught on a schedule � there is no repetition until they have command of the subject matter, when the scheduled time has been meet the teachers are to move forward on the plan, through not fault of their own. If we continue with no intervention we will continue to see failures, not only in DPS but in every state in the country, this is a national problem. 1 Involved ParentBy dps-grad
August 15, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this
When you look at aaniceya’s comment…Can you really believe that the students in DPS are prepared to compete in today’s international job market. I assume that even an employee from Hyderabad with a fresh H1-B visa, ink still damp, would have no fear of job prospects after holding a momentary conversation with this numbwit. When will we look past the spin, and really hold people accountable (oh…yes, that is a “District Initiative”)? When will we demand more for our tax dollars? What do you expect from a city with a drunk for a mayor, whose greatest accomplishment is picking hats? If we forget all of the buzzwords of the decade, nclb, state standards, etc…If we just hold a simple conversation with the students in our district, what do we find? This will speak volumes about their education. If Dr. Mack wishes for me to believe for a moment that DPS has experienced sustained improvement, he wishes for me to count myself as an imbecile. I am no longer amused by the “Hey! LOOK OVER THERE…” lip-service that has been paid to me concerning the present and the future of this community. I know that many of us attempt, in our own small ways, to bring hope to the future of the young people in this community. I just ask why we delegate the power/resources available for giving these youngsters a better chance at life, to low-life morons who just use it as a step towards politics on a state level? My head hurts…By Bob
August 15, 2007 11:07 AM | Link to this
On the 5th grade social studies test there was a question about the influence of Spanish architecture on American culture, and another question about an obscure Ohio inventor that none of the teachers in my school have ever heard of. I believe you really have to question the validity of these tests when questions like these are asked. How relevant are questions like these for 10 and 11 year old children.By Oldprof
August 15, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this
Having looked at the entire chart in DDN this morning, I note that about six districted were ranked “Excellent” and, at the same time, “at-risk”. Do we need any more evidence that the state’s report cards are moronic, that Susan Tave Zellman is incompetent as a state superintendent, and that real improvement in public education is hamstrung by our current electorate? The state needs to monitor and report on school quality—too bad nobody there knows how to do it consistently and accurately.By aaniceya
August 14, 2007 11:20 PM | Link to this
GO DPS WE IS 2-READY WE BEEN BALLIN WE STAY CLOWIN DPS STAY HYPE ALL YALL EXCELLENT SCHOOLS GET ON OUR LEVELBy unbelievable
August 14, 2007 7:36 PM | Link to this
These ratings are far from realistic. As a former student of one of the “excellent” rated schools I can tell you exactly how they went about getting their rating. They would pass kids whow shouldn’t have passed. Keep passing them through the system whether they could read or write. Give them a tutor to “help” them to learn, and then allow the tutor to take tests with them! They were allowed to learn NOTHING and still pass. And when it came to testing that was used for state ratings or GRADUATING high school they would allow the kids they knew wouldn’t pass to be exempt from the testing. As far as I’m concerned these ratings are a joke.By Mary
August 14, 2007 11:43 AM | Link to this
About two years ago, the Dayton Daily News ran a commentary by Diane Ravitch about how these ratings are politicized,watered down, and misleading to the public. My “excellent” district even went to the expense of erecting signs on the school grounds to tout their rating. No stone will be left unturned to brainwash the public with ratings for the sake of levies. Of course, the public does not ever know what the rating really means - that these are minimum levels and that in an excellent district as many as 25% of the students could still be not passing the minimums. As I recall, Scott had a blog about how our excellent schools are really just so-so compared to schools on a national level. Then take it to the international level.By emery_r
August 14, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
Scott — as part of your analysis and reporting on the state report cards, please be sure to correlate other data such as per-pupil expenditures, student demographics, etc. These data should not be ignored when interpreting the rather simplistic spectrum ranging from “excellent” down to “academic emergency”.