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Middletown Schools Continuous Improvement

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John Beagle View Drop Down
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    Posted: Oct 22 2012 at 8:15am
Middletown Schools retained its “Continuous Improvement” rating, according to the preliminary data released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Education.
The Middletown City School District’s performance index rating continues to climb in the Ohio Department of Education’s district report card ratings. And while he is encouraged by the district’s continued progress, superintendent Greg Rasmussen said he knows there’s still work to do.

“Since the state started rating schools with a performance index, we’ve got the highest score (87.2) we’ve ever had,” Rasmussen said.

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/news/local/middletown-schools-retains-continuous-improvement-/nSgHc/
John Beagle

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Bocephus View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bocephus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 22 2012 at 2:09pm
[QUOTE=John Beagle]Middletown Schools retained its “Continuous Improvement” rating, according to the preliminary data released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Education.
The Middletown City School District’s performance index rating continues to climb in the Ohio Department of Education’s district report card ratings. And while he is encouraged by the district’s continued progress, superintendent Greg Rasmussen said he knows there’s still work to do.

“Since the state started rating schools with a performance index, we’ve got the highest score (87.2) we’ve ever had,” Rasmussen said.

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/news/local/middletown-schools-retains-continuous-improvement-/nSgHc/[/QUOTE]
 
Ya think ? 6 out of 26 indicaters but we are improving ? wtf lol
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VietVet View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 22 2012 at 3:49pm
Hey Bo, if the Rasser says weez doing ok at 87.2, then I believe him. Problem is, we've been in the 80's for a decade or more and the rest of the school districts around us have exceeded that long ago. To say we have had the highest score ever at 87.2, knowing that is dead last in the overall scheme of things is saying we are the best at being the worst. Don't get the logic here in his optimism.

The 6 out of 26, if that is the current indicator achievements, is less than it was isn't it? Didn't we have 10 indicators accomplished at one time? Goin' backward/gettin' worse aren't we?
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Pacman View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pacman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 22 2012 at 7:11pm
Vet,

I thought we were at 10 out 26 last year??

PacmanCool
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 23 2012 at 6:08am
Originally posted by Pacman Pacman wrote:



Vet,
I thought we were at 10 out 26 last year??PacmanCool


Yes Pac we WERE. If you go to School Achievements- Latest Performance Report- a post from Ms. Andrew on Oct 18th, 2011, stated that the school had met 10 of 26 indicators. Why no mention to the citizens that the district has dropped 4 indicators since the last report? The district announces when there is an increase in indicators met. Let's be "out in the open" here school folks and announce the bad news also. The taxpayers, who are paying the bills, have a right to know what the return on their money is, right?
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Bocephus View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bocephus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 23 2012 at 12:42pm
They just need more money to fix it vet Cry
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Pacman View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pacman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 23 2012 at 8:01pm
Vet,

That's the way it always goes.  The same way the city has treated midfest this year.  They think they got 50,000+ visitors they can't wait to crow about it.  this year has anyone heard anything about midfest attendance or how much $$ it has brought in this year??

PacmanCool
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rngrmed View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rngrmed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 23 2012 at 9:20pm
well the school buildings are a couple of years old now..maybe we need some new ones to increase the scores..
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Marcia Andrew View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marcia Andrew Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 06 2012 at 9:23am
The state report card data shows mixed results for MCSD.  The report card measures a number of different indicators (all based on the state standardized tests) and I will discuss them one by one.
 
 Obviously, we are disappointed that we lost grade-level indicators that we gained last year. Several of these we missed by just a few tenths of a percentage point. For example, 74.9% of 4th graders scored proficient in reading, and 74.8% of 6th graders scored proficient in reading. With approximately 500 students per grade, 1 student amounts to .2%. So, if one more 4th grader and 1 more 6th grader scored proficient in reading, we would have had 2 more indicators. I do not say this as an excuse; our percentage proficient should not have gone down at all. I am just saying it to point out that the indicators are based on an arbitrary line of 75% of students scoring proficient on one exam on one day. Is a school with 75% students proficient tangibly better than a school with 74.9% proficient?  We were close at 72.6% 3rd grade reading (difference of 14 students); 3rd grade math at 72.4% (15 students) and 10th grade math at 73% (roughly 10 students).
 
The number of indicators earned does not reflect improvement unless the magic 75% level of proficiency is reached. It also doesn't reflect how well a district is doing in teaching kids above the proficient level. Two other measures do--Value Added and the Performance Index.
 
Value Added compares results of actual students from one year to the next and determines whether the students in the district overall achieved one year of educational growth in that school year, or less than a year, or more than a year.  Middletown earned "Above Growth" on Value Added for the second year in a row, meaning that students in Middletown schools (on average) made more than one year of educational growth for each of the last two years. The only other districts in Butler County to earn "Above Growth" on Value Added last year were Lakota and Ross. This measure looks at where the kids in a district start, and the rate of progress made. This looks at the progress of all students, not just those working toward proficient. A district must challenge the top performers to grow as well to score "Above" on this measure.
 
The Performance Indicator measures the overall performance on all the grade level tests, and looks not at just proficiency, but how many students scored at each of the five levels (proficient is the third, or middle level). So a district basically gets 1 point for each proficient score. But it gets less than 1 point for each score at the level below that (Limited) and an even smaller fraction of 1 for the lowest level (Basic). A district earns more than 1 point for Advanced and Accelerated, with a slightly higher amount for the higher level. So looking at the Performance Indicator from one year to the next measures improvement across all levels, in all tested grades and subjects.  Middletown's Performance Index went up to 87.2. It has gone up each of the last 4 years (2008: 80.0; 2009: 81.7; 2010: 82.3; 2011: 85.9; 2012: 87.2). (To put this in perspective, a Performance Index of 90 would earn an overall rating of Effective instead of Continuous Improvement. The district goal for this year is 91.6).
 
