Westfall in the News- Report card rating

Schools earn 'excellent' report cards - Circleville Herald: News http://www.circlevilletoday.com/news/schools-earn-excellent-report-card...

By By Kristi Murphy Staff Reporter | Posted: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 7:30 pm
CIRCLEVILLE – The Ohio Department of Education released its final state report cards last week and
the results for the four local districts were excellent.
For the second consecutive year, both the Teays Valley and Logan Elm school districts earned excellent
with distinction ratings, the highest possible rating for school districts. Not to be outdone, both
Circleville City Schools and Westfall Local Schools improved from effective to excellent for the
2011-2012 school year.
The report cards measure state indicators, the performance index, adequate yearly progress and value
added. The 26 state indicators are based on state tests, attendance and graduation rates.
Although its been excellent with distinction twice now, Logan Elm Local Schools met all 26 of the state
indicators for the first time for the 2011-2012 school year.
“It’s a credit to our administrators, our teaching staff, our students and our community,” said Tim
Williams, district superintendent.
The McDowell Exchange School showed the most improvement of the individual buildings, earning an
excellent with distinction rating this year. The school was ranked effective for 2010-2011.
“They’re teaming more and working together as a staff to collaborate with the focus on reading and
math,” Williams said. “Our goals as a district are to improve reading and math scores, and they were
obviously very successful at doing that.”
Not only did the school score well on its report card, but it was also honored as a ‘School of Promise’
by the Ohio Department of Education.
Williams explained that the award was given to 163 schools in the state that have made strides in
closing the gaps in reading and math over a two-year period.
He said the district will continue to focus on those two areas.
Teays Valley Local Schools has consistently ranked either excellent or excellent with distinction for that
past five to six years, said Jeff Sheets, district superintendent. He said he is especially pleased this year
with the district’s value-added measure ranking, which shows whether students in grades 3-8 meet the
expected one year of growth in reading and math.
The district ranked 43 out of 832 schools in the state.
“To be excellent with distinction and rank that high for growth in one year, it’s really commendable for
our staff and students,” he said.
Sheets praised the staff, parents and students at the elementary schools for their excellent with
distinction ratings.

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“We see some really exceptional things happening in our fourth and fifth grades,” he said, noting the
science and math scores are some of the highest in the area. “It’s good to celebrate that, but it’s also a
challenge to make sure the students continue that success into high school.”
The district met 25 of 26 state indicators, falling short on the required 90 percent four-year graduation
rate. Sheets said the district will continue to work on its 84.6 percent graduation rate.
Circleville City Schools met 24 of 26 state indicators, missing the 75 percent state requirement in fifth
grade reading and 8th grade science by .5 percent.
Kirk McMahon, district superintendent, credits the improved ranking to a number of factors including
good administrative leadership; setting district-wide goals; and focusing on data, instructional practices
and relationships.
“If I were to say one thing it would be our focus on individual students,” he said. “We take great pride
in knowing our kids... Our principals know their names and our teachers know what sports they play
and what they’re interested in outside of school. That makes a difference.”
He said the district set a goal to raise reading and math scores and its graduation rate. With those met,
he said the goals were reformulated to focus on growth, which is reflected in the value-added measure.
The district ranked 51 out of 832 schools in the state in that category.
“I’m very proud of the efforts from our staff, students and parents,” he said. “We really had to have the
partnership of everybody because no one can do it alone.”
Westfall Local Schools met 19 of the 26 state indicators. The district failed to meet the 75 percent state
requirement in fourth grade math; fifth grade reading, math and science; and 10th grade science and
social studies. It’s 89.2 percent four-year graduation rate also fell below the state required 90 percent.
Superintendent Cara Riddel said the overall and individual ratings reflect improvement in the district as
it is the first time since the 2008-2009 school year that the district was rated excellent.
“The elementary is excellent for the first time since we opened the building and the middle school is
excellent with distinction for the first time in the history of Westfall,” she said. “That’s pretty
remarkable.”
She noted that the improvements came in a year where there were no new implementations. She said
she hopes to see even more improvement next year.
“We’ll continue to focus on science and math,” she said. “This year, we implemented the new math
program so we’re hoping that makes an impact, and next year, it’s science. That’s something that came
out of strategic planning. We need to improve our science program.”
The following is an outline of each district’s state report card. Full report cards can be accessed on this
story at www.circlevilletoday.com.
Teays Valley Local Schools

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District rating: Excellent with Distinction
Indicators: 25 of 26
Performance Index: 103.8
Adequate Yearly Progress: Not met
Value-Added Measure: Above (rank 43 of 832)
Teays Valley High: Excellent
Teays Valley West Middle: Excellent
Teays Valley East Middle: Excellent
Walnut Elementary: Excellent with Distinction
Ashville Elementary: Excellent with Distinction
South Bloomfield Elementary: Excellent with Distinction
Scioto Elementary: Excellent with Distinction
Logan Elm Schools
District rating: Excellent with Distinction
Adequate Yearly Progress: Not Met
Logan Elm High: Excellent
McDowell-Exchange Junior High: Excellent with Distinction
Washington Elementary: Effective
Saltcreek Elementary: Excellent
Pickaway Elementary: Excellent
Laurelville Elementary: Excellent
Circleville City Schools
District rating: Excellent

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Adequate Yearly Progress: Not Met
Circleville High: Excellent
Everts Middle: Excellent
Nicholas Drive Elementary: Excellent
Mound Street Elementary: Excellent
Court Street Elementary: Excellent
Atwater Elementary: Excellent
Westfall Local Schools
District rating: Effective
Adequate Yearly Progress: Not met
Westfall High: Effective
Westfall Middle: Excellent with Distinction
Westfall Elementary: Excellent

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Westfall in the News- Report card rating

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