New Rating System

Heard coming into work this morning, that the new rating system of A,B,C,D,F will be reported soon. Here's where we are now with the Middletown schools......

From today's Columbus Dispatch.....


COUNTY DISTRICT GRADES ENROLLMENT PERFORMANCE INDEX SCORE RATING STATE RANK
Butler Middletown City K-12 6,540      85.92   Cont. Improve.     672

Records 1-1 of 1


Online Database by Caspio
Source: Ohio Department of Education. (Excludes unranked districts)

Will be interesting to see where Middletown lands on the new scale. "C" or a "D", perhaps???

Excellent Ms. Andrew. How about those indicators? Will we start improving from the 9 or 10 out of 26 or so? Seems we have been stuck on those numbers for quite some time. (years perhaps?)

Based on your optimism, can we expect to see some decent numbers on our next round of testing as compared to surrounding communities? We all know Middletown has always scored at the bottom in the comparison with our neighbors in all grades, in all categories.

I still hold the thinking that if you make improvements such as these, new schools are the reward. If not, ........gotta earn it first. THEN, we'll loosen up the purse strings. Disagree with the other scenario. Hasn't worked.

Ok, new Journal story concerning new evaluation system......

New report card system tougher on schools

An advance look at Ohio’s new A-F report card system, slated to be rolled out in August, shows many school districts score poorly in areas such as closing achievement gaps between students — one of the new graded measures.

The Ohio Department of Education released a simulation of the new report card performance measures — based on the recent 2011-12 report cards — showing how school districts, individual schools and charter schools across the state would fare under nine graded areas, including performance indicators, graduation rates, value-added growth measures and closing achievement gaps.

Locally, six school districts in Butler County would receive an A rating for “performance indicators” using the new standards, including Fairfield, Talawanda, Lakota and Monroe. Hamilton City Schools and Middletown City Schools — both rated Continuous Improvement on the 2011-12 report card — would receive a C and F rating, respectively

REPEAT.....HAMILTON AND MIDDLETOWN CITY SCHOOLS WOULD RECEIVE A "C" AND "F" RESPECTIVELY. NOT A GOOD START ACCORDING TO THIS DATA.

DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS FROM OUTGOING SUPER RASMUSSEN BASED ON THE "F" RATING FOR MIDDLETOWN SCHOOLS.....

Middletown Superintendent Greg Rasmussen said the new report card system will provide a “more comprehensive, overall look at a school system.” He said the addition of early literacy and career readiness components will help illustrate the strides Middletown has made in student improvement.

“Middletown has done phenomenally well in growth,” Rasmussen said. “We’re getting a lot better, faster. It will reflect on the hard work teachers have done.”

RASMUSSEN:

"WILL HELP ILLUSTRATE THE STRIDES MIDDLETOWN HAS MADE IN STUDENT IMPROVEMENT" AND "MIDDLETOWN HAS DONE PHENOMENALLY WELL IN GROWTH"...."WE'RE GETTING A LOT BETTER, FASTER".?????

THAT'S NOT WHAT THE STATEMENT ABOVE REVEALS. THE STATEMENT ABOVE SAYS IF MIDDLETOWN WERE TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW SYSTEM TODAY, IT WOULD GRADE OUT AN "F". DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW HE THINKS THE SCHOOLS ARE DOING OK.


State Superintendent Richard Ross told reporters during a webinar that “most schools will see lower grades than their past report card rankings have suggested,” but he said Ohio must keep raising its goals and standards each year so students are prepared for careers and jobs after high school.

NOW IF MIDDLETOWN WILL SEE LOWER GRADES THAN THE PAST REPORT CARDS, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY HAVE BOTTOMED OUT, NOT IMPROVED. DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE WHERE RASMUSSEN FORMED HIS UPBEAT PROJECTIONS?

Overall grades won’t come until 2015 on the new A-F report cards, which will replace the previous six-tier system that rated schools from “Excellent with Distinction” down to “Academic Emergency.”

THIS GIVES THE MIDDLETOWN FOLKS SOME TIME, BUT GIVEN THE RATE OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE PAST, DOES ANYONE SEE THEM MAKING A "C" LEVEL BY 2015? BEST CASE.....A "D" PERHAPS??

Ross said there are still two years before the new report cards include an overall composite grade for districts and schools, which means there is plenty of time to improve

WONDER IF THE MIDDLETOWN PEOPLE THINK THAT TWO YEARS IS "PLENTY OF TIME"? BELIEVE ROSS IS STARTING A LITTLE FURTHER UP THE LADDER THAN MIDDLETOWN.

WE SHALL SEE.