(PB) AdminiScope Fall 2012

HB 555 Overhauls District and School Report Cards By the BASA Staff

A proposal to revise Ohio’s district and school report cards was originally embedded in Senate Bill 316, the portion of the Mid-Biennial Review legislation that focused on education. However, on May 22, the House Education Committee removed references to the report card and accountability system from SB 316 in favor of House Bill 555. However, HB 555 was originally merely a placeholder to be replaced by a substitute bill at a later date. As originally drafted, the bill committed the legislature to revise by December 31, 2012 the following: Ohio’s accountability/report card system; dropout recovery school performance standards; and performance evaluation and ratings for community school sponsors. For the past several months, meetings have been held with legislators, representatives of the Governor’s Office, and Ohio Department of Education staff to identify the elements of the new report card. While not being a proponent for the proposal, BASA has joined with the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO), the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), and the Alliance for High Quality Education (AHQE) as interested parties in offering testimony late last month. After five hearings before the House Education Committee, the bill emerged from the committee on November 28 after numerous amendments were accepted and was adopted the following day by the House. However, additional changes will occur as the Ohio Senate considers the legislation. The House version of the overhaul of the report card system basically has six components with numerous elements to be presented in what is called a “dashboard” approach.  Achievement Status – The Performance Index and Performance Indicators will be similar to what exists on the current report card. Obviously, these measures look at students’ achievement at the time assessments are administered to students.  Student Progress – The existing valued-added composite measure will continue to be a major feature of the report card but additional measures will be added for the following subgroups: students identified as gifted (already in law), students with disabilities, and students whose achievement falls in the bottom 20% statewide. A progress or value-added measure eventually will also be developed for the high school level.  Gap Closing – The Gap Closing measure or Annual Measureable Objectives (AMOs) is to measure progress toward reducing achievement gaps by 50% over the next six years. This is an alternative to AYP and is a federally-required component to states’ accountability systems.  Graduation Rate – Graduation rate, currently combined with test results in the Indicators Met component, will play a more significant role in the report card system where it will be a separate component that will include results for both the 4-year and 5-year cohort graduation rate.  K-3 Literacy Progress – This measure will track the progress of schools and districts in reducing the number of students in the primary grades reading below grade level. It is obviously intended to monitor implementation of the reading intervention provisions (i.e. the Third Grade Reading Guarantee) included in the recently passed SB 316.  Prepared for Success – This component of the report card will focus on measures intended to indicate to what extent high school graduates are prepared for life after high school, whether it is additional education or entry into the workforce. These measures will include: participation and score for a national college entrance assessment (most likely the ACT); the college remediation rate based on data generated by the Ohio Board of Regents; results of an “on-track” national assessment (in the process of

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