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Limit proposed for how far a school can slip on report card

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer 12:57 AM Thursday, October 1, 2009

COLUMBUS — Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, and Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, want to help Ohio school districts avoid what Cates calls “the death penalty” on annual state report cards.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, they joined forces at a press conference to urge speedy action on legislation to achieve that goal.

Gov. Ted Strickland, however, is cool to the idea, according to Amanda Wurst, his spokeswoman.

Cates and Lehner don’t want other districts to experience what happened to Kettering and Lebanon on the most recent report cards.

Although both districts generally were high-performing, their grades slipped to “Continuous Improvement” — equal to a “C” rating — because of a single measure called Adequate Yearly Progress.

It looks at academic achievement in subgroups classified along racial, ethnic, economic and other lines.

Kettering’s AYP performance for special education students and students whose native language is not English brought its ranking down.

Lebanon’s slipped because of AYP performance for Hispanics and other students whose native language is not English.

Otherwise, both districts were headed for the top rating — Excellence with Distinction, said Lehner.

Cates already has introduced Senate Bill 167 that would change guidelines to prevent a district from dropping by more than one classification solely on AYP performance.

Lehner said she would introduce a companion bill in the House.

Kettering Superintendent Jim Schoenlein, also at the press conference, said the ranking hurt morale. Lehner said such a low ranking could make it hard to attract new residents.

Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman, said the governor believes AYP is an “important benchmark for ensuring school districts are providing a quality education to every Ohio student on a child-by-child basis, not on averages.”

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