The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) recently released the School Report Cards for Ohio school districts for the 2016-2017 academic year, as well as the Quality Profile. The North Royalton School District received an overall grade of “B” for achievement and “B” for progress, which were the same as the 2015-16 report. The North Royalton School District met 16 of 24 Standards. They ranked 57 out of 608 school districts in the state and received a Performance Index of 101.091, up from last year’s 98.823. They received a rating of 102.561 for the 2014-15 school year.
“Colleges and employers are demanding greater knowledge and skills from our graduates than ever before,” Paolo DeMaria, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction said. “As Ohio continues to help students in meeting higher expectations for what they should know and be able to do, student achievement is higher statewide. Here is a snapshot of the state results on the 2016-2017 report card. Schools and districts will use these report cards to have discussions about performance and make decisions about instruction and improvement. Remember, however, that report cards are just one element of what is happening in a district or school. To get a fuller picture, we encourage people to visit schools and talk to teachers, administrators, parents and students. A lot of great things are happening every day.”
Ohio school districts were again graded on six components for the school year, including Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation Rate, K-3 Literacy and Prepared for Success. The following, indicates the scores for the North Royalton School District:
Achievement Component: B, unchanged from last year. This component represents whether student performance met established thresholds and how well students performed on tests overall.
Progress Component: B, unchanged from last year. The Progress component looks closely at the growth that all students are making based on their past performances. Progress Subscores: Overall: A, Gifted: A, Lowest 20%: D, Students With Disabilities: C: all remained unchanged.
Gap Closing (Annual Measurable Objectives): rose this year from an F to a B. The Gap Closing component shows how well schools are meeting the performance expectations for our most vulnerable populations of students in English Language Arts, math and graduation. “Those are our sub group of students that we want to make sure that we are meeting student’s needs. Programs, such as STAR can help to identify student’s needs, according to Gurka. “We can then focus on those areas and work on them,” said Gurka. “We then have data to show how they are improving throughout the year.”
K-3 Literacy also improved from a D to a C. This component looks at how successful the school is at getting struggling readers on track to proficiency in third grade and beyond. “Gap Closing and K-3 Literacy are two areas of focus for us,” Melissa Vojta, Curriculum Director, North Royalton City Schools said last year. She noted that the district had intervention programs like Wilson Reading and Lexia to address this issue for students. “Additionally, professional development is in place for all literacy teachers district-wide to ensure that students also benefit from quality strategies like close reading and analysis of complex text within the general education setting, even if they participate in additional intervention programs during the school day,” she said.
Graduation Rate – A, 4-Year Rate, 5-Year Rate: A remained the same as last year. The Graduation Rate component looks at the percent of students who are successfully finishing high school with a diploma in four or five years. Prepared for Success: C, also remained the same.
The Quality Profile was also recently released. The Quality Profile includes additional accountability measures that better define a high quality education and are not included in the State’s report card, such as arts, music, student leadership and activities, fiscal stewardship, parent and community involvement and student services that our schools offer. The Quality Profile can be found on the district website’s homepage northroyaltonsd.org.
“Overall, I am happy with our report card and also the Quality Profile that goes over and above giving the student a one shot test,” said Gurka. Looking forward, he said that the district will make sure that students understand how they will be assessed on the tests. “It’s not teaching to the test, it’s making sure we are hitting the curricular standards and identifying students’ need and taking them to the next level,” said Gurka. “Those are the things we have been focusing on and will continue to focus on.”

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer