District Leaving Academic Watch

Thursday, August 10, 2006

By Susan Ketchum

Euclid Sun Journal

The latest state report card has nothing but good news for Euclid Schools.

The state will not release official scores for the 2005-06 school year until Tuesday, but Superintendent Joffrey Jones does not expect any changes from the preliminary scores he has already received. Those scores show the district earned the rating of continuous improvement with a score of 82.8. A year ago the district was in the academic watch category, with a score of 74.8.

It's something to celebrate. It's up significantly. People should be pleased, Jones said.

Scores rose for seven of the 10 schools in the district, and none remain in academic emergency, the lowest level. In addition, Thomas Jefferson Elementary earned an effective rating, the highest possible. A year ago it was in continuous improvement.

Forest Park Middle School and Memorial Park Elementary showed the most improvement, jumping two levels from academic emergency to continuous improvement. Central Middle School went from academic emergency status to academic watch.

Indian Hills and Glenbrook elementary also jumped from academic emergency to academic watch, while Upson Elementary remained at academic watch. Lincoln Elementary and the high school stayed at the continuous improvement level.

Jones mailed letters last week explaining the scores to residents.

It reflects hard work on the part of the teachers, and parental support, too. People are beginning to focus hard on the students, he said.

One change that helped the district was the state's implementation of a performance index a year ago. The index gives credit for every child that takes the test, not just those that score at 75 percent or higher.

Another help was the change to short cycle assessments in 2004-05. That means children take shorter tests more frequently, and questions are patterned on the state tests.

That provided us an opportunity to check on a student's progress sooner and provide intervention sooner, he said.

Jones also said the schools were calmer than during the previous re-organization year, when the district re-opened some schools and began small schools within the high school.

That created some turmoil. I expected a dip and we saw a little dip. Now we're back on track, Jones said.