The Ohio Department of Education released its newest version of the State Report Card, which moves to a five-star rating system to represent student performance measures in the following: Achievement, Progress, Early Literacy, Gap Closing, Graduation; and College, Career Workforce, and Military Readiness.
The new star-ranking system generally equates to earning three stars as meeting state standards, with five stars represented as significantly exceeding state standards and one star defined as needing significant improvement. Unlike in previous years, there is no “A to F” scale, nor is there an overall grade or score issued for the school or school district.
Groveport Madison’s 2021-22 State Report Card results are:
•Achievement – Two Stars
•Progress – Five Stars
•Gap Closing – Four Stars
•Graduation – One Star
•Early Literacy – Two Stars
•College, Career Workforce, and Military Readiness – not rated until next year
“The district continues to do exceptionally well in the area of student progress (value added), where students are achieving more than a year’s worth of academic growth for the year,” said Groveport Madison Superintendent Jamie Grube. “We also have made significant improvement in closing the learning gap between various subgroup populations in the areas of English language arts and mathematics.”
According to district officials, the district has struggled with getting students caught up to grade level for early childhood reading/literacy. Based on the “Kindergarten Readiness Assessment -Revised,” approximately 79 percent of the district’s kindergarteners are behind before their first day of school. The district implemented new programs and increased the amount and quality of professional development provided to its elementary teachers to help address this issue.
District officials are focusing on increasing graduation rates, which have dropped more than two points since the onset of COVID-19. The district’s four year graduation rate is 83 percent and its five year graduation rate is 84.9 percent.
The district is retooling its high school pathways program and high school counselors have created graduation plans for each student. The plans closely monitor each student’s progress toward graduation. Efforts are also being made to allow students to obtain apprenticeships in various skilled trades, which also count toward meeting state graduation requirements.
“The past two-and-a-half years have been hard on students and staff alike,” said Grube. “Our goal for this year is to recreate the sense of stability and normalcy that were present in our classrooms pre-COVID. I’m confident that once we have accomplished that, we will have the right ingredients in place to drive our student achievement goals.”
