PITSBURG – On the one hand, Franklin-Monroe schools did pretty well on the state report card this year, on the other hand, they didn’t. What those results mean – or whether they mean anything at all – is still up in the air.
“We’re still looking at the results,” said Franklin-Monroe Superintendent Jeff Patrick. “I’m not too sure what the data’s telling us at this time. I’m not sure if it contains any relevant information.”
The state report card assessed F-M with high scores in Achievement – a solid B for the performance index and an A for indicators met – but in Progress, the school scored straight F’s, for overall, gifted, students with disabilities and the lowest 20 percent in education.
Achievement is meant to measure how well the students are doing, based on how many passed the state test and how well they did on it. Progress is meant to show how much the students are learning (in math and reading, grade 4-8). Did the students get a year’s worth of growth in a year? Or more, or less?
Not only is it difficult to compare the school’s performance from year to year, but this time it’s difficult to compare districts as well.
“Even between districts,” Patrick said. “PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) came out last week and said if you took the online tests they were much harder than the paper tests, and now to compare districts, you have to know if they took the online or paper tests.”
Franklin-Monroe students took the tests entirely online.
Patrick said the changes for this year are no great improvement.
“The amount of time reduced (for testing) has been minimal,” Patrick said. “And the assessment piece really needs to be revamped.”
But there’s no clear answer on whether the system can be fixed or if it should be scrapped entirely and rebuilt from scratch.
“It’s pretty ludicrous, to be honest with you,” Patrick told the Daily Advocate Tuesday. “The politicians have it pretty messed up at this time.”
Still, starting over comes with its own problems.
“H.B. 212 would throw out the whole thing and start over,” Patrick said. “We all spent a ton of money on new textbooks and new resources to teach Common Core then they talk about starting over.”
Patrick said there’s probably less of a problem with the actual curriculum and more of a problem with the testing.
“As far as the curriculum, there’s nothing wrong with rigor and challenging kids, but the way you assess the kids is what really needs to be looked at and changed,” Patrick said.
Franklin-Monroe students scored an 83.3 percent, or B, on the Achievement performance index and 90.9 percent, or A, for indicators met.
Indicators Met measures the percent of students who passed the state tests:
• Third grade: math, 88.7 percent; reading, 90.6 percent;
• Fourth grade: math, 100 percent; reading, 94.4 percent; social studies, 94.4 percent;
• Fifth grade: math, 93.8 percent; reading, 92 percent; science, 82 percent;
• Sixth grade: math, 91.1 percent; reading, 94.6 percent; social studies, 92.9 percent;
• Seventh grade: math, 69.4 percent; reading, 61.2 percent;
• Eighth grade: math, 57.1 percent; reading, 67.3 percent; science, 75 percent;
• Ohio Graduation Test, 10th grade: math, 93.9 percent; reading, 90.9 percent; science, 84.8 percent; social studies, 87.9 percent; writing, 87.9 percent;
• OGT, 11th grade: math, 92.5 percent; reading, 94 percent; science, 94 percent; social studies, 94 percent; and writing, 95.5 percent.
In Progress, which assesses student progress in math and reading, grades 4-8, F-M earned an F in each of the overall, gifted, students with disabilities and lowest 20 percent in achievement subgroups.
Gifted students had a performance index of 94.2 percent, or A; however, with 113.1 of a possible 120 points, the performance index was not met. The school must make 115 points to meet the performance index.
F-M got an 83.3 percent, or B, in Gap Closing, which measures the school’s success at educating all students, regardless of income, race, ethnicity or disability.
