BLANCHESTER, Ohio — A report delivered at a recent Blanchester Local Schools Board of Education meeting shed some light on the progress achieved by the district.
The Ohio School Report Card is a five-star system required by law that provides educators, families, caregivers, and community members with a grade on a school or school district’s performance within a year.
The intent is to provide transparency between schools and the communities they are in to drive conversation and improvement, identifying problems and areas that might need to be addressed within the local community’s education system. Their written intent is to, “Establish high expectations for the education community while showing progress toward equitable outcomes for all Ohio students.”
As of mid-August, according to the report delivered, the school district had an Overall grade of four stars, but had recently dropped to three-and-a-half, as Progress grades were added to the overall equation, lowering the grade. However, it was stated that Progress grades are hard to raise relative to other grades on the Ohio School Report Cards.
As for Achievement, the district achieved three stars, with a Performance Index Score (PI) of 85.2 and a PI percentage of 78.0, aiming towards an 80% PI. The PI score is based on test scores, and the percentage is based on the score divided by the maximum possible score, with the maximum possible score determined by the average of the highest 2% performance index scores in the state.
The district’s Achievement grade has gone up two points since last year, continuing a multi-year trend going back to 2021, when the score was 76.0 just a year after the pandemic. Since then the grade has seen a gradual push upwards exceeding even the year of 2020.
At the third and fourth grade level, the district scored over 80% in ELA (English Language Arts) and Mathematics. At the high school level, the district scored well in state tests on American U.S. History and Government, as well as Biology, with an over 90% score.
Also touched on, among other things, was the district’s graduation rate which exceeds state standards at five stars, with a 96.8% graduation rate — a score that combines the four-year and five-year graduation rates of 95.7% and 98.4%, respectively.
Early Literacy grades also scored well, with a three-star grade and an overall percentage of 76.2%. Ohio’s plan to raise literacy achievement is a plan dedicated to raising literacy competence in the state emphasizing young readers by tracking progress and achievement in third and fourth grade.
Of the topics that the district underperformed on, such as the aforementioned Progress component, the district scored two out of five stars, indicating that the district did not meet expectations for student growth set by the state. All growth was based on Math, Science, ELA, and tests overall at the pre-high school level. The biggest growth came in fourth grade ELA, fifth grade in the three main subjects tested, seventh grade mathematics, and all subjects for eighth graders.
At the high school level, significant growth was made in Biology, American History, and Algebra, with lesser progress made in Geometry and American Government.
The district also underperformed in the Gap Closing category, a measurement that shows “how well schools are meeting the performance expectations for our students in English language arts, math, and graduation. It also measures how schools are doing in supporting English learners to increase language proficiency, reducing chronic absenteeism for all students, and identifying gifted students and providing gifted services,” according to the Ohio School Report Card website.
