By PAMELA WILLIS

Worthington City School District has met all Ohio standards for the sixth year in a row, receiving an "excellent" rating once again on the state report card.

The Ohio Department of Education released official results Tuesday, but the district recently received preliminary scores that indicated "excellent" results, including growth in the performance index, which gives extra points for students who score in the accelerated or advanced categories of the achievement tests.

"Worthington met all of the indicators -- 25 out of 25 -- and will be rated as 'excellent,' " said Jennifer Wene, director of assessment and teaching and learning. "The performance index score shows that for the third year in a row we have shown significant growth. This year, the performance index increased from 102.7 to 104.0."

Individual schools also did well, Wene said.

"This year we have 14 of 17 schools rated as 'excellent' and three schools rated as 'effective,' " Wene said. "Even more exciting is the increase in the performance index that occurred in 13 of our schools. Those who did not increase stayed basically at the same level as last year. This shows that overall our students are learning at higher levels than before."

Bluffsview, Colonial Hills, Evening Street, Granby, Liberty, Wilson Hill, Worthington Estates and Worthington Hills elementary schools were rated "excellent," along with Kilbourne, McCord, Perry and Worthingway middle schools and both high schools, Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne.

The schools rated "effective" are Brookside, Slate Hill and Worthington Park elementary schools.

Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, continues "to be a goal we are chasing for yet another year," Wene said.

"Although we performed at a higher or the same level with the majority of subgroups, we scored at basically the same level as we did in the area of students with disabilities and limited English proficient as we did last year," Wene said.

Wene said it is "inappropriate" to compare the performance of the subgroups this year with last year's, because it is a different group of students, and only four of the nine tests used to measure AYP this year are the same as last year.

"Sixteen of 17 schools passed AYP," Wene said. "Thomas Worthington did not meet AYP as it missed the target of 71.8 percent by 3 percent for the subgroup of (Individual Education Plan, or special education students). Thomas Worthington is still rated as an 'excellent' school on the report card, but will put in place additional strategies to support these students in increasing their reading achievement."

Wene said the district maintains an "excellent" rating by "providing a rigorous and relevant curriculum in which the state standards are embedded.

"Teachers frequently assess the students and ensure they are learning at an appropriately challenged level," Wene said. "Additionally, our staff has been passionate about providing intervention through extended day and individual attention to students who are not meeting the benchmarks. Our staff also works hard to build relationships to provide a caring, supportive environment for each student."

The district has escalated intervention efforts in the past years through structured intervention programs, Wene said.

"Additionally, we have been focusing on our professional development to increase teacher effectiveness with instructional planning, use of assessment to guide instruction and strengthening the culture and climate of each building," Wene said.

The district still has work to do, Wene said.

"We will strive to look deeply at the data to pinpoint specific skill areas which we need to improve, particularly for our students with disabilities and for whom English is a second language," Wene said.

Wene said the state report card gives the district "much to celebrate."

"We saw evidence of continuous improvement at all grade levels, in all content areas and at every school," Wene said. "We met or surpassed the federal target goals of achievement with 89 percent of our students."

Wene said the district will work with parents and the community to find ways to increase the success of the 11 percent of students who came close but "missed the bull's-eye for this year."