From your Journal.....
Schools hold back relatively few third-graders
BUTLER COUNTY —
Many Butler County school districts have significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated, the number of elementary school students to be held back thanks to the Third-Grade Reading Guarantee
In Middletown, 224 third-graders were at risk after the fall assessment, and 23 were retained this year. That’s the highest number of any Butler County district, but the curriculum director, Elizabeth Lolli, was pleased that the district narrowed the number as much as it did.
Pleased? And the school district is dead last in Butler County? How low is the bar set Lolli? Seriously, should any of these school people be retained any longer?
“The district made marked improvement from the original number of possible retentions to the actual August number. The students, staff and parents worked hard to make sure that instruction was rigorous within the literacy framework and that students were well prepared for the next testing cycle. The district will continue to implement the reading program that began last year. Teachers continue to refine their practice and their use of the research-based teaching strategies that yield the best learning results,” Lolli said.
AGAIN, AND ACTUALLY NO SURPRISE HERE, "23 WERE RETAINED THIS YEAR. THAT'S THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF ANY BUTLER COUNTY DISTRICT".
BUT!!!!!
"the curriculum director, Elizabeth Lolli, was pleased that the district narrowed the number as much as it did."
IE....Even though we are again the worst in the county, we are pleased that we have made improvements toward lessening the impact of being the worst. OR, we are at the bottom but we are a little better off within that bottom ranking and "not quite" hitting the ground. Comical, no matter how the school administration or the school board want to word it, it always has the same result.......they're at the bottom in the school standings for achievement.
It is the same recurring theme, year after year, with hints of promises of getting better but never reaching that goal. Just like this scenario that is reported, the rhetoric from the school people is getting real old.
A broken record response of "just wait, it'll get better" whenever a district by district comparison is publicized.
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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.
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