By Stan Nicol, M.ED., Data Analysis and School Accountability
It has been two years since the Ohio Department of Education has produced a Local Report Card (LRC) with ratings. Because of the pandemic, ODE suspended both the overall and component ratings. This year, component areas will receive rankings, but not an overall rating. The last rated report card was for the 2018-19 school year. During that time, the state used an A-F rating system for the overall and any of the measured component areas. This article will focus on a few of the changes to the traditional school’s LRC. Note: Drop Out Recovery schools have no significant changes to their Local Report Cards. (LRC)
Beginning this year, 2021-22, the Ohio Department of Education will be replacing the letter graded LRC with star ratings. Star ratings on each of the up to six component areas such as “Achievement” or Graduation,” will have ratings ranging from 1 to 5 stars. The overall rating will not be a part of the LRC until the 2022-23 school year. You may assume ODE is simply replacing the letter grades with stars in such that an “A” would be 5 stars, a “B” would be four and so on. The changes go deeper than such a straightforward conversion.
In the past the Achievement Component score was based the school’s Performance Index (PI), weighted at 75% and the Indicators Met at 25%. The PI score was based on the percent of points earned out of a target score of 120. Beginning with the 2021-22 school year the target score will be based on the average PI score of the top 2% rated schools in Ohio. Because of this, the target score will fluctuate from year to year and will not be the fixed target score of 120. For the 2020-21 school year only 4% of Ohio schools had a PI score at or above one hundred. Adjusting the target to a more reasonable score represents a positive change in the calculation of this measure. The “Indicators Met” measure will no longer be a part of the Achievement measure. The Performance Index score will represent 100% of the component score.
Progress compares the year over year change in achievement of groups of students. Progress is a measure of academic growth. The Progress calculation is now a two-step process. The growth index is calculated as it has been with an index > -2 and < + 2 being worth 3 stars. ODE has added an additional step of including the “Effect Size”. Simply put, the effect size measures how strong the relationship is between academic growth and the state mean. This is an additional calculation and will be factored into the ratings with schools significantly above expected growth and a positive effect size to receive four and five-star rating and schools significantly below the expected growth and negative effect size to receive one star. Progress uses a multiyear calculation with the most recent year now worth 50% of the score.
The Early Literature component score combines three weighted measures. The first being a measure of Proficiency in third grade reading. This represents 40% of the score and is based on the percent of students scoring equal to or greater than fifty on the reading section of the third grade Ohio State English Language Arts assessment. Next, the percent of students promoted to fourth grade will represent 35% of the Early Literature score. The third section of this component measure will be the percent of students in grades KG -3rd who moved from “Off-Track” to “On-Track” The improvement score will represent 25% of the component score. This measure will no longer penalize schools for missing improvement plans called “RIMPS”. If ten percent of fewer of the school’s kindergarten students are reported as “Off Track” the Early Literature measure will not be calculated.
The Gap Measure has undergone many changes for the upcoming 2021-22 report card. Some items which were a part of the “Indicators Met” area of the achievement measure have now moved to the Gap Closing measure.
The Gifted performance and Chronic absence measures are now a part of the Gap Closing measure. These measures moved from the “Indicators Met” section of the Achievement measure. The Gap closing measure no longer awards partial points. Gap Closing measures include English Language Arts, Mathematics, Graduation and English Learner proficiency earn points based on established goals. ODE has modified the target scores for each subgroup. The new goals may be found on the State’s ESSA proposal. The ten measured subgroup areas are unchanged. The Drop Out Recovery schools will see the same Gap closing calculations as in previous years.
There are no significant changes to the Graduation component measure. The school’s 4-year graduation rate will represent 60% of the rating with the 5-year graduation rate representing the other 40%. Drop our recovery schools will continue to use a four through eight-year combined graduation calculation.
College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness
This measure will be in transition for 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. The list of measured elements is expanding ODE will evaluate and adjust this measure before it is included on the 2024-25 school year.
All the Local Report Card changes are subject to changes as they continue to roll out the new report card. The expected release date for the Local Report Card will be in mid-September. School leaders may preview their upcoming LRC through the Reports Portal in their Safe Account. The Reports Portal has replaced the Secure Data Center (SDC).