SOAR award signals growth in four local school districts

 

Seven Central Ohio schools are "soaring" to new heights, achieving a recognition designated to 16 out of 100 schools in the state.

The Dublin, Worthington, Grandview Heights and Reynoldsburg city school districts received the 2007 SOAR Award for High Progress from Battelle for Kids last month, meaning the schools are among the top 3.5 percent of schools making exceptional growth in the past three years.

"We look at the amount of growth they make in each area and how much there is of that growth in the space of a year," said Michael Thomas, senior director of innovation at Battelle for Kids.

What makes value-added reporting -- the data used for this award -- so different is that instead of measuring one grade level over a period of time, it measures the same class of students as they progress.

"As a parent, what's important is I want to see my child grow and I want to see my child at a different place over the school year," Thomas said. "We take the state provisions and we go above and beyond that."

The schools that received recognition are Thomas and Wyandot elementary schools in Dublin; Grandview Heights Middle School; Baldwin Road and Waggoner Road junior high schools in Reynoldsburg; and Evening Street and Worthington Estates elementary schools in Worthington.

"We're proud of everyone (in the district), but these guys have set the standard," said Dublin Deputy Superintendent Mike Trego. "We're so very excited because it's not easy to attain. This really is a community effort to come together and create a climate that allows this magnitude of growth."

Principals of the schools received the award during a ceremony Nov. 12 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, where Gov. Ted Strickland acknowledged the schools' successes.

Each school was awarded with a plaque and a banner as a testament to the hard work teachers, students and parents put into achieving at high levels.

"It's been a very concerted effort by staff and administration to look at critical data given to us and make changes based on what we've learned from that data," said Grandview Heights Superintendent Ed O'Reilly. "We have great kids and very supportive families that help that process as well."

To qualify for the SOAR Award for High Progress, schools must be part of Battelle for Kids SOAR school improvement collaborative and meet growth requirements over the past three years.

"To continue progress, we have to learn from what we do right and what we do wrong and then continue doing the right things," O'Reilly said. "We're very proud of our students. The bottom line is any time we have awards they have to buy into what they're doing and they have to come in every day to learn."

SOAR represents about 30 percent of the state's students in grades 3-8.

Through its initiatives, Battelle for Kids, a nonprofit organization, has offered professional development, consulting, training, tools and resources for science, social studies, reading and math since 2002.

"It allows us to get great data," Trego said. "Now we look at continuing (growth) from year to year. That affects our instruction and (student) learning."

For more information, visit the Web site battelleforkids. com.

"We look at the amount of growth they make in each area and how much there is of that growth in the space of a year."

--Michael Thomas