Triad educators are using the state report card from a “tough” pandemic year to plan for the district’s future.
Although the 2020 data is not as comprehensive as it has been in years past, Chief Academic Officer Morgan Fagnani said “some pieces are useful.”
The Ohio Department of Education’s report card is broken into six categories in which districts receive a letter grade: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation rate, improving at-risk K-3 readers and prepared for success.
In 2020, districts did not receive letter grades but could still see the data in each category.
Fagnani said districts throughout the state struggled in the achievement category, which measures students’ state testing performance, during 2020.
“It was a tough year,” she said. “The state across the board was low.”
Triad students, however, scored above the state average in 18 of 20 areas. Fagnani said that is “a little better than I thought we would, given the pandemic.”
“We’re definitely seeing some regression, but not as much as the state,” she explained.
Fagnani said Triad generally performs well in the progress category and did once again in 2020.
Satisfactory progress entails a student achieving one academic year’s worth of progress over the course of one year.
“We are growing our students more than what’s expected,” she said.
Still, Triad did not meet the mark for many demographics in the gap closing category. The component measures whether certain group of students meet performance standards.
Fagnani said it can be confusing that Triad consistently scores well in the progress category, but not as well in the gap closing area.
This is for two main reasons, she explained.
She noted that “a lot of students” are two or more grade levels below competency in English language arts or math. So, even if they grow one grade level during one year, they are still behind.
“They need a lot more than that,” Fagnani said.
The state standards also increase every year, so even if Triad students are making progress, the goal may be more difficult to attain than it was the year prior.
Despite this, Fagnani emphasized that the district’s four-year graduation rate is above 97%.
“This is definitely a celebration for us,” she said.
Fagnani said the improving at-risk K-3 readers category is the one she has focused on most since coming to the district several years ago.
She noted that administrators and teachers determined that there was a major issue with students’ phonics comprehension, which was bleeding into the middle school level.
The district has since implemented a number of intervention strategies targeted at phonics and improving strategies to sound out unfamiliar words.
Fagnani said she expects Triad’s score to continue to improve in this area.
Likewise, she said she feels data in the prepared for success category will increase.
Fagnani noted that Triad has added a number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes for students, which will bump their score in that category.
Additionally, she said a state requirement to take the ACT will be removed next year.
She said she views it as a positive change, as many Triad students elect to take paths other than attending college. She said students who enter the workforce or military should not need to focus on a test designed for college preparedness.
“We should be pushing them to a path that makes sense for them,” Fagnani said.
Overall, Fagnani said feels that the state report card “doesn’t represents all the hard work our teachers put in” throughout the height of the pandemic. She emphasized the fact that many educators were teaching classes in-person while assisting students online.
While the report may not be comprehensive, she said it still offers some insight into how the district can “prepare for the future.”