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Kettering, other school districts get top grade on state report card

How area school districts rated on the 2010 state report card

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 8:45 AM Wednesday, August 25, 2010

One year after a controversial dip in its state rating, Kettering City Schools on Tuesday, Aug. 24, got the best report card the district has ever received, earning the state’s highest possible ranking — Excellent with Distinction — for the 2009-10 school year.

Preliminary data released by the Ohio Department of Education showed Kettering students met all 26 state standards in testing, attendance and graduation rates. The district also made what the state calls Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), meaning each subgroup of students — by race, economics, disability — met state performance benchmarks.

The district missed AYP the past three years because students categorized as having disabilities or limited English proficiency did not meet standards. In the 2008-09 report, that failure took a district that had otherwise excellent-level scores, and knocked it down to Continuous Improvement.

Lebanon City Schools — which also was knocked down by AYP last year — rebounded, jumping two levels from Continuous Improvement to Excellent with Distinction.

“We’re very pleased to see those results, and I’m proud of the students and staff for what they’ve accomplished,” Lebanon Superintendent Mark North said.

While officials in Kettering and Lebanon were cheering the results, other districts were not celebrating. Two districts, Jefferson Twp. Local and Dayton Public, remained in Academic Watch.

The Dayton district met only one of 26 state indicators (11th-grade writing) but Superintendent Lori Ward noted it received 72.6 (up from 70.8) out of a possible 120 points on the Academic Performance Index, which is the combined total of all district test scores and indicates the students’ rate of progress.

The district also saw improvement in reading and mathematics indicators for Ohio Achievement Assessments for grades 3-8, as well as gains on the Ohio Graduation Test.

Ward said she’s not happy about the “Academic Watch” rating, but she is pleased to see incremental growth. “We’ve got a hard road ahead. I don’t want any of that motivation or enthusiasm to be lost and people to give up.”

In Greene County, Fairborn improved from a Continuous Improvement designation to Effective.

“I’m very pleased with the results because they showed wonderful growth,” said Denny Morrison, Fairborn’s director of curriculum and instruction.

Xenia fell from Excellent to Effective, but its performance index changed only from 91.2 to 91.

“There is a very slight difference; the results are mixed,” said Randy Overbeck, Xenia assistant superintendent.

Beavercreek City Schools Superintendent Nick Verhoff cautioned that the results were preliminary — the official release is at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 27 — so he withheld comment. Beavercreek’s rating went from Excellent with Distinction to Excellent, as did Bellbrook-Sugarcreek’s.

Springboro Community City Schools dropped to Excellent after two years at the highest level.

While awaiting student-level data, district officials said the lower rating was a result of the district’s failure to exceed expected growth in student performance last year.

“We’re a high-performing district. Generally speaking, it’s easier to raise a low-performing district. There’s more room to raise,” said Sandra Warner, executive director of curriculum and instruction.

Warner declined to attribute the reduction to the layoff of 30 workers and closing of Jonathan Wright Elementary School, among more than $3 million in cuts following the rejection of four consecutive levies for more operating money by district voters.

“Until we get the details behind that rating, I can’t tell you what caused it,” she said.

Centerville City Schools, which earned the “Excellent with Distinction” rating for 2008-09, was deemed “Excellent” for 2009-10.

Superintendent Tom Henderson said he would like to evaluate the data when the full report comes out Friday to examine what may have caused the change. “We continue to strive to do the best we can with all of our students,” he said.

Henderson added that the district was thrilled to be able to continue to meet the standards for AYP.

Oakwood City Schools again earned the highest possible rating on the annual state report card, Excellent with Distinction. It had the highest performance index of any school district in the Miami Valley, with a score of 109, the district’s highest ever.

Trotwood-Madison City Schools retained its Continuous Improvement ranking, its fourth straight year.

Trotwood Superintendent Rexann Wagner said it’s time for the district to move ahead.

“It is commendable for any school district to move from Academic Emergency to Academic Watch to Continuous Improvement, and we’ve been very proud of the work both students and staff have done to make that happen,” she said.

Staff writers Marc Katz, Jill Kelley, Ken McCall, Lawrence Budd, Cornelius Frolik, Mark Gokavi and Richard Wilson contributed to this report.