Staff Report
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COLUMBUS — Results of Ohio’s new Prepared for Success measures on public school district state report cards indicate significant disparities between economically disadvantaged students and their peers, according to an analysis just released.
Three statewide education management organizations — the Ohio School Boards Association, Buckeye Association of School Administrators and Ohio Association of School Business Officials — requested the analysis through the Ohio Education Policy Institute (OEPI). Dr. Howard Fleeter, OEPI consultant, prepared the analysis of the state’s recently released report card data.
Fleeter found stark differences among school districts in the college and career readiness of their students as measured by new indicators on Ohio’s report cards. Districts with a high percentage of students from low socioeconomic circumstances generally score much lower on the new Prepared for Success measures.
Locally, the results showed a similar disparity between the districts’ economically disadvantaged students. The year-end enrollment and percentage of students in poverty numbers come from fiscal year 2014, the latest data available to Crawford County Now.
Colonel Crawford, who had the lowest percentage of students in poverty for the 2014 fiscal year (32 percent with a year-end enrollment of 922), also had the highest percentage of students participating in the ACT (67.1 percent), but trailed Buckeye Central slightly with 1.4 percent of its 2014 seniors participating in the SAT. Colonel Crawford, however, had 10 percent of its students receiving dual enrollment credit and 11.4 percent accepting honors diplomas.
By contrast, Crestline had 97 percent of its students listed as being in poverty with a 670 year-end enrollment, the highest in the county. The school district also saw the lowest percentage among the six county schools in ACT participation (48.8 percent). It also saw the fewest percentage of students receiving honors diplomas and zero students gaining dual enrollment credit.
Buckeye Central, Bucyrus, Galion, and Wynford fell within the middle of the pack.
Of Buckeye Central’s 736 total year-end enrollment in fiscal year 2014, the district had 41 percent of its students in poverty. The district’s 2014 graduating class scored 55.4 percent in ACT participation versus 1.89 in SAT participation while 10.7 percent of the class received honors diplomas.
Wynford had 46 percent of its 1,118 student in poverty during the 2014 fiscal year. Though it had a slightly higher percentage of students in poverty compared to Buckeye Central, the school district scored higher in ACT participation (60.3 percent) and honors diplomas (12.8 percent) versus its New Washington counterpart. Wynford also outpaced Buckeye Central in dual enrollment credits, 7.7 percent versus 5.4 percent.
Galion, who had the largest student body in 2014 at 1,823, fell in the middle amongst the county schools with 57 percent of its student body in poverty. As a result, it saw a 52.7 percent participation rate in the ACT and 1.4 participation rate in the SAT test. Galion did, however, have the highest percentage of students receiving dual enrollment credit, though it fell below Colonel Crawford in industry-recognized credentials.
Bucyrus, who finished fiscal year 2014 with 1,403 in student enrollment, had 67 percent of its student population in poverty, the second highest percent of students in poverty within the county. The Redmen also had 51.8 percent of its 2014 graduating class participating in the ACT, the second-lowest percentage of students doing so in the county.
For the industry-recognized credential component of the Prepared for Success report card, Colonel Crawford had the highest percentage of its 2014 graduating class receiving credit (5.7 percent) while Bucyrus and Wynford scored the lowest in the county at 2.6 percent.
The 2014-2015 school year is the first to be subject to a variety of new school district report card measures. Aimed at a more comprehensive look at the way school districts serve students, the new data provides yet another reminder that more work is needed to close the gap between wealthy and poor students, according to Fleeter. The measures include performance and participation rates on SAT and ACT tests, the number of students taking Advanced Placement tests and college matriculation rates.
After grouping the state’s school districts by decile according to the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, Fleeter’s analysis shows there is a 23.5 point percentage gap between the average four-year graduation rate in districts with fewer than 10 percent economically disadvantaged students (97.4 percent) and districts with greater than 90 percent economically disadvantaged students (73.9 percent). Fleeter also found that ACT test participation increases steadily as the percentage of lower income students declines across 9 of the 10 deciles.
“A very clear pattern exists whereby the likelihood of receiving an honors diploma increases dramatically as the percentage of economically disadvantaged students declines,” Fleeter said.
The three education organizations requesting the analysis hope to use the results to petition lawmakers to take action. Spokespersons for the groups say the new report card data is just one more piece of evidence pointing to the need for innovative solutions that go beyond the classroom.