Dr. Robert Marzano, Maria Foseid, Mark Foseid and Tom Roy arrive from Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo. to conduct professional development seminars at Adams County/Ohio Valley School District and at Manchester Local School District.
School districts earn passing grades AC/OVSD rated excellent, MLSD rated as effective
School districts in Adams County aren't resting on their laurels from the release of the recent Local Report Cards from the state of Ohio. Adams County/Ohio Valley School District received an excellent rating for the second straight year, while Manchester Local School District advanced to an effective district from their previous continuous improvement status. On Tuesday, the staff of each district met with an educational researcher in an effort to increase effective teaching in the classroom.
"Dr. Robert Marzano is showing us things we can fine tune to better reach students," said Superintendent Pat Kimble of Adams County/Ohio Valley School District. "We brought him here in cooperation with Manchester Local."
Each district's staff spent half of Tuesday's professional development day with Marzano and several consultants. Marzano is the co-founder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo. According to Rodney Wallace, director of federal programs at AC/OVSD, he is a leading researcher in education, a speaker, trainer and author of more than 30 books. He has over 35 years of experience in education.
"Marzano and consultants from Marzano Research Laboratory are conducting professional development with the teachers to develop a common language of instruction," Wallace explained. "He is helping teachers develop phases of supporting effective teaching in every classroom."
Looking ahead, by 2014, districts must meet the standard of 100 percent of students at or above the proficient level to gain each of the state indicators for testing in reading and math. Currently the standard is 75 percent at or above proficient for achievement tests through eighth grade and the 10th grade Ohio Graduation Tests. The requirement is 85 percent for the cumulative results of students who took the tests as 10th or 11th graders.
This year, MLSD met or exceeded the requirement on 14 out of 28 tests taken by students, plus exceeded the attendance rate and graduation rate requirements. ACOVSD met or exceeded the requirement on 19 tests, plus exceeded the attendance rate requirement.
Looking more closely at the individual public buildings in the county, North Adams Elementary and West Union High School were rated excellent; West Union Elementary was rated in continuous improvement; and the other five buildings in both districts were rated effective.
Four buildings in the county, NAE, Peebles High School, WUHS and Manchester High School, met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for all student groups. However, none of the other buildings met AYP for students with disabilities.
AYP is a product of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to hold districts and schools accountable for the achievement of each student group, including racial and ethnic groups, low-income students and students with disabilities. The AYP measure indicates the extent to which each student group is meeting benchmarks for proficiency and shows any gaps in achievement between groups of students.
Ohio is one of eight states that received approval from the U.S. Department of Education to provide schools and districts with an additional way to meet AYP. A growth model is used to determine if a student is projected to be proficient. If the student is on the right pathway to proficiency, the student is considered proficient for AYP purposes.
As a result of the growth model, more districts and schools met AYP in the last two years. The idea is to enable the state to focus on the schools and districts where proficiency rates are low, and in which students are not projected to be on the pathway to proficiency.
"Educators continue to help students achieve at higher levels and, in many cases, surpass the rigorous academic standards that have been laid before them," said Deborah S. Delisle, Ohio superintendent of public instruction, upon the release of the 2008-09 Local Report Cards. "More districts have earned a rating of effective or higher on their 2008-2009 report cards than in previous years."
More than 85 percent of school districts and almost 72 percent of school buildings received ratings of effective or higher on this year's report cards.
Another measure on the LRC is the value-added. These results are calculated for grades four through eight in reading and mathematics. The results show whether a district or school meets, exceeds or is below one year of growth for its students.
"The value-added measure allows districts and schools to demonstrate that their students are making significant improvement even when they have not yet met the proficiency target," said Delisle. "This measure shows progress over time, rather than the single snapshot that test scores provide. Certainly, the value-added measure can serve as an incentive for students who struggle. They can see that their efforts are paying off."
More than 88 percent of Ohio's school districts met or exceeded the value-added standard, including both districts in Adams County. Beginning this year, a district or school may have its rating reduced one designation if it receives a "below expected growth" value added score for three consecutive years. Fourteen districts and 59 schools fell into this group.
Two individual schools in the county met or exceeded the value added standard of logging one year or more of student progress in reading and math during the 2008-09 school year. They were West Union Elementary and West Union High School. Peebles Elementary and North Adams Elementary fell short in fifth grade reading, while Manchester Elementary fell short in fourth grade reading. Peebles, North Adams and Manchester High Schools all fell short on value-added to reading and math in eighth grade during the school year.
