Report cards show areas for improvement

The Ohio Department of Education is doing a service by releasing report cards so that school districts can work on improving the education of students.

On Sept. 13, the state education department published its school district report cards with overall grades and marks for achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation rate, improving at-risk kindergarten to grade 3 readers and preparation for success.

Some of the grades were expected, and some were not.

Take Lorain City Schools, for example, which is in academic distress.

It wasn’t surprising the district received an overall “F” grade.

Last year, the district received an overall “F.”

A state-appointed Academic Distress Commission is overseeing a turnaround initiative guided by the commission’s appointed CEO David Hardy Jr.

It took several years for Lorain Schools to hit this level.

Even with Hardy in charge, who has shown promise, drive and motivation that he can get the job done, it’s going to take time to improve.

The district had “F” grades in all categories except for a “D” in improving at-risk kindergarten to grade three readers.

During a Sept. 13 town hall meeting hours after the state released its report cards, Hardy said he could not articulate a reaction to the letter grades “other than the fact that we know we have work to do, way before that report card was generated.”

Hardy said the district already has an approach for the things it needs to tackle to be successful and move in the right direction.

Hardy said, “The last year, I can’t say good or bad, if the scores would have went up, I couldn’t take credit. If they went down, I couldn’t take credit for them, either.

“But the reality is, this is our year to start to get things right and understanding that any transition, any turnaround, takes three to five years.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Avon Local School District received an overall grade of “A” on its report card.

Avon Schools received mostly “A’s” and “B’s” across the board with only a few outliers.

The district received a “D” in progress for students with disabilities and a “C” in preparing students for success.

Superintendent Michael Laub is proud of the results and the hard work, and he wants to continue to inspire personal excellence for all students.

Laub said his district has an outstanding team of educators who work extremely hard to engage students and help them grow, both in the classroom and outside the classroom.

The Amherst Exempted Village School District received an overall “B” grade.

Amherst Schools Assistant Superintendent Michael Molnar said the district did slightly better than last year, and they’re really proud of moving its 4-Year and 5-Year Graduation Rate Grades from a “B” to an “A” for both.

Molnar said the grade does a good job showing areas that need to be looked at.

Principals in Amherst Schools will get together with their staff and talk about how to improve areas.

At the end of the day, Molnar said the grades are only based off a couple of tests.

He said the tests provide a partial measurement of the district, but not the entire story.

Elyria City Schools received an overall “D” grade from the state.

Ann Schloss, associate superintendent for Elyria Schools, said the district is aware it has work to do, and is on board with the state grading.

However, Schloss said the district is addressing areas needed for improvement on all grade levels.

She said the elementary grades received good grades on their own, but the district is focusing on middle school students.

Earlier this year, Schloss said the district received a Striving Readers Grant to focus on literacy in the secondary level and support new reading programs.

And mandatory tutoring was implemented to assist students.

Although Elyria Schools received a lower grade, there are highlights on the district’s report card.

Schloss said Elyria High School made improvements in every category, and this year’s 4-year Graduation rate increased to 85 percent.

Three Lorain County school districts received “C” grades from the state.

They are North Ridgeville City Schools, Oberlin City Schools and Vermilion Local Schools.

So, according to the state education department, there’s still room for improvement for all of the school districts in Lorain County.

And the school districts have a year to work on getting better.