What does it all mean?

Q. On Aug. 26 the Ohio Department of Education released report cards for every district in the state. Each district received a designation. What are they?

A. Excellent with Distinction, Excellent, Effective, Continuous Improvement, Academic Water and Academic Emergency.

Q. Was any district in an Academic Emergency?

A. There were no districts in Academic Emergency.

Q. Is Ohio improving educationally?

A. According to “Education Week’s” 2008 Quality Counts Report, Ohio’s educational system ranks seventh in the nation.

Q. Are Ohio’s children lagging nationally?

A. No, according to Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman, Ohio’s students consistently perform better than the national average in both fourth and eight grade reading and mathematics and in eighth grade writing.

Q. What does AYP mean?

A. Adequate Yearly Progress. This term originated from the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Q. What is Value-Added mean?

A. Both AYP and Value-Added are units of measurement in the state’s evaluation of testing data.

Q. Are these new?

A. Yes, these are key changes to the Local Report Card. AYP was added to comply with federal guidelines.

Q. What’s a performance indicator? 

A. The state indicators vary by year, but are generally based on the number of state assessments given over all tested grades. To earn each indicator, a district or school needs to have a certain percentage of students reach proficient or above a given assessment.

-Information from the Ohio Department of Education