LCSC Report Card

"Hang it on the refrigerator or throw it in the trash"

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School report cards have been a main stay of every child's education for the last 100 years. Every student received a "formal" report card at least four or six times a year. The report card has always been the barometer of a student's academic performance. Good or bad, hard or easy, interesting or boring, the grades are there for everyone to see. Many report cards eventually make it to the refrigerator door, where along with some student art work, a couple of pictures, some important reminders about future appointments, and a couple of free magnets from the county fair, the report card is mounted on the door as a source of pride, a focus for motivation, or a point of conversation for motivation or congratulations. It was all pretty easy to figure out "A" equaled good job and "F" equaled work harder.

The State of Indiana has decided that the concept of the report card was such a good indicator of recognizing success or failure the Department of Education decided that every school and school corporation in Indiana should also receive a grade. Over the last several years they have gone through several different variations of what that school grade means and how is it calculated. Recently Lebanon Community School Corporation and individual Lebanon schools were presented with their 2012-2013 report card and while there was cause for celebration there is also room for improvement.

Lebanon High School, Harney Elementary, and Perry-Worth Elementary all received a grade "A". Central Elementary received a grade of "B", and Hattie B. Stokes and Lebanon Middle School received a grade of "D". As a result of those individual school grades LCSC received a grade of "C". In the old days I would argue that any report card that has three "A's", one "B", and two "D's", while not stellar is still worthy of hanging on the refrigerator door, partly for celebration and partly for motivation. There is no excuse making or finger pointing; there is only the reality that under the current system for calculating school grades based on the performance of students in grade 3-12 in the disciplines of Language Arts and Mathematics the current report card grades are how LCSC performed during the 2012-2013 school year.

Lebanon High School = GPA 3.59

Lebanon Middle School = GPA 1.75

Central Elementary = GPA 3.50

Harney Elementary = GPA 3.75

Hattie B. Stokes = GPA 1.75

Perry Worth = GPA 4.00

LCSC = GPA 2.79

As with all report cards there is a lot of information to consider and act upon. The improvement of Perry-Worth and Harney to the grade of A, the high school's achievement in the areas of academic performance, the graduation rate, and the achievement in the area of college and career readiness are all reasons to celebrate. While the below average performance in Language Arts at the Middle School and Hattie B. Stokes struggle to increase student performance across the curriculum warrants a strong review of instructional practices and a clear need to increase the academic interventions that will lead to improved student achievement. While there is much to praise, there is an equal amount of needed improvement. This latest school report card needs to be placed very prominently on our community's refrigerator door, so that we can brag about our accomplishments and acknowledge our areas of need. But more importantly, understand that the Lebanon Community School Corporation has much to be proud of, and areas that we need to continue to improve upon.

There are volumes of recent research and commentary on the pros and cons of calculating student performance using only standardized testing data, in a few selected areas of curriculum. I have included the explanation of the Indiana school grade system as it is provided by the Indiana Department of Education.

Calculating Grades for Schools and Corporations Serving Grades 3-8

All accredited Indiana schools are required to administer a state assessment to all students enrolled at the school. Under the new A-F metrics, a school must test at least 95% of its students in both the bottom 25% subgroup (based on the previous year's ISTEP+) and all other students in the school (top 75% subgroup along with ISTAR and IMAST test-takers). If a school fails to meet this requirement, the school will have 1.00 point deducted from the final score in the corresponding subject area (i.e. English or math). As such, failing to meet this requirement in both groups would result in a 2.00 point deduction

The English and math proficiency rates take into account ISTEP+, IMAST, and ISTAR test results. The formula for calculating the proficiency rate is: (# Pass ISTEP + # Pass IMAST + # Pass ISTAR) ÷ (# Tested ISTEP + # Tested IMAST + # Tested ISTAR). There is no cap on the number of students that may participate, but there is a cap on the number of students that may count as proficient.

For calculating accountability results, a maximum of 1% of students in tested grades within a corporation may be counted as proficient on the ISTAR results and a maximum of 2% may be counted as proficient on IMAST. Any additional students will be counted as non-proficient. Regardless, students keep the score they achieved as part of their personal assessment record. If a corporation exceeds the 1% or 2% cap, the corporation is responsible for determining which students, and for which schools, the excess students will count as non-proficient.

Students must be enrolled at least 162 days. Historically, the confusion between 126 and 162 resulted from differences between state and federal accountability requirements. Moving forward, 162 days is the requirement under both state and federal accountability systems. The 162-day enrollment requirement is based on a student's enrollment at the conclusion of the school year.

All 4th through 8th grade students that took ISTEP+, have a previous ISTEP+ result, and have been enrolled for at least 162 days are included.

The bottom 25% subgroup is based on the previous year's ISTEP+ results and is calculated at the individual grade level. For example, if a school serves fifth and sixth graders - with 100 students in each level (i.e. 200 students in all) - the bottom 25% subgroup would include the 25 fifth grade students who had the lowest fourth grade ISTEP+ results in English plus the 25 sixth grade students who had the lowest fifth grade ISTEP+ results in English. These 50 students would comprise the school's bottom 25% subgroup for English. All remaining students with a previous ISTEP+ test result would be included in the top 75% subgroup. Similarly, the bottom 25% and top 75% subgroup would be calculated for math. Currently the Indiana Growth Model calculates growth based on ISTEP+ results.

After identifying the students in the bottom 25% and top 75%, growth is analyzed for each student to determine if he/she exhibited high, typical or low growth. The total number of students exhibiting each type of growth is totaled independently for each subgroup and for English/Language Arts and math.

There are established criteria targets established for the bottom 25% and top 75% subgroups in both English and math to determine if a bonus (1.00 point) is awarded. Similarly, there are established criteria targets for the overall group in both English and math to determine if a penalty (-1.00 point) is given.

The growth targets are set independently for each subject area and subgroup (e.g. bottom 25% high growth in math) and are based on the percentage of students within each subgroup who demonstrate high or low growth over a three average by the top quartile of schools.

Calculating Grades for Schools and Corporations Serving Grades 9-12

The ECA proficiency rate is based on the percentage of the cohort that passed the exams by the end of 10th grade. Using a cohort calculation means students that do not participate are calculated as Did Not Pass. Therefore, there is no need for a separate participation rate score at the high school level.

The English proficiency rate is based on the English 10 ECA, and the math proficiency rate is based on the Algebra I ECA. The proficiency rate is determined by the percentage of the 10th grade cohort that passed each ECA by the end of 10th grade (this does not include summer testing results after 10th grade). So the 2011-12 letter grades reflected the percentage of students in the 2015 cohort that passed each ECA by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. This calculation includes students that take and pass the ECA prior to their 10th grade year (e.g. if they passed the Algebra I ECA in 8th grade).

Results for any student that takes an ECA during the summer testing window of his or her 10th grade year will not count towards the school or corporation proficiency rate. However, those results will be part of the 10th grade to graduation bonus metric that provides an opportunity for schools to earn points if they have students that pass the ECAs by graduation that did not do so by the end of 10th grade.

More than 40 Lebanon Middle School music students took part in the annual Indiana State School Music Association Solo and Ensemble competition held at Avon High School on February 1 and February 8. This competition is an opportunity for musicians of any level, from beginners to advanced players, to perform for an expert on their voice or instrument. Each soloist or small group receives a critique giving them some pointers on how to improve, and then is awarded a medal based on their scores. All LMS instrumentalists, and all LMS vocal soloists, brought home gold medals for their performances this year; the highest medal awarded by ISSMA. Additionally, two vocal ensembles received silver ratings. Congratulations to all of the participants

Marty Hadley