ANSONIA – As superintendent of two school districts, Jim Atchley was able to get a slightly broader perspective on the state report cards released last week.
The report cards covered testing that took place in the 2014-15 school year, and the results have been more mired in controversy this year than ever before. Changing standards, long hours, technical issues and the late arrival of results have had many questioning if there was even a point to it all this year.
Atchley said even if the results might not be entirely clear in comparison to previous years, they still had value.
“I think it’s always relevant,” Atchley said. “We still want to compare ourselves to neighboring districts. There were lots of changes with testing, but its a comparison.”
Districts knew that changes to the standards could lead to lower scores this year in some areas.
“We knew there were going to be some areas that we wouldn’t score as high as we had,” Atchley said.
He said that Ansonia’s results on the indicators met pleased him. The performance index, he said, appears lower because of the large number of students who opted out of the testing last year.
“We were very happy with the number of indicators met,” he said of Ansonia. “The performance index was a lower lower than what we would have liked. It was directly related to the number of opt-outs, and we had over 5 percent of the students opt out.”
Ansonia scored a C on its performance index, but got an A for the indicators met.
“At Mississinawa Valley, I was very pleased with our progress,” Atchley said. “That was an area we felt pretty good about. The performance index there was good as well.”
Mississinawa Valley scored two A’s and two C’s for progress, and it received a C for the performance index as well.
Results were as follows:
Ansonia Local
• Achievement: Performance index (how many passed the state tests), 74.2 percent, C; Indicators met (how they performed on the state tests, 93.1 percent, A;
• Progress (student grades 4-8 in math and reading, did they get a year’s growth in a year? More? Less?): Overall, A; Gifted, not reported; Students with disabilities, B; Lowest 20 percent in achievement, C;
• Gap closing (is every student succeeding, regardless of income, race, ethnicity or disability?): Annual measurable objectives, 73.3 percent, C.
The percentage of students passing the state tests by grade level was as follows:
• Third grade: math, 94.9; reading, 95.2;
• Fourth grade: math, 83; reading, 85.1; social studies, 83;
• Fifth grade: math, 77.1; reading, 81.1; science, 73;
• Sixth grade: math, 68.4; reading, 76.9; social studies, 73.2;
• Seventh grade: math, 80; reading, 90;
• Eighth grade: math, 88.4; reading, 87.5; science, 90.9;
• 10th grade, Ohio Graduation Test: math, 89.8; reading, 93.9; science, 83.7; social studies, 93.9; writing, 95.9;
The percentage of students passing the state tests by grade level was as follows:
• Third grade: math, 94.9; reading, 95.2;
• Fourth grade: math, 83; reading, 85.1; social studies, 83;
• Fifth grade: math, 77.1; reading, 81.1; science, 73;
• Sixth grade: math, 68.4; reading, 76.9; social studies, 73.2;
• Seventh grade: math, 80; reading, 90;
• Eighth grade: math, 88.4; reading, 87.5; science, 90.9;
• 10th grade, Ohio Graduation Test: math, 89.8; reading, 93.9; science, 83.7; social studies, 93.9; writing, 95.9;
• 11th grade, OGT: math, 98.3; reading, 98.3; science, 98.3; social studies, 98.3 ; writing, 98.3.
Mississinawa Valley
• Achievement: Performance index, 77.1 percent, C; Indicators met, 66.7 percent, D;
• Progress: Overall, A; Gifted, A; Students with disabilities, C; Lowest 20 percent in achievement, C;
• Gap closing: Annual measurable objectives, 41.3 percent, D.
The percentage of students passing the state tests by grade level was as follows:
• Third grade: math, 75; reading, 82.1;
• Fourth grade: math, 80.4; reading, 80.4; social studies, 76.1;
• Fifth grade: math, 74.5; reading, 46.8; Science, 44.7;
• Sixth grade: math, 74.5; reading, 82.4; social studies, 51.9;
• Seventh grade: math, 66; reading, 81.6;
• Eighth grade: math, 86.2; reading, 82.7; science, 88.2;
• 10th grade, OGT: math, 83.9; reading, 82.3; science, 64.5; social studies, 79; writing, 88.7;
• 11th grade, OGT: math, 88.9; reading, 93.3; science, 86.7; social studies, 82.2; writing, 93.3.
