By Sam Wildow
TROY — State report cards on the 2020-2021 school year were recently released, and while letter grades were not included, data was provided on each district in regard to categories of performance index, K-3 readers, four- and five-year graduation rates, and prepared for success.
At Troy City Schools, the district received a 63.9%, or 76.7 points out of a possible 120, in its performance index. The performance index measures the test results of every student. There are seven levels on the index, and districts receive points for every student who takes a test.
Some obvious challenges to testing last year included the COVID-19 pandemic with a mix of students doing online.
“Last year during the pandemic, we had nearly 700 students in our Troy Online Academy,” Troy City Schools Superintendent Chris Piper said. “We provided several layers of support to those learners, but for some, learning online remained challenging. All of those students were encouraged to come in for testing last year, but we did have just over 7% who did not take the test, and those were reported as zeros, which impacted our district scores.”
Under the category of improving at-risk K-3 readers, the district received 19%. According to the state report card, 69 students moved to being on track and 284 students started off track. Also impacting that score was the district receiving 15 RIMP deductions. RIMP stands for Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plan. Districts are required to create a RIMP for students not on track to be proficient in English language arts by the end of third grade. Approximately 56.6% of third graders scored proficient on the state English language arts test. For the 2020-2021 school year, Ohio law temporarily waived the requirement that a student meet the promotion threshold to advance to fourth grade.
When asked if there was an area or percentage grade that Piper felt did not accurately reflect the district’s progress, Piper said, “State test scores are certainly important, especially as we reflect on our achievement and growth so we can work to improve our learning outcomes. However, no assessment is perfect, and last year presented a variety of unique challenges that make it more difficult than ever to measure our progress. I am pleased to see that the state didn’t issue ratings as they did in the past because those would be misleading indicators given all of the struggles everyone faced.”
Piper explained the district is continually working on ways to advance their students’ learning.
“We are doing many things to improve learning outcomes for our students, including making better use of student formative assessment data, providing time for teacher collaboration, and using resources grounded in evidence,” Piper said.
The district also uses data from the state report cards to establish new objectives and track progress.
“Every year, we reflect on our report card data to set goals for the following year,” Piper said. “That typically begins with an analysis of our performance compared to other districts around us. We get teams together to review the data and set areas of focus for the next school year. We then meet throughout that school year to monitor our progress up until the next state assessment is given.”
Other results the district received were a 96% four-year graduation rate and a 97.3% five-year graduation rate. The district’s attendance rate was also approximately 93.9%.
Under the category of prepared for success, the district received 59.5%, receiving 412.6 points out of a graduation cohort of 693. The district received points for the number of students who earned a remediation free score on all parts of the ACT or SAT, earned an honors diploma, and/or earned an industry-recognized credential. The district also received bonus points for students who earn high grades on advanced placement tests and/or earn college credits prior to graduation.
The state also followed the tracks of previous graduates. According to the state, approximately 56.5% of the graduating class of 2018 entered college within two years. Approximately 33% of the graduates of the class of 2014 graduated from college within six years of leaving high school.
For more information, visit reportcard.education.ohio.gov.