Of all the school districts in Butler County, Middletown was second in the change in the Performance Index in both the last 2 years and the last 4 years (only Madison had a larger increase for both of those time periods).
 
The state department of education created a list of 18 "Similar Districts" to compare ourselves to. These are districts that are most like ours in terms of a number of different factors, including district tax wealth, education level of population, racial mix, level of poverty, percentage of special ed students, percentage of English as a second language students, age of population in community, cost of housing, types of employers in community). On the Performance Index, we rank 8th out of 18 in this list. But in terms of improvement, we rank 2d in this list for increase in the Performance Index over both the last 2 years and the last 4 years (with Mansfield number one for both time periods).  This is good news that we compare favorably to districts that face similar challenges as we do. It is also a cause for hope -- two of these districts (Barberton City and Masillon City) are rated Excellent. If they can do it with similar populations, then we can too.
 
The 18 "Similar Districts" are as follows (listed in order of 4 year growth in Performance Index): Mansfield, Middletown, Massillon, Marion City, Newark, Whitehall, Warren City, Barberton, Elyria City, Canton, Springfield, Lima, Hamilton, Zanesville, Sandusky, Lorain, Maple Heights, and Garfield Heights.
 
As I have said before, we are not content with where we are, and we wish the progress would be faster. But, we are still proud of the progress we are making and feel that we are putting in place the right work so that the improvement will continue.
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VietVet View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 06 2012 at 12:33pm
"Obviously, we are disappointed that we lost grade-level indicators that we gained last year. Several of these we missed by just a few tenths of a percentage point"

HAZARDS OF COMING TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF THE CANYON. SOMETIMES YOU FALL TO THE BOTTOM. TARGET THE PATH AWAY FROM THE EDGE AND YOU HAVE ROOM FOR ERROR.

"The only other districts in Butler County to earn "Above Growth" on Value Added last year were Lakota and Ross"

IN VERY GOOD COMPANY HERE MS. ANDREW. CONGRATULATIONS.

"Middletown's Performance Index went up to 87.2. It has gone up each of the last 4 years (2008: 80.0; 2009: 81.7; 2010: 82.3; 2011: 85.9; 2012: 87.2). (To put this in perspective, a Performance Index of 90 would earn an overall rating of Effective instead of Continuous Improvement. The district goal for this year is 91.6)."

I LIKE THE TARGET OF 91.6. ALSO LIKE THE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TREND.

This is good news that we compare favorably to districts that face similar challenges as we do. It is also a cause for hope -- two of these districts (Barberton City and Masillon City) are rated Excellent. If they can do it with similar populations, then we can too.

"The 18 "Similar Districts" are as follows (listed in order of 4 year growth in Performance Index): Mansfield, Middletown, Massillon, Marion City, Newark, Whitehall, Warren City, Barberton, Elyria City, Canton, Springfield, Lima, Hamilton, Zanesville, Sandusky, Lorain, Maple Heights, and Garfield Heights".

I LIKE MIDDLETOWN'S RANKING IN THIS COMPARISON. LIVED IN NEWARK FOR FIVE YEARS.......VERY SIMILAR TO MIDDLETOWN'S DEMOGRAPHICS. COULD BE SISTER CITIES, ALTHOUGH NEWARK HAS MANAGED TO RETAIN THEIR EMPLOYERS MUCH BETTER THAN MIDDLETOWN HAS. NICE INDUSTRIAL PARK OUT BY I-70 AND HEBRON WHERE I WORKED AT ONE TIME BACK IN THE 80'S. DECENT PAY FOR THE AREA. THOUGHT I READ WHERE HAMILTON HAD BETTER RESULTS THAN MIDDLETOWN DID AND HAS MORE INDICATORS MET.
I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.
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Pacman View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pacman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 07 2012 at 8:30pm
Mrs Andrew,

I would suggest that, if you haven't done it, you post the state report card on the Middletown website and directly below that, you post this explaination.  Most people looking to move to Middletown or the surronding are will not disect the report card as you have done.  They will simply look the biggest numbers and just walk away and look at another school.

as far as comparing like districts, I see little value in this.  If you are going to live in Butler County or surroundin area, personally I would not look at these other schools as they are not even in my area so this is of little value to a new resident.   As far as I am concerned, one of the major factors that turns new residents (with children) off is the school systems low rankings compared to surrounding school district not "Like" school districts. 

Personally, I was disappointed when I found out the a new Middle school was to built and the Highschool rehabed.  Both should have been built new.

PacmanCool
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Marcia Andrew View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marcia Andrew Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 09 2012 at 9:45am
Vet, thank you for your positive comments. You are correct that Hamilton's Performance Index is higher and it met more grade-level indicators than Middletown. However, it was "Below Value Added", meaning that on average students made less than one year's academic growth in the last year. And in the last 4 years, its Performance Index rose only 1.7 points, versus Middletown's increase of 7.2 points.
 
Pacman, I understand your point that people who are deciding to move to this area for job or whatever other reason don't care about districts in other parts of the state. The relevance of the comparison with "Similar Districts" is for people who are trying to evaluate whether the school district is doing a good job, given certain external factors that are beyond the control of school districts to change. Your suggestion to post the results and our analysis on the school web site is a good one and I will look into it.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 09 2012 at 12:54pm
Vet
This is a special little gift for you…Wink.

October 6, 1920  Wednesday  Middletown News Signal, Middletown, Ohio
BOY SWORE AT HIS TEACHER
   
Norman Brackett arrested yesterday has been turned over to juvenile Officer James Emery.
    It is reported that Brackett was swearing on the school grounds and when reprimanded by principal became abusive


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