Third graders from Schultz Elementary School work in the Maker Studio at Willis Education Center earlier this year.
Courtesy | Delaware City Schools
Delaware City Schools earned 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Ohio Department of Education’s State Report Cards earlier this month, and Superintendent Heidi Kegley said she is “very pleased” with the result.
The state report card rating is comprised of five rated components: Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation and Early Literacy.
Delaware City Schools earned three stars in Achievement, which measures student performance on state tests; five stars on Progress, which measures student growth year to year; five stars on Gap Closing, which measures the reduction of educational gaps for student groups; four stars for Graduation, which measures graduation rate; and three stars on Early Literacy, which measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
“I’m overall very pleased with the work of our staff, our students and our families (for) putting the value on education and recognizing that it takes all of us working together,” Kegley said in response to the report card. “It allows us to know the areas we can continue to grow in and work towards achievement in.”
Kegley said she’s proud of the district’s five stars in Gap Closing and Progress and said they are “really important” to the district.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Misty Swanger agreed. She said the rating shows how dedicated district staff is to students on an individual level.
“Gap Closing and Progress shows how hard our staff work to meet the needs of our students,” Swanger said. “It means all students are moving forward and getting what they need, and that’s the important part.”
Kegley said the district is working closely with Hayes High School Principal Rex Reeder as well as the staff and counseling team at Hayes to help increase graduation rate, which was 94.9% on the report card. She added graduation remains a focus for the district.
Swanger said the three-star rating, which denotes “meets state standards,” in Achievement “doesn’t cause alarm” because the district has implemented new programs and curriculum since the data for the state report card was collected and expects those changes to improve the district’s rating.
“Once we’ve fully implemented the curriculum, that will start to impact the achievement score in middle school and high school because students will be stronger readers,” Swanger said.
Swanger said the Early Literacy metric examines when students are placed on reading improvement plan and the sooner they get off the program, the more points the district gets.
“There are ways to game the system, but we’re not willing to do that,” Swanger said. “We could put every kindergarten student on a reading improvement plan and they’d be off of it by second grade…”
“But that’s not what’s best for them as individual learners,” Kegley added. “That’s very important to us in our district; personalizing the learning experience for all of our students.”
Swanger said the district is seeing gains in literacy, and DCS will start to see the impact of the new programs in the coming years.
“It will not be tomorrow because it takes a lot of work to implement a curriculum,” Swanger said.
There is another metric on the report card: College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness. The metric is currently not scored. However, the district said it is already working on ways to enhance career awareness, opportunities, partnerships and apprenticeships within the district.
“As we know, the high school experience looks different than it did when we were in high school,” Kegley said. “Our students are looking for those connections and opportunities. The more opportunities we can provide to our students within the high school allows them to be fully participating in high school activities versus them having to leave our campus to find that in another area.”
Swanger said the district was recently awarded a $1,026,817 grant to get equipment necessary to create three specific career pathway programs for students at the high school. The programs will be focused on advanced manufacturing, health and education.
“We knew we needed to create career pathways,” Swanger said. “We knew we needed to look at what jobs are going to impact Delaware and Delaware students the most in the next 15 years.”
Kegley said the district will work to maintain and improve its rating on the state report card.
“As our students join us as kindergarteners, it’s important for us to be maintaining those excellent standards for them as students as well as for their families and what they expect from Delaware City Schools,” Kegley said. “We’ll continue to work to increase achievement in all areas where we are at a three (star rating) but to know we are meeting those standards means that we are meeting the needs of our students and ensuring their success for the future.”
Jennifer Ruhe, director of communications for the district, said the district knows “what we’ve been doing for awhile has been working.”
“Do we have room to grow? Always, but our staff takes a lot of pride in what they do and they want what’s best for the kids as well,” Ruhe said. “That shows, even with changing standards and curriculum, that they are willing to dive in and say, ‘What more can we do?’”
Kegley said the 4.5 rating is evidence of the “strong partnership” between the district, staff and families.
“It’s everyone,” she said. “The district staff that supports the buildings, the building leaders that support the teachers, and the teachers that support the students. That’s where the expertise of our teachers has truly shown and helped us reach this point. (Four-and-a-half stars) shows the strong partnership between the school and our families and the trust that our families have with our staff and that our staff works with our families because together is where we find the success for our students.
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
