The Worthington City School District again has earned the equivalent of a C on its state report card, even though each of its schools received an A or a B.

 

Jennifer Wene, the district's director of teaching and learning, reported the Ohio Department of Education's unofficial results to the Worthington school board Monday.

"We are an excellent school district with a designation of continuous improvement," she said.

The state annually rates districts as excellent with distinction, excellent, effective, continuous improvement, academic watch, or academic emergency.

The ODE is expected to release official report cards Aug. 25, and some of the results being reported by Worthington officials could change by then. But there is little doubt that, for the second year in a row, Worthington will be rated "continuous improvement." Until last year, Worthington was rated "excellent."

Several other highly respected central Ohio districts are expected to face the same situation this year because they -- like Worthington -- fail to meet a component of the accountability system called adequate yearly progress (AYP).

AYP measures participation and achievement for nine subgroups of students in reading and math. Each year, the bar is raised, with the percentage of each subgroup required to score proficient or higher on each test increasing.

This year, Worthington failed to meet proficiency rates in four of 36 areas: IEP (students with individualized education programs) in reading and math; LEP (students with English as a Second Language) in reading; and African-American students in reading.

Wene said she was surprised by the results in the African-American subgroup.

"That was not on our radar screen as being at risk," she said. "We'll have to dig deeper to find the root factor."

Overall, Worthington's performance-index (PI) rating was 101.8. A score of 100.0 is considered excellent by the state.

State academic indicators were met in 28 of 30 areas. To meet those, students were tested in third through 11th grades. Before the state began including AYP scores, those test scores would have earned the district an "excellent" rating.

To obtain a rating of proficient in any area, 75 percent of those taking the test must score proficient or higher.

That grade was missed in fifth-grade mathematics, in which 72.3 percent of students were proficient, and eighth-grade social studies, where 67.8 percent made the grade.

Wene called the fifth-grade math results "a mystery." In fact, fifth-grade scores fell about five points each in math, reading and science.

She said because the state does not return the tests, it is not possible to make a good hypothesis about what went wrong.

"There is something different about the kids, or there is something different about the tests," she said.

This was the second year the state indicator was not met in eighth-grade social studies. That test measures what is learned in sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade social studies, she said.

It could be that the state standards and the local curriculum are not well-aligned, Wene said.

Social studies teachers struggle with keeping the subject engaging and interactive while teaching the information covered in the state tests, she said.

"We don't want to diminish the quality of learning," Wene said.

Individually, 12 schools were rated as excellent and six effective.

Excellent elementary schools were Bluffsview, Evening Street, Granby, Liberty, Wilson Hill, Worthington Estates, Worthington Hills and Worthington Park.

Effective schools were Brookside, which met nine of 12 indicators; Colonial Hills, which met eight; and Slate Hill, which met nine.

All three Title 1 schools -- Brookside, Colonial Hills and Slate Hill -- met AYP. Last year, only two did.

Title 1 is a federal designation determined by the percentage of students who qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program. Title 1 qualifies the district for additional federal funds. Liberty and Wilson Hill will become Title 1 schools this year.

The state may apply sanctions to districts whose Title 1 schools do not meet AYP. Those could include a requirement that all students at those schools who do not meet AYP be provided free private tutoring.

At the middle school level, McCord and Phoenix schools were rated excellent, and Kilbourne, Worthingway and Perry were rated effective.

AYP was not met at Kilbourne, McCord or Worthingway.

Both high schools were rated excellent.

Wene said she was particularly pleased to see proficiency ratings improve in three of five areas in 10th grade. The percentage of students passing all sections of the Ohio Graduation Test increased at that level, she said.

The district also met state standards for graduation rate, with 96.8 percent of students graduating (state standard is 90 percent), and for student attendance, which was 95.7 percent (state standard is 93 percent).

cbrooks@thisweeknews.com