Olentangy Local Schools earned the state’s highest rating possible of “Excellent with Distinction” on the 2007-08 local report card. This is the latest category to be added to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) report card and only 12 percent of Ohio school districts are expected to achieve this honor. This is the sixth time in the past seven years that Olentangy has earned at least an Excellent rating.
“Olentangy Local Schools has a history of setting and meeting high expectations,” said Interim Superintendent, Jenny Hooie. “Our teachers and staff members work every day to focus on what matters most: student achievement. This rating reflects that philosophy, the hard work of our students and staff members, as well as the support of our entire community.”
ODE rates every district in Ohio based on four key measurements including State Indicators, Performance Index (PI), Value-added and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The 2007-08 report card includes 30 indicators and Olentangy met 29 (97 percent) of these indicators. Olentangy missed the eighth grade social studies standard by less than two percent.
The PI is a weighted average of all tested subjects in grades three through eight and 10 that reflects the achievement of every tested student. The tests are broken down into five performance levels including from lowest to highest: limited, basic, proficient, accelerated and advanced. The most weight is given to the advanced students (1.2) then the weights decrease for each performance level. Olentangy received an all-time high PI score of 103.5.
Value-added is a new measurement that is being added this year. This measurement looks at districts and schools that are making significant academic improvements even if the students have not met the standard for student achievement. Achievement scores look at a student’s level of proficiency at a single point in time, whereas value-added measures how much progress was made since the year prior. Olentangy’s value-added information indicates that students are receiving more than one year of expected growth in student achievement over one year of instruction time.
AYP is a requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that sets goals each year for student achievement in the areas of reading and math proficiency, test participation, attendance rate and graduation rate. The AYP goals increase over time with the target of 100 percent of students meeting 100 percent of the standards by the 2013-14 school year. AYP is also broken down by 10 subgroups based on factors such as ethnicity, socio-economic levels and students with disabilities. As a district, Olentangy met AYP in all nine subgroups tested.
To earn the Excellent with Distinction honor, districts must meet at least 94 percent of the indicators or have a PI score of at least 100 and have above expected growth for at least two consecutive years on the new value-added calculation. In addition to this high level district rating, every Olentangy school earned an “Excellent” or “Effective” rating on the report card.
“While this rating information is certainly good news, at Olentangy Local Schools we are always striving for even higher levels of excellence,” said Hooie. “This is one piece of the total picture we will use to evaluate the district. We will celebrate our accomplishments while continuing the improvement process as we work to achieve our mission to facilitate maximum learning for every student.”
ODE will release all Ohio report card data on Tuesday, August 26. Once the information is available, Olentangy Local School will provide a link from the district’s Web site at www.olentangy.k12.oh.us/district/dra/index.html for the district and building report cards.