WARREN - It's not all bad news for the Warren City School District on the state report cards.
Although the district is among nine statewide that earned an academic watch ranking, two of its five schools - Warren G. Harding and Lincoln K-8 - are in continuous improvement. The district, overall, achieved two of the 30 state indicators - reading and writing on the 11th grade Ohio Graduation test.
However, in three categories, the district is less than two percentage points from achieving the minimum standards.
The district achieved the academic watch ranking because it earned a performance index of 76.3. If it had a performance index of below 70 percent, it would have been in academic emergency. No Ohio district was in academic emergency.
The Ohio Department of Education released its annual school Report Cards last week.
Harding achieved two of the 12 indicators, and Lincoln K-8 achieved three of 19 indicators. The high school had a performance index score of 87.3 percent, which put it in continuous improvement.
To get credit for an indicator, 75 percent of the students must pass the section.
Because the district changed from the typical elementary and middle school configurations to new K-8 configurations, the state did not compare it to what the schools did in prior years.
Jefferson K-8 met one of the 19 indicators. Just enough of its 4th-grade students passed the writing portion of the achievement test to allow the school to meet the state indicator. Students in Lincoln's 4th grade scored 75 percent in reading and 82 percent in writing. The school also had a 94.3 percent attendance rate - higher than the state average.
It is in academic emergency.
McGuffey and Willard Avenue K-8 schools and Washington Alternative School failed to achieve any of the state indicators. While Willard and Washington Alternative are in academic emergency, McGuffey K-8 was placed in academic watch.
Harding principal Ruth Zitnik said she is disappointed that the school's scores in the 10th-grade Ohio Graduation Test reading and writing sections dropped just below the 75 percent level. This year's 10th-grade OGT reading score was 74.5 percent and the writing score 74.6.
"We were so close," she said. "I have no explanation. I know we did place more attention in other areas to try to bring them up, and, perhaps, that may be why there was a slip."
Last year, Harding achieved four indicators, including the 10th-grade reading, 75.2, and writing, 77.
Actions already have been taken to not repeat this year's drop in the reading and writing scores and to help bring the high school up from a continuous improvement to effective ranking, Zitnik said.
Although she does not believe the school can pass enough of the indicators to raise it to the next level, Zitnik said its performance index score can rise high enough to place it into effective ranking.
"I know that's doable," Zitnik said.
For one, teachers were brought back this summer for additional professional development training. In addition, the administration and school board agreed to hire an assistant principal whose primary focus will be on curriculum and instruction.
"We are mapping our curriculum and aligning it to what it required by the state on the graduation tests, which also should help to prepare our students to do better on the tests," Zitnik said.