Triad schools look for improvement on report cards

The News-Sun is digging deeper into the state report cards and talking with every superintendent in Clark and Champaign counties to see how the schools process the information to give a better education to their students.

Triad Local Schools did well on its progress portion of its state report cards but also scored some Fs that its district leader says needs to improve.

Superintendent Chris Piper said overall he was satisfied with the scores.

“I thought the report card was pretty positive,” Piper said. “We expected to see our results drop a little.

“While we have a lot of room to grow, especially with our indicators met, when I look comparatively at districts around us and around the state, I think we performed pretty well. We still have work to do.”

Triad elementary and middle school scored a C on the Achievement Component, while the high school scored a D. The high school scored a B on graduation but a D and F on Prepared for Success and Gap Closing Component, respectively. The elementary and middle schools also scored an F on the Gap Closing grade.

However, the middle school scored an A on the progress component and the elementary and high school scored a B on that grade.

The dip in scores mirrored those around the state as it was the third different state tests students were asked to take in Ohio in the last three years.

Piper said he values the input state tests can provide, but hopes the state can stabilize the process soon.

“I think it is important for us, as school leaders, to have data points to compare how our kids are doing,” Piper said. “That helps me understand where we are.

“I would like to have a consistent data point, but in the last three years we have had three different test that make it very difficult to understand what those mean.”

He said he appreciates the state of Ohio trying to raise standards and trying to improve education in the state. He said he feels it has pushed his and other districts to do better in the classroom.

“I believe the bar for achievement should be high,” Piper said. “It should be reasonable, but it should be high because I need that tool as a school leader to be sure we are doing appropriate work with our kids and that we are growing them to an appropriate level.”

The school district is committed to improving scores and is always committed to bettering the education the district provides, Piper said.

“I won’t say we are specifically targeting test scores, but yes we are going after student learning to the highest degree,” Piper said. “We are doing things to make sure our students learn the standards and learn them deeply, and that will result in higher test scores.”