NEWS

New grade shows which schools aid struggling readers

Jona Ison

A new study reveals that 37 percent of Ohio students who were not reading at grade level at the end of third grade in 2004 didn't graduate high school on time, a rate more than three times greater than those who were reading at level.

The Ohio Department of Education released its findings Thursday in conjunction with its first grades for schools and districts on literacy improvement between kindergarten and third grade. While 100 school buildings (7 percent of those graded) received an A, 41 percent received a D or F for the 2013-14 school year.

"Boys and girls who can read on grade level in third grade control their academic destinies and are more likely to graduate with the skills they need to be successful," said Ohio Department of Education Superintendent Richard Ross in a news release. "This is why we must identify early students who need extra help and provide them with the intervention they need to become proficient readers."

All schools in Coshocton County received a passing grade, but none received an A or B. River View Local's C was the highest overall grade.

The new grade, called the K-3 Literacy Improvement measure, is being added to the state report card to show how well districts and schools are helping kindergarten students deemed "not-on-track" learn to read proficiently by the third grade.

The state calculated grades by dividing the number of students whose reading improved to hit a state benchmark by the number of students who failed to hit that benchmark the previous year. Schools are penalized for each third-grader who wasn't on a reading improvement and monitoring plan and didn't score proficient on the reading assessment.

Letter grades are determined on a sliding scale with the state average — 43 percent for this year — setting the bottom range of a C. As such, the letter grade won't necessarily be comparable year-to-year.

The study and grades are useful and revelatory data, said Jon Saxton, president of the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools President. He also is superintendent at Chillicothe City Schools in Ross County.

"There are pockets of success in areas that don't stand out as wealthy, which is reassuring," Saxton said, referencing top grades at elementary schools in more poverty-stricken areas such as Lawrence County.

While Saxton said schools recognize the importance of proficient literacy by third grade and the value of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, tight funding continues to be a barrier for many.

"The bottom line is if you don't have the resources you need, you can't be effective," Saxton said.

As a whole, Ohio's public schools appear to have outperformed community schools; 70 percent of community schools graded got a D or F, compared with 41 percent of traditional public schools.

However, the measure is focused on schools that had more than 5 percent of kindergarteners who weren't reading on grade level. As such, schools with the majority of students who enter school as good readers did not receive a literacy grade.

Of the state's 302 community schools, which includes schools that do not have third graders, 47 percent of them did not receive a grade.

Darlene Chambers, CEO and president of the Ohio Alliance of Public Charter Schools, said the data, along with 17 other metrics on state report cards, will be helpful as school officials work to "refine action plans."

"These are complex metrics, and implementing effective change takes time, especially with charter school student populations struggling with poverty, those receiving special education services and those who are based in Ohio's Urban 8 districts: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown," Chambers said.

"This initial reading proficiency report helps to broaden the conversation about how all public and charter schools with similar challenges can help students achieve grade level reading performance."

The new grades are geared toward monitoring how well Ohio school's are working to meet the state's Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

If students don't earn a minimum score on their reading assessment, the guarantee requires the student to be retained and the school to provide the child a "high-performing" reading teacher and 90 minutes of daily reading instruction.

Ohio isn't alone in pushing early literacy. According to a review by the Education Commission of the States, 32 states, including Ohio, require or recommend literacy intervention and 14 have a minimum standard similar to Ohio's Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

jison@gannett.com

Twitter: @JonaIson

K-3 Literacy Improvement grading scale

The state calculated grades by dividing the number of students whose reading improved to hit a state benchmark by the number of students who failed to hit that benchmark the previous year. The grading scale will change year-to-year, with the bottom of the C range representing the state average.

Grade

Upper bound

Lower bound

A

100 percent

81.2 percent

B

81.1 percent

62.2 percent

C

62.1 percent

43.2 percent

D

43.1 percent

24.3 percent

F

24.2 percent

0 percent

Source: Ohio Department of Education

2013-14 K-3 Literacy Improvement grades

The following percentages were determined using only schools and districts that received grades.

Type of school

A

B

C

D

F

Community schools

2 percent

9 percent

20 percent

28 percent

42 percent

Public schools

7 percent

19 percent

33 percent

29 percent

12 percent

Public districts

5 percent

22 percent

45 percent

24 percent

4 percent

Source: Ohio Department of Education

More online

Check out the story online to search our statewide database of district and individual school K-3 Literacy Improvement grades.

2013-14 K-3 Literacy Improvement Grades

Districts with either small enrollment for kindergarten through third grade or had less than 5 percent of kindergarteners rated not-on-track were not rated, indicated by NR.

Source: Ohio Department of Education