Preliminary Report Card data from the Ohio Department of Education indicate that the Westerville City School District (WCSD) will meet all state standards and attain its highest ever Performance Index at 102.9 out of 120. The Performance Index calculation is based on a multiplier weight according to the performance level of each student. A district’s Performance Index score increases when more students score at the advanced, accelerated and proficient levels.
WCSD students' performance on the 14 Ohio Achievement Assessment measures this year surpassed the state minimum 75 percent passing rate by an average of 12.2 percent. WCSD students' performance on the 10 Ohio Graduation Test measures this year also far surpassed the state minimums.
"It’s very typical across the state for school building and district passing rates to fluctuate from year to year," said Dr. Machelle Kline, Director of Assessment and Alternative Education Services. "This year we experienced significant gains in eighth-grade math and science scores, as well as fifth-grade reading scores. Other fluctuations were less dramatic."
This year, the eighth grade science indicator has a passing rate of 84.2 percent. This is a tremendous accomplishment for the Westerville City School District as the science indicator in eighth grade was missed in 2010.
"Gaining nearly 10 percent in just two years is incredible," Kline said. "Results like this show just how hard our students and staff have been working to improve in this area."
Chief Academic Officer Karen McClellan said the district has a comprehensive strategy for approaching its improvement efforts, including examining its curriculum and instruction alignment; analyzing data; reviewing the resources provided to teachers; and providing focused professional development in these areas.
"Our continued success is the result of the hard work of our teachers and students, as well as the involvement of our families and support of our community," McClellan explained. "We never stop looking for ways to improve, so we will continue to make the adjustments necessary to raise student achievement and remain fiscally responsible in doing so."
The Ohio Department of Education only released a limited set of school performance data for the 2011-2012 school year. The full set of school report-card data has been postponed due to state auditor reviews regarding attendance falsification. Westerville City Schools is not part of this review and looks forward to the release of the final report card.