Revere aces state tests

by Sheldon Ocker

Revere Local Schools earned an overall five-star rating on the annual state Report Card – the highest number possible – but the administration is determined not to rest on its laurels.

“The achievement level we are getting our kids to [indicates] our teachers are doing a wonderful job,” said Assistant Superintendent Micki Krantz.

The state of Ohio mandates that all public school districts administer standardized tests geared toward gauging five components: Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation and Early Literacy. Districts are awarded one to five stars in each category, with five the highest rating.

A sixth element – College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness – will be included in future Report Cards, possibly beginning next school year. The state is in the data-gathering phase of this component.

Revere received five stars in Achievement, Gap Closing, Early Literacy and Graduation (99.6 % of Revere High students graduated in four years). Five stars indicates that the district “significantly exceeded” state standards or expectations.

Achievement in academics is closely related to the Performance Index, which rates school districts across Ohio. Schools place more emphasis on their Performance Index score than the other numbers.

Revere’s Performance Index for 2023-24 was 104.6, second highest in Summit County and 29th best in the state. There are 611 school districts in Ohio. Last year, Revere earned a 103.8 Performance Index score.

“Even our highest achievement levels are growing over time,” Krantz said. “That’s huge.”

Revere’s Performance Index score has risen in each of the past four school years.

“We’re looking for trends,” said Superintendent Dan White. “We don’t want to overreact, right? It’s what we see over time.”

Neighboring districts also fared well on the Performance Index: Highland in Medina County received a 105.1, Brecksville-Broadview Heights in Cuyahoga County received a 106.8, and Hudson ranked first in Summit County with a 106.9. Copley-Fairlawn earned an 89.4, and Woodridge posted an 83.3.

Revere received four stars in Progress, which measures students’ growth from year to year. So many district students perform at a high level, growth is more difficult to attain at Revere. But Krantz said they can do better.

“The goal is to get all students growing to their best capability,” she said. “We want every child to show at least a year’s growth in a year’s time.”

Krantz said administrators and teachers have eyes on fourth grade.

“All of them are hitting their proficiency marks,” she said. “But we are focusing on growth around fourth grade for the coming school year. Teachers can make a difference in performance, even in one year.”

Early Literacy (K-3) used to create anxiety for kids and their parents, because of the requirement that third-graders pass the state reading test to advance to fourth grade. Ohio has altered this policy by creating alternate paths for third-graders to progress to fourth grade.

“I think there was a great deal of stress around the third-grade reading guarantee, if they were in danger of not passing and being held back,” White said. “That put a lot of undo stress on students and their families.”

The state’s testing system provides districts with mountains of data with which to evaluate entire grade levels, subgroups of students or individual students. But the district has many other tools to measure student