Reading scores improve

District releases results from state testing regarding third grade reading

Results from state reading tests show third grade results rose 17 percentage points higher than last year at this time at Lorain City Schools.

So far, 92 students are on a potential retention list, said Erin Gadd, director of communications and community engagement at Lorain City Schools.

Bill Ohle, director of school improvement at Lorain Schools, said the district also made gains closing a gap with state achievement.

So far this year, the promotion rate from third to fourth grades is 82 percent, with two more testing opportunities this summer, Ohle said.

On the third grade reading guarantee results, a student needed a score of 44 and above to be promoted, he said, and 314 Lorain Schools third -graders reached the benchmark, while 203 students did not.

This means 61 percent received a passing promotion score on this test, but other students previously hopped over the benchmark in a previous test, Ohle said.

By the end of summer, the district hopes the 82 percent of students promoted rises to the 90s, he said.

In the spring of 2016, 21 percent of Lorain third -graders hit the benchmark or above, while that number jumped to 38 percent in 2017, he said, which still was not high enough to reach an achievement component on the state report card.

Last year statewide, 54 percent of students passed, with a gap of 33 percent between the district and the state.

This year statewide, 63 percent of students passed, with a gap of 25 percent, so the gap narrowed by 8 percentage points, Ohle said.

The district improved by 17 percentage points in a year that the state increased rigor by 10 percentage points, he said.

Last year, the requirement to pass third grade reading guarantee was 10 points lower than the 44 points required this year, Ohle said.

“For the past three years, (the state) increased the requirement by one point a year,” he said. “This year, they increased it by 10 points, which represents almost

one years worth of growth. This is almost like asking for one extra years growth this year.

“But we do recognize that our students are struggling. Dr. Marva Kay Jones (director of teaching and learning for elementary education at Lorain Schools) is working with teams to write curriculum units for math and English language arts. The takeaways are that the state assessment scores have increased this school year by 17 percentage points. We’re holding our own with third grade reading guarantee. But obviously, we want that percentage to be higher.”

Parents will have another opportunity to bring their students in July 11-15 to take the test over, Ohle said.

“And in summer school right now, there is a lesson plan every day,” he said. “We’re not looking at summer school as necessarily test prep. We’re looking at helping struggling students with reading. It’s focused on reading.”

The district expects to receive June 27 more state test results, such as for end of course assessments and Ohio State Tests, formerly Ohio Achievement Assessments, he said.

Jones said teachers and building level administrators “launched a united front to tell families, ‘We need you.”

Out of 190 students identified as struggling and needing extra help in reading, 130 regularly attend summer school,

Jones said.

“We’re working with families next year,” she said. “I need the parents. I already got the idea from a teacher how to work with kindergarten parents in the fall.

“I want curriculum materials so they can work on colors and numbers and letters. It’s going to be given to everyone who registers their child by July 1. They will have six weeks for parents to work with students before they come to school in the fall.”