Triad officials are happy with the district’s state report card scores, while optimistic they can continue to improve.
“We did pretty well,” Chief Academic Officer Jenna Fograscher told the Board of Education during its meeting Thursday.
The last state report card was issued in 2019, as they were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fograscher said she was happy to see that the district did not regress through periods of virtual and hybrid learning over the past couple years.
“I still think that we can see a lot of growth,” she said. “We didn’t lose anything these past few years.”
The district finished second in Champaign County, one star behind Mechanicsburg.
Fograscher explained that the state metrics shifted from a letter-based grading system to one in which up to five stars are awarded in each category.
Triad earned four stars in the “Achievement” category, which Fograscher said measures state test performance.
She said this is one area in which she expects the district to improve in the short-term.
“I am optimistic that we can get to that five stars in the next few years, for sure,” Fograscher said.
While the district met expectations in the “Progress” category, it was a lower scoring area with three stars.
Fograscher said this category of the report card grades districts on how much students are growing based on how much the state expects them to grow year-to-year.
Based on data shown by Fograscher, Board President Chris Millice noted that the current class of eighth graders (which were evaluated as seventh graders in the report card) stood out as the group that was not progressing as expected.
Superintendent Vickie Hoffman agreed with his evaluation.
She noted that from before the pandemic until the most recent scores, the percentage of students in that class receiving passing grades has fallen in both math and English-language arts.
Middle School Principal Vinnie Spirko said he is working with the eighth grade teachers to develop new strategies to help that group of students progress.
Using data from diagnostics tests, Spirko said teachers selected small groups of students that will receive additional supports focused on specific areas of need.
He said the interventions will last eight weeks, when teachers will evaluate if students are making progress and determine whether the supports were effective or if they need to shift gears.
Millice said he would like to hear updates on the progress of the students in the future.
On the other hand, Triad received the full five stars in “Gap Closing.”
Fograscher said this category measures the progress of students in groups that may be disadvantaged, like those of a lower socioeconomic status or students with special needs.
The district also scored three stars in “Early Literacy.”
This report card section measures how many students were “off-track” in their literacy to “on-track” from kindergarten to third grade, Fograscher said.
She noted that 100% of Triad’s students met the requirements of the third grade reading guarantee, meaning they all graduated to fourth grade.
Hoffman explained that the number of “off-track” students is self-reported by each district. Because Triad has enough intervention specialists to assist a larger number of students, Hoffman said the district reported a higher number.
Fograscher said she is going to contact curriculum coordinators and academic officers in neighboring districts to learn how they are reporting their early literacy numbers, in an effort to see what could benefit Triad.
Lastly, Triad earned four stars in its “Graduation Rate,” though Hoffman and Fograscher said they feel confident the district will earn five stars next year since 2021 data will be evaluated.
Fograscher explained that a small number of special education students deferred their graduation – which is permitted by the state – but it resulted in a lower report card score for the district.
“We did what was best for the students but it still knocked us,” she said.
Director of Student Services Erin Webb also noted that the district met requirements for its special education rating and no further action is needed.
She also updated the board on the preschool activities.
The preschoolers work on fine motor skills through activities like play dough and painting, as well as gross motor skills through daily yoga in the gym, Webb said.
She said the students also participate in pretend play with their friends, visual phonics activities, reading circle time with the teacher and daily name writing practice.
The students also have “units” like one day focused on apples, during which each student brought in an apple and their classmates tasted them, filled out a graph ranking their favorites and worked together to make fresh apple juice.
Webb said her hope is that every preschooler can enter kindergarten with some “number sense,” or awareness of counting one to 10, be able to write their first name and even be aware of some sight words.