District takes aim at state's 'moving target'

By PAMELA WILLIS

Worthington City Schools have a lot to celebrate since earning an "excellent" on the state report card six years in a row.

But not meeting the state's Adequate Yearly Progress requirement could cause a drop in that rating.

Assessment Coordinator Jennifer Wene reported on the state rankings and the impact of Adequate Yearly Progress at Monday's school board meeting, held at the Worthington Education Center.

"The good news is the fact we met 25 of 25 state indicators, and we are still the largest district to meet all the standards for six years in a row," Wene said.

Wene said performance levels also went up, and all the school buildings were rated either excellent or "effective" on the state report card.

The state requires a graduation rate of 90 percent to meet its standards. Worthington's graduation rate was 97.9 percent last school year, and the student attendance rate was 95.7 percent, Wene said. The state requires a 93 percent attendance rate.

But the AYP goals can be elusive, Wene said.

"The goal of AYP under the No Child Left Behind act is that all subgroups progress to 100 percent student success by 2013," Wene said. "This year, we did not meet AYP in three areas: in IEP (students with disabilities on Individual Education Plans) reading and math, and LEP (Limited English Proficient) reading."

Wene said the Hilliard City School District would have rated excellent this year because it met all the state indicators -- but it did not meet AYP for the third year, so the district was given a "continuous improvement" rating.

"Yes, our state rating could be impacted if we don't meet AYP for three years in a row in more than one subgroup," Wene said. "If we do not meet that requirement next year, we could be in danger of that, but I predict our AYP levels will rise."

Wene said AYP is "a moving target," because the achievement goals are raised each year.

"We have added achievement in some groups and dropped in other groups each year, because different grade levels and different groups of students are taking the tests," Wene said. "Beginning this year, though, we will test AYP in all grade levels, which will make it easier to track our progress."

The AYP subgroups are African-American, American Indian/native Alaskan, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, multiracial, white, economically disadvantaged, Limited English Proficient and Students with Disabilities (IEP).

Wene said some schools meet AYP standards because they don't have enough students in each subgroup.

"All our elementary buildings passed AYP because they don't have large-enough subgroups to measure," Wene said. "Kilbourne Middle School and Worthingway Middle School did not meet AYP because they are feeder schools into Thomas Worthington, which did not meet AYP this year in IEP reading."

Wene said it was Worthington Kilbourne High School that did not meet AYP last year.

"There are strategies buildings can use to try to raise AYP," Wene said. "It's not about working harder, but working smarter. Vicky Hartley at Worthington Kilbourne worked with teachers to build more inclusive classrooms and they all did an outstanding job bringing up proficiency in all their subgroups."

Wene said the district will work to increase achievement "one learner at a time.

"We've met with each principal to go over their continuous-improvement plans and we are looking closely at best practices," Wene said. "We will work closely with buildings on their school portfolios and on professional development in Understanding by Design and leadership training.

"In Worthington, we really believe that even one child falling behind is not acceptable," Wene said.

Wene said the SOAR program, provided by a partnership with Battelle and many area districts, will help supply "value-added" data.

"Value-added data is exciting because you can see that a student is growing academically, even if they are not achieving yet to proficient standards," Wene said. "Our subgroups that are not achieving are so small that it will be an investigative process between principals, teachers, parents and students to find out how much better we can teach each student to improve their achievement."