Beyond test scores, Groton Yardstick aims to measure opportunities

Superintendent Graner hopes to ensure more consistency in reporting across district schools

Groton — Superintendent Michael Graner is revitalizing Groton Yardstick, a numerical report measuring discipline referrals, attendance, physical fitness performance, after-school club involvement and more across the district’s schools.

The program was started in 2006, he said, but then fell by the wayside. Graner tried bringing Groton Yardstick back last year but found that principals were not responding in a consistent manner.

“I remember last year when we tried to compile it, there were huge variances,” he said. “Some people were counting whole-school events, and other people were counting as per-student events, so one school had eight and the other had 8,952, and it just didn’t make any sense.”

Earlier this summer, Graner released the 2016-17 data he garnered from the district’s 10 schools — now nine, after the closure of Pleasant Valley Elementary — and said he feels the information is “about 90 percent accurate.” Still, questions remain. Why do two elementary schools have 22 percent of students passing all four fitness tests, while two have figures in the 70s? Why does the data say that only one person is participating in a club promoting fitness at Cutler Middle School, when a club can hardly comprise but one person?

Why did West Side Middle School list twice as many students with 10 or more absences or tardies as Cut-

ler Middle School? How is it that only 21 percent of Mary Morrisson Elementary students missed nine or fewer days of school, while that number ranged from 66 to 80 percent at the other elementary schools?

In speaking with Christina Post, who was assistant principal at Mary Morrisson last year but is now at Charles Barnum, Graner ascertained that Post counted both excused and unexcused absences, whereas other principals may have counted only the latter.

Looking ahead, Graner will be meeting with all the principals to determine what metrics were measured inconsistently. If there is wide variation even among consistent measurements, the next step is taking corrective action.

Groton Yardstick data was broken down into three documents by grade level: one for the seven elementary schools, one for the two middle schools and one for the high school.

The indicators included suspensions/expulsions, community service, mentoring program, band, chorus, student council and diversity events. The number of indicators ranged from 17 at the elementary level to 32 at the middle schools and high school.

The indicators were grouped into seven categories: college/career ready, character development, healthy lifestyle/physical fitness/nutrition, self-advocacy, creativity and versatility, citizenship and respect for diversity.

Graner said the Board of Education especially wants him to work with both middle school principals to sort out data variances.

For example, Cutler reported that 13 percent of students were referred for suspension or expulsion, while that figure is 5 percent at West Side.

“West Side has instituted a program called Review 360, and it’s a program that has expectations for teachers to contact parents immediately when certain behaviors occur in class,” Graner explained, “and they have greatly reduced their suspensions because of that.”

In the other direction, Graner noted that Math Counts was implemented at West Side last year because it was doing so well at Cutler.

After clearing up discrepancies in the reporting of data, Graner said the next questions are, “Based upon these data, what conclusions do we draw, and what sort of improvements can we make where the data indicates there are some problems, and how do we identify those areas where the children are really performing quite well?”

The larger goal of Groton Yardstick, he said, is to extend the focus beyond academic measures to analyze various opportunities for students.

At the July school board meeting, Chairwoman Kim Shepardson Watson commented, “I think it’s considered to be one of the hallmarks of this board, that we really take a look at not just the assessment scores — the math and the English and the science — [but] that we try to do a real holistic view.”

She said she was “really very tickled” that Groton Yardstick is being resurrected.