Report Cards are in ..

Based on this chart, it appears that all the so-called "negative" claims made by me and other school critics have been substantiated. Yes, indeed, with data provided, we have information which may be indefensible. Clicking on the details, I like the explanations given for this new grading criteria for each category. A maze created by mega-wizards for the purpose of confusion. How does one sit and think up this nonsense anyway? Guess they have to make up a conglomeration of crap to mask the real performance of a given district. What ever happened to just one grading system, understood by everyone and very user friendly? Wasn't hard to see at a glance......A's and B's are good......C is average (but can't you do a little better), D's are not acceptable but yet not failing at the moment and F's are bad news. Kinda simple. Why all the other rating scales to confuse the issues? Appears to be too many college educated eggheads trying to put their scent on something......and failing miserably.

What say you chmoore1? There's the data.

Disappointing
Obviously we have a lot of work to do, and I think that we have a good team to bring on improvement.
And they could use a lot of outside help from parents and role models. Let's hope that it happens!

While the letter grades are a new thing, the underlying measures that these grades are based on (at least the ones put out this year) are the same measures that have been on state-generated district report card for years.  So, you can compare and see that Middletown has improved from last year. 

If you get the Performance index of the schools up to a B. Then I will support the new school. Because once people see a clear improvement in the school, then hopefully people that will begin to move back to Middletown, because school performance is a Major factor when deciding where to move. I hope the Students, Teachers and Parents will rise to this challenge and prove the State and the region that Middletown can be a good school system once again.

I’m also disappointed with the scores of our elementary schools.
However I’m also disappointed as I stand in line at the library and see bags and bags of children’s movies being checked out and not one book for these young children to read.
How do we get these parents to UNPLUG the TV and TURN OFF the cell phones and curl up on the sofa with their child and read a book with them?

Ms. Andrew:

"The first letter grade for standards met is Vet's favorite, the old number of indicators reached out of 24. Middletown reached 8 this year, up from 6 last year. Again, no one is saying we are content with 8 but that is still improvement."

8 OUT OF 24 IS NOT AN IMPROVEMENT IF YOU WERE AT 10 OF 24 AT ONE TIME. IT IS TWO INDICATORS SHORT OF THE HIGHEST TO DATE. IN ACTUALITY, THE DISTRICT HAD REGRESSED 4 INDICATORS FROM THE PREVIOUS HIGH AND THEN IMPROVED BY 2. IT WAS A RELAPSE. WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, GOING FROM 6 TO 8 AND CALLING IT AN IMPROVEMENT, WHEN THE NUMBER TO BEAT IS 10, IS MISLEADING INFORMATION. THIS DISTRICT HAS NEVER APPROACHED THE HALF WAY MARK IN INDICATORS MET. IT HAS TAKEN THIS LONG TO REACH TWO SHY OF THE HALFWAY MARK. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO REACH ALL 24? OTHER POOR DISTRICTS HAVE FARED BETTER. IT WAS DECADES, BEFORE THE RAMPANT LOW INCOME/SECTION 8 ONSLAUGHT HAPPENED. THE DISTRICT DIDN'T FARE ANY BETTER BEFORE THE TOWN WAS INFECTED WITH ADDITIONAL LOW INCOME. AFTER DECADES OF NON-IMPROVEMENT COMPLACENCY, ISN'T IT TIME TO FIND A METHOD THAT WILL PRODUCE UPWARD IMPROVEMENT RATHER THAN TO KEEP USING THE SAME OLD REASONS FOR NOT PRODUCING RESULTS? CAN WE GET PAST THE "WE'RE A POOR COMMUNITY", "WE MUST DEAL WITH AN INFUSION OF LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS THAT DON'T VALUE EDUCATION" AND "WE'RE DEALING WITH A TOTALLY DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHIC THAN MOST DISTRICTS ARE" COMMENTS AND ADJUST THE METHODS TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF EDUCATING THE QUALITY OF KID WE ARE GIVEN TO MEET THESE GOALS? ADAPT TO WHAT YOU ARE GIVEN TO WORK WITH. MANY DO. HAMILTON IS DOING BETTER AND THEY ARE SIMILAR IN DEMOGRAPHICS, RIGHT? HOW ABOUT FRANKLIN'S DISTRICT IMPROVEMENT. SIMILAR DEMOGRAPHICS ALSO. WHAT ARE THEY DOING THAT MIDDLETOWN IS NOT?

How about letting the kids take their books home to do their homework??? Think THAT might help just a little bit?

itsamee wrote: That would be great, if they had enough text books for all students to go around....

Guess since we dont have to pay fee's now we can't Bitch about kids bringing books home to do home work.I myself griped a lot last year about not letting my granddaughter bring a book home to do her home work.

Itsamee,

wannaknow wrote: So what's the solution? Send your children to a low performing school and just hope they can get enough education to make it in life? I am in a quandary. My child goes to Central Academy. I was told it was the most progressive grade school in Middletown.

JUDGING BY THE SCORES LISTED ABOVE, CENTRAL, BEING A NON-GRADED SCHOOL, DOESN'T FARE ANY BETTER THAN THE REST. IF YOU CAN AFFORD THE TUITION, SEND THE CHILDREN TO FENWICK. ANY NON-PUBLIC SCHOOL WILL BE BETTER. MONROE, EDGEWOOD, EVEN FRANKLIN SCHOOLS ARE A BETTER CHOICE AS TO PERFORMANCE. MIDDLETOWN SCHOOLS HAVE NOT FOUND THE ANSWER TO SUCCESS IN DECADES. MAY NEVER BE AS SUCCESSFUL AS THEY ONCE WERE 4 DECADES AGO. NEW THEME TO THE CITY BROUGHT ON BY CITY LEADERS CALLED POVERTY......AND WITH THAT COMES THE EXCESS BAGGAGE OF THE LOWERING OF STANDARDS AND RESULTS. WHEN YOU CREATE A LOW INCOME, POVERTY STRICKEN ENVIRONMENT, SOMETIMES YOU YIELD WHAT THAT ENVIRONMENT OFFERS.

It could be a result of multiple things, lack of discipline and respect of parents.The obsession with being the next big YouTube viral video by doing something stupid. The overall lack of respect for authority by the new generations. And I don't care attitude by parents. And because of all of this, the Schools are not only needing to teach kids in the classroom, they are also now having to be parental figures to these kids because the parents don't want to do it.
They would rather spread there legs and have a good time, rather than think about how their poor decisions not only could impact the child they bring into this world by not raising them, but also the impact on the community for having to pick up for their lack of responsibility.

WELL, HERE IT COMES......THE OLD "THE NUMBERS DON'T TELL THE WHOLE STORY" EXPLANATION. I BELIEVE WE HAVE HEARD THIS BEFORE.



School districts: Report card data doesn’t tell full story

Educators in Middletown and Hamilton say they are disappointed with the letter grades their schools received on the new state report card, but added the scores don’t tell the whole story about academic growth in the two districts.

The report cards, released last week by the Ohio Department of Education, provide data pieces on the performance of all students on state-mandated tests, how much growth students made in the course of a year, and a school building’s ability to ensure success for all students regardless of income, race or disability.

In Middletown City Schools, eight of nine school buildings recorded an “A” for overall value-added.

At Amanda Elementary in Middletown, principal Candace Dillon said for the first time in the school’s history, students met the state indicator for fourth grade reading. The school has only met one other indicator in the past — fourth-grade writing in 2004.

“Our school has had a history of academic struggles, but we’re making increases every year,” Dillon said, who’s entering her fifth year as principal.

BUT DILLON, IF YOU WERE "MAKING INCREASES EVERY YEAR", THAT WOULD REFLECT IN THE YEARLY REPORTS WOULDN'T IT? IT STATES IN THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE THAT THE SCHOOL HAS ONLY MET ONE OTHER INDICATOR IN THE PAST-FOURTH GRADE WRITING IN 2004. HOW CAN YOU BE MAKING INCREASE EVERY YEAR IF 2004 WAS THE ONLY YEAR TO SEE AN INDICATOR MET? MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYBODY? CONFUSED TALK.

Dillon said even though Amanda didn’t meet the state standards for test scores, the school did exceed one year’s expected growth for all students in math and reading. Dillon said her students made an average of two to three years growth during the 2012-13 school year.

“We made such nice gains but we were so low to begin with,” Dillon said. “The new report card doesn’t show the gains.”

TRANSLATION.....WE WERE SO LOW TO BEGIN WITH, WE WEREN'T EVEN ON THE RADAR TO MEET AN EVALUATION. WHEN WE DID SHOW IMPROVEMENT, IT STILL WASN'T ENOUGH TO MEET MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS NOR REGISTER ON THE RADAR SCREEN TO SHOW POSITIVE GAINS.

Amanda Elementary’s performance index score has increased from 66 points in 2009 to 80 points in 2012. Dillon said the steady improvement over the past five years tells her the interventions in place to improve student learning are working

BUT EVEN AFTER 5 YEARS AND SHOWING IMPROVEMENT DURING THAT TIME, AMANDA RECORDED POOR NUMBERS AND WAS STILL TOO LOW TO SHOW A MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT.

Two miles down the road, Rosa Parks Elementary was the only Middletown elementary school not to receive an “F” for meeting the state standard in test scores. The school received a “D” grade for a majority of students testing proficient in third and fourth grade reading and math. Fifth graders at Rosa Parks didn’t test proficient in math, reading or science

"ONLY ELEMENTARY TO NOT RECEIVE AN F". KINDA TELLS IT ALL DOESN'T IT? ROSA PARKS WAS THE BEST WITH A D GRADE. WHEN YOU ARE IN A GROUP WHERE ALL ARE ON THE BOTTOM. IT ISN'T HARD TO SHINE WITH A BELOW AVERAGE GRADE. SAD EPITAPH FOR THE MIDD. SCHOOLS. WHEN WILL WE START TO RAISE THE BAR AND LESSEN THE MEDIOCRITY? EVERYONE ELSE HAS. WE HAVE BEEN SATISFIED WITH BELOW AVERAGE FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW.

NOW WAIT A MINUTE......

“The student data doesn’t lie,” said principal Ted Jebens. “The data shows you where you’re strong and weak.”

NOW TED, YOUR STATEMENT KINDA GOES AGAINST THE OLD "REPORT DOESN'T TELL THE WHOLE STORY" TITLE ABOVE. DON'T MAKE THE "EXCUSE FOLKS" LOOK BAD.

Jebens said for the 2013-14 state report card next year, Rosa Parks will have an added subgroup of English as a Second Language. Schools must have at least 30 students in a subgroup for it to become a recognized subgroup at a particular building

ENGLISH AS A "SECOND LANGUAGE" HUH? RIDICULOUS. IN THIS COUNTRY, ENGLISH WAS DECLARED THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE AND HAS BEEN FOR A LONG TIME. GONNA LIVE HERE, SPEAK ENGLISH. GONNA LIVE IN MEXICO, ACCEPT SPANISH AS THE PRIMARY. SORRY, TOO OLD SCHOOL TO ACCEPT ANYTHING ELSE.