GREENVILLE — Greenville City Schools received an overall grade of “D” from the Ohio Department of Education’s annual Report Card.

In the breakdown, Greenville received the following grades, by category:

Achievement: D

Progress: D

Gap Closing: D

Graduation Rate: B

Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers: D

Prepared for Success: F

Greenville City Schools Superintendent Doug Fries, while admitting the grades are consistent with the criteria the Ohio Department of Education has established, pointed out one factor not reflected in the grades.

“The one area that is not included in the report card over the years has been the poverty level,” he said. “If you look at the data, poverty and student achievement are often related. Our goal is always to do the very best that we can with every student.”

Fries said the Greenville administration and faculty will use data from this year’s results to set “aggressive measurable goals for improvement.”

“We are focusing on differentiated instruction to meet the learning needs of all students,” he said.

Regarding the overall “D” grade, Fries said it is important to emphasize the school district’s positives, such as its high graduation rate, among other measurables.

“Our graduation rate for both four- and five-year graduates continued to be over 90 percent,” he said. “This is a measure that has remained consistent over the last six years and is an important factor as students exit the district for college and career readiness. We’re also pleased to report that 13 students received a perfect score on their math state test this past year. We’ve also greatly improved the number of students meeting or exceeding the requirements to meet the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.”

Fries also added that Greenville School District showed improvement versus its 2017 Report Card.

“The gap closing measure for our subgroups is the district’s most improved component,” he said. “The district moved from 30.8 percent last year to 69.9 percent this year. Therefore, our grade improved in this category from failing to a D and was actually .1 percent from getting a C. These subgroups include two areas that we have been focusing on, which are disability and economically disadvantaged subgroups. In the achievement area of the tests we have also trended upward over the past three years in all English Language Arts tested areas, grades 3 through 10.”

Fries cautioned that the state’s grades are not necessarily indicative of the education a student will receive at Greenville Schools.

“As we analyze results, please keep in mind that the information released is not a complete picture of all that we are providing for our students,” he said. “As a district we continue to make strides in providing a world-class education for our students. We are also deeply committed to ensuring the education of our students is reflective of our local values and traditions, values that have made our community a great place to live and learn. These values and traditions and educational programming include expanding College Credit Plus programs and participants, Career Technology programming onsite with industry recognized credentials, student leadership and extracurricular participation opportunities through music programs, ROTC and athletics.

“Although we set goals and strive to improve, while celebrating successes, it is important to recognize that what we offer for the success of our students is much more than a test score that is measured and released annually by the Ohio Department of Education,” he added.

For more details on Greenville’s 2018 Report Card, go online to the Ohio Department of Education website at https://bit.ly/2NW83jk.