Schools ready for Fall

August 22 marked the first day of classes for the 2007-2008 school year in the Marysville Exempted Village School District. Classes began for elementary through high schoolers. Based on the recent testing report of public schools across the state, teachers are to be commended for their tremendous work in improving their report card for overall performance during the past year.
As they move forward into the 2007-2008 school year, teachers within the Marysville Exempted Village School District are focusing on the development of strategies to reinforce concepts, skills and knowledge across subject areas. “Integrating across disciplines allows students to make critical connections that encourage deeper understanding of the subject matter,” said Carla Steele, the district’s Curriculum Director for Kindergarten through 6th Grade, who gives the example of combining the study of U.S. geography while being engaged in reading and writing assignments. To enhance the lesson, the insertion of math and science with geography, measurement and earth science in a parallel lesson pay great learning dividends. “Information is reinforced across the disciplines,” stressed Steele.
Students in Marysville Exempted Village Schools showed significant overall achievement on the state’s 2006-2007 local report card.
With the release of its annual accountability data, the Ohio Department of Education report shows Marysville students reaching the state standard of proficiency in 24 of the 25 indicators that were carried forward from last year’s exams. Five new indicators were added in the 2006-2007 testing cycle and the school district met 26 out of a total of 30.
The district’s excellent Performance Index Score of 96.5 reveals that a high percentage of students are passing the state tests at the higher performance levels of accelerated or advanced.
Of note in this year’s results, the 5th grade students overcame their weakest area and improved by 3.7 percentage points over last year in the area of mathematics to surpass the state standard this year.
“ I am extremely pleased with the effort our staff members, students and families have demonstrated, bringing success to Marysville Schools,” commented Superintendent Larry Zimmerman.
“ We are extremely proud of the hard working teachers that have helped raise the student achievement of public school districts statewide,” said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Sue Taylor.
In an aim to hit the state proficiency standards with next year’s test and to assure its students receive the highest standard of education during the school year, the curriculum staff and teachers have already convened about making changes. The district’s results allowed them to compile preliminary statistics during summer break to prepare for curriculum modification prior to the start of the school year.
“ Drastic changes are not required,” shared Boyd. “Rather, we’ll find ways to integrate content from previous grades, review vocabulary to make sure our students understand the testing ‘language,’ and make sure our instructional time is balanced among all of these academic areas.”
Marysville, a combination of city and rural areas, may not fall within the size ranking of an urban city but it is striving to keep up with statistics that apply to Greater Columbus, an adjacent urban area. Ohio’s urban school districts face many obstacles that do not exist in all schools. Urban districts are often more diverse and comprised of high numbers of students coming from low-income families who face many obstacles in both life and in school. With higher populations coming from poverty, many students live in households where family members are not always able to focus on their educational needs. While the Ohio Federation of Teachers acknowledges that all students have the ability to learn and to succeed in life, the organization also recognizes that the pervasiveness of poverty creates increased challenges to education.
The first annual state testing that occurred in May of 2007 revealed new academic areas of strength among students in the growing district. Teachers are looking for continued improvement, specifically in the academic fields of science and social studies. The first year for measurement of the 5th and 8th grade levels in these two subject areas proved to be a stumbling block for many districts in Ohio.
“ We now have a clearer understanding on what these tests will evaluate,” commented Yvonne Boyd, Marysville’s 7th – 12th Grade Curriculum and Assessment director. “Late last fall, we received direction from the state, understanding that these tests would evaluate the processing skills of our students. That really wasn’t the case, however, as the state tests were equally interested in specific facts. We are better prepared with this experience and can make modifications with a full school year to cover the material,” said Boyd.
“ In particular, our reading, writing and math scores remain strong. These are fundamental skill areas that carry our students into their adult lives, no matter the career path they choose,”
said Superintendent Zimmerman.
This is the fourth year for achievement and accountability measurements within the state’s school districts. Current achievement as well as improvement or progress requirements must be met according to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Many districts have felt the pinch of the raising bar and must meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard, which means all student subgroups must be at or above annual goals or make improvements over the preceding year on reading, math, attendance, and graduation rates.
In addition to the test scores achieved evaluating up to five different subject categories at eight different grade levels, the state report card takes each district’s attendance and graduation rates into account. Marysville continues to be well above the state standards at 95.6 percent for attendance and a 93.5 percent graduation rate.
“ We dig deep into these numbers to work even harder at the delivery of instruction to help all students meet high expectations,” said Superintendent Zimmerman.
To learn more about the schools, go to the Web site, www.marysville.k12.oh.us.
Complete results including test scores by individual building within the district can be found on the Ohio Department of Education’s website at www.ode.
state.oh.us/reportcard.
“ Perhaps the best measure is the well-rounded education we offer our kids in the classroom and outside of the school day,” concluded Superintendent Zimmerman.

Edited by UCP staff.