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ODE releases abbreviated district report card

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FAIRBORN — The Ohio Department of Education released abbreviated report cards for Fairborn City Schools and school districts across the state Tuesday.

Due to school closures and the cancellation of testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ODE will not issue letter grades for the districts, as it has in previous years.

In a normal year, ODE will issue letter grades for each district in overall performance. The department also issues specific letter grades in areas such as student achievement on state tests, student growth over past performance, and closing the gap for students in English language arts, math, English language proficiency, and graduation. No data for these categories is available this year, as the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to shut down and moved the state to waive certain tests that measure children’s proficiency.

“This is in keeping with legislation passed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that also canceled the administration of most state tests for the last portion of the 2019-2020 school year,” department officials said in a release.

According to ODE officials, the aforementioned school closures has resulted in limited data for this year’s report cards. This makes it challenging to gauge how well districts are performing. However, while letter grades are unavailable, ODE has released some information related to graduation rates, 3rd grade reading diagnostics, and what it terms “Prepared for Success” indicators.

“While schools have less information available than in years past, we still emphasize the importance of gauging where students are in terms of academic achievement and using available district data to inform improvement to instruction,” said Paolo DeMaria, superintendent of public instruction. “The education community’s goal is to carry forward the teamwork, collaboration and care we’ve seen since last spring through this new academic year and beyond. We have never been more focused, united and determined to ensure each child is challenged to learn, prepared to pursue a fulfilling post-high school path and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society.”

According to the report, Fairborn’s four-year graduation rate for the class of 2019 was 89.1 percent. Its five-year graduation rate for the class of is 93.2 percent. While the four-year graduation rate is slightly down from last year, Fairborn still trends higher than similar districts and the graduation rate across the state of Ohio.

As there is limited testing data related to third-grade reading proficiency, Ohio law has temporarily waived the requirement that a student meet the promotion threshold to advance to fourth grade. According to reading diagnostic data, 72.4 percent of Fairborn’s kindergarteners are on track for reading proficiency. According to the same data, 66.2 percent of first graders are on track, as are 52.4 percent of second graders, and 55.7 percent of third graders.

ODE’s Prepared for Success indicators look at how prepared Fairborn graduates are for future opportunities. Coronavirus did not affect these metrics for the reporting years. According to the report, 92 percent of students in the classes of 2018 and 2019 took the ACT, compared to only 4.3 percent of students who took the SAT. Students participated in AP credit classes at the rate of 42.2 percent, while 20.1 percent of students participated in at least one dual-enrollment class.

In terms of post-graduate success, 56.9 percent of the class of 2017 entered college after two years. Within six years of leaving high school, 26.7 percent of the class of 2013 graduated from college. The report, however, does not indicate how many of those graduates went to trade schools, obtained post-graduate employment, or enlisted in military service.

Ohio School Report Cards can be found at reportcard.education.ohio.gov.

By London Bishop

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Reach London Bishop at (937) 502-4532

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