Fairfield County schools receive mostly B's, C's on state grade cards

LANCASTER — In the first year the Ohio Department of Education issued overall letter grades for school districts, Fairfield County schools averaged mostly B's and C's.

The ODE recently released the 2018 Ohio School Report Cards that examined six components: achievement, progress, gap closing, improvement in at-risk kindergarten to third-grade readers, graduation rates and preparedness for success. 

Bloom-Carroll, Fairfield Union and Pickerington received a B overall — the highest grade awarded in the county. While Amanda-Clearcreek, Berne Union Local Schools, Lancaster City Schools and Liberty Union-Thurston Local Schools all received a C. Walnut Township Local Schools was the lowest scoring school in the county with a D grade.

“I think it gives people a better indication of how the district’s doing overall," Lancaster Superintendent Steve Wigton said, adding that the grade cards allow Lancaster to measure against their past performance and other districts like it across the state. There are none if Fairfield County, Wigton added.

Even though overall scores were given this year, each district was also issued specific letter grades, A-F, for individual components.

Nearly every county school received high marks when it came to graduation rates, receiving mostly A's and some B's. However, every school, with the except Pickerington Local School District that got a D, received an F in the "prepared for success" category. That category evaluates "how well prepared Ohio’s students are for all future opportunities, whether training in a technical field or preparing for work or college," according to the ODE's online report card guide.

The ODE evaluated college entrance exam scores, such as the ACT/SAT, and the number of honors diplomas, among other factors.

Fairfield-Union Superintendent Chad Belville said school districts across Ohio did poorly in the prepared for success category. He can think of a couple of reasons why the scores weren't great, including that the ODE Relies on schools to report what happens to students after graduation, which can be tricky.

"If it doesn't get reported, now you just end up with a low grade," Belville said. "You try the best you can to track their transition. If a kid doesn't go to college or go to a trade school, and they go straight to the workforce, that's all part of prepared for success. It's easier to track them if they're in a college program, technical program or trade program. It's a little bit more challenging if they go straight to the workforce, especially if they move away.

"I don't think in any way shape or form its a good reflection of what's happening. The prepared for success has just come into the report card the last couple of years and schools are still getting adjusted. But we see some things on our end that we think are a positive outlook. Our ACT scores, for example, went up dramatically last year as a whole."

More:State school report cards show changing standards

More:Area schools react to mixed state report card results

The next goal, Belville said, is to expand AP curriculum and offer AP classes free for students, which should boost the district's prepared for success grade in the future.

Wigton said one of Lancaster's focus will be increasing ACT scores.

Aside from the preparation for success component,  Fairfield County schools also performed similarly in improving at-risk K-3 readers, receiving C's or lower. The two lowest scoring schools were Lancaster with D and Liberty Union with an F.

Wigton said districts have flexibility in how districts report data to ODE regarding K-3 reading, which impacts scores and the ability to draw comparisons to other districts. He doesn't believe Lancaster's D grade accurately portrays the school system.

One challenge teachers face at Lancaster, Wigton said, is that 22 percent of children entering kindergarten are considered "kindergarten ready," which is significantly below the state average of 40.6 percent of children that are ready for kindergarten when they start. That's an area, Wigton said, that continues to be a challenge for Lancaster and schools across the state.

Overall, both Wigton and Belville were pleased to see their districts' growth, complimenting teachers and staff.

"We were extremely encouraged," Belville said. "Our staff has just worked extremely hard over the past several years evaluating every aspect of what we do, how we do it. Really just putting in the time and energy to get to this point. We're starting to see some fruits of that labor."

sremoquill@gannett.com

740-681-4342

Twitter: @SpencerRemo