BELLBROOK — Bellbrook-Sugarcreek School District was one of 28 districts statewide to earn an overall “A” on its 2017-2018 Ohio Department of Education report card released Sept. 13.

The ODE report card website lists 608 total districts.

“We are extremely proud of Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools’ recent accomplishment on the state report card,” Superintendent Doug Cozad said. “We are thrilled … This ‘A’ also put us in the top 5 percent of all Ohio school districts.”

The A represents a new scoring category for Ohio’s report cards this year. The overall letter grade combines all the graded areas, each weighted differently: 20 percent achievement, 20 percent progress, 15 percent graduation rate, 15 percent gap closing, 15 percent improving at-risk K-3 readers, and 15 percent preparedness for success.

In two areas, the schools showed notable progress.

Bellbrook showed growth again in the gap closing category, which shows how well schools are meeting the performance expectations for the “most vulnerable populations of students” in English language arts, math and graduation. It also measures how well schools are teaching English learners to become proficient in English.

The district jumped from a 64.8 percent D (2015-2016) to a 86.2 percent B (2016-2017) to a 100 percent A (2017-2018).

BSSD showed growth again this year in another area, the K-3 literacy improvement category, which looks at how successful the school is at improving at-risk K-3 readers. This area primarily measures the growth and progress of struggling kids.

The schools’ scores increased from a 35.2 percent D in 2015-2016 to a 48.2 percent C in 2016-2017.

But this year, in 2017-2018, the schools have done so well in the improving at risk K-3 readers category that its grade is shown as NR or Not Reported. Per state law, a school that has fewer than five percent of their Kindergartners reading below grade level does not receive a letter grade, according to the ODE. In other words, NR correlates to 95 percent of students or more reading well from the start, or enough students improved from year to year.

Four other letter grades remained the same for BSSD.

In achievement, which measures student performance on state tests, the grade remained a B overall — a B for performance index and a B for indicators met. While performance index measures the achievement of all students on state tests, indicators met just represents the students who passed.

Performance index only went down half a percentage point and indicators met went up .7 percent.

Progress, which looks at the growth of all students based on their past performances, also remained a B — A for overall, A for gifted students, A for students in the lowest 20 percent in achievement, C for students with disabilities. The district received the same scores last year.

Another component measures how well students are prepared for the future — whether entering a technical field, work, or college. In prepared for success, the district earned a B again.

BSSD earned high marks in graduation rates with 96.4 percent (A) graduating in four years and 98.6 percent (A) graduating in five years. This compares to 2017-2017 numbers: 97.7 percent in four years and 99.5 percent in five. Data shows that students performed higher than the state average.

Cozad credited the schools’ success to the collaboration of many people.

“These accomplishments are truly a TEAM effort of great kids, supportive parents and community, dedicated faculty, Board of Education, administrators, and support staff,” he said.

To view the report card in full visit https://bit.ly/2CXESaj.