Press release and Staff report
Three Crawford County schools out of 174 schools across 56 school districts in the state of Ohio were recipients of the Ohio Department of Education’s 2016 Momentum Award.
Wynford Junior High and Wynford High School and Buckeye Central Junior High School were recipients of the 2016 Momentum Award. The Momentum Award recognizes schools that are closing the gap on all of their Value-Added measures on the state report card. All three schools received all A’s in all of their Value-Added subgroups, which include the overall student population, students identified as gifted, the lowest 20% in achievement, and students with disabilities.
The schools received a letter from President of the State Board of Education Thomas Gunlock congratulating them on their accomplishment.
Upon receiving the letter, Wynford High School Principal Jeff Holbrook immediately made copies and hand-delivered them to each of his high school staff members as he shook their hands and congratulated their students.
Holbrook said, “[This award is] validation for the work [our teachers] do. When you’re in the Ohio Improvement Process, and you’ve been there in Team Based Teams, it gets long in the tooth and this is a glimmer of light when you’re in the tunnel of work. It’s something that’s important and it recognizes the job that our teachers do on a daily basis.”
Wynford Junior High Principal Chris Solis celebrated with the junior high staff by presenting the letter at their weekly Team Based Team meeting. He complimented the staff on their focus on using data to drive instructional decisions. He reflected, “We truly started the process of meeting the needs for all student learning in the 2015-2016 school year, and [now the teachers’] collaborative effort has led to the entire staff to be recognized for their efforts of going above and beyond.”
Fred Fox, Superintendent of Wynford Local Schools, commented, “Fewer than 10 percent of all school districts in the state receive the Momentum Award. If you receive a ‘C,’ it means that students make a year’s worth of growth, so to exceed that in all four areas is extraordinary. We think we have some good practices in place. It could not be done without the hard work of our students, parents, and staff.”
Buckeye Central Middle School Principal Deb Daniel explained that she was proud of the staff’s efforts to achieve the award.
“I was not part of the staff, as this is my first year,” Daniel said. “This unbelievable staff was able to have their value-added be all A’s, and when you have all A’s in value-added the state awards you with the Momentum Award. It is quite a privilege because there were so few (schools).
“I am incredibly proud, so, so proud to be a part of the fact that they were able to go from a watch school to find what needs to be improved, and to work on those things, and to work their way up to that is amazing,” Daniel continued.
Buckeye Central High School Principal Mike Martin reflected on how Buckeye Central Middle School achieved the award.
“The subgroups piece to the Momentum Award is important. There are three subgroups; there is the gifted, the lowest 20 percentile, and the special needs students. To receive the Momentum Award two of those three subgroups must achieve. All three achieved, so that is awesome, too,” Martin said.
Martin described that with the award it shows that something good is happening with the students at Buckeye Central.
“With our value added we were two standard areas above the mean. To get two standard areas above the mean it is pretty hard, three is next to impossible, two is a challenge. So what that would mean in statistics language is that there is a signal that something is happening, the question is, is it a signal, or is it noise. In this case it is a signal something is happening, and it is happening with our kids,” Martin said.
Buckeye Central Instruction Assessment Coordinator Diane Ervin reflected on the award.
“We received greater than expected progress in reading and math, and received A’s in every value added measure on the state report card,” Ervin said.
Looking ahead, Ervin noted that the award is something that the school can view as an accomplishment, but also convey a message to the community.
“I do think that it gives our staff and students something to be able to look at as an accomplishment and with so many changes that we have been going through with the testing and new standards this helps to convey our message to the community that we are moving forward, that we do have some momentum towards those goals and that we are going to get our kids there,” Ervin explained.
Buckeye Central Superintendent Mark Robinson noted that the school would like to recognize the staff and students on the award, but didn’t want to give anything away about the celebration just yet.