Eastern Local School District

A Message About Ohio’s School Report Cards

I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts about the state report cards that were recently released for public school districts across Ohio.

There are certainly areas of our report card that we are proud of. One of the most significant is our improvement in College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness. Last year, Eastern received a zero-star rating in this area. This year, we received 5 stars, and were one of very few schools in our area who did.  

That is something worth celebrating, but I also think our students, families, and community deserve some context. We did not suddenly change everything we do to prepare students for life after high school. Our staff and students were doing most of the same things in previous years. What changed was that we identified activities and accomplishments that we had been doing for years but did not understand how to properly report them to the state to get credit for them. Once those were accurately reported, our rating changed dramatically.

That example illustrates one of my long-standing frustrations with state report cards. The data can be useful, and there are certainly things we can learn from it, but it does not tell the whole story of a school. Sometimes a star rating can reflect not only what a district is doing for students, but also how effectively the limited staff we have identifies, documents, and reports everything the district is doing.

The state's College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness measure is a good example of how much reporting matters. It looks at whether students in the graduation cohort have met one or more specific measures of postsecondary readiness. If qualifying accomplishments are not accurately captured in the data reported to the state, they cannot be reflected in the calculation.

That creates a challenge for schools. We have to ask ourselves how much valuable staff time and resources should be spent combing through spreadsheets, auditing data, and making sure everything we do fits into the state's accountability system, that is already changing the criteria for next year. We absolutely want our data to be accurate, and we will continue improving how we report it. At the same time, I never want improving a star rating to become more important than doing what we believe is right for students.

I think about a situation we had several years ago involving one of our students with special needs. The student had met the requirements necessary to graduate, but the family and school team agreed that remaining at Eastern for another year would provide additional time to prepare for life after high school.

It turned out to be an outstanding decision for that student. During that additional year, the student grew and matured, developed valuable skills and confidence, and left Eastern much better prepared for what came next. I was extremely proud of our team for working with the family and making a decision based on what they believed was best for that student.

However, because of the way graduation rates were calculated, not graduating within the state's four-year timeline negatively affected our district's four-year graduation rate. 

I was proud of that decision before we knew how it would affect our report card, and I am still proud of it afterward. If given the same circumstances again, we would make the same decision for the student, not for the grade card.

That is just one example of why I believe report cards need to be viewed in context.

We have outstanding teachers, and there is absolutely data within the state report card and our own local assessments that we can use to improve instruction and teaching practices. We also have incredibly dedicated staff members, coaches, advisors, volunteers, families, and community members who help keep our extracurricular programs strong and our students involved.

Eastern provides students with so many opportunities to grow, develop relationships, discover their interests, and truly Find Their E. Our goal is that every student leaves Eastern prepared to be Enrolled, Enlisted, or Employed and ready for whatever comes next in life, and we know that students who participate in extracurricular activities are more likely to have good grades, fewer behavioral problems, and have better attendance, and report that they do feel more prepared for life after high school.  

I am incredibly proud of our staff and community for the dedication they show to our students every day.

We will continue looking for ways to improve. In fact, we have already identified data from last year that we did not report that could have improved this year's report card, and even though it will not change how we educate those students, we are working to make sure it is properly reported next year. We will continue examining our instructional practices, looking honestly at areas where students need to grow, and finding ways to improve the experience our students have at Eastern.

At the same time, there will continue to be changes in state requirements, calculations, and reporting expectations. No accountability system or collection of stars will ever capture everything that happens inside a school.

I can't count the number of former students and families who have come back over the years and talked about the impact a teacher had on them, a relationship they built, an extracurricular activity they participated in, a coach or advisor who believed in them, or a project or experience that became a core memory.

In more than 20 years in education, though, I have never once had a former student come back and tell me what a difference a state assessment made in their life.

So we will continue to study the data. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable. We will continue looking for areas where we can improve, and we will keep working to ensure we are accurately reporting the great things our students and staff are already doing.

But student experiences, meaningful relationships, strong instruction, opportunities to be involved, and preparing students for what comes next in life will always be a bigger priority than simply making sure we are jumping through the right hoops to earn more stars.

I am so proud to be a part of this district and community and thankful for all the people who pour themselves into the district and our students.

Dr. Nick Dettwiller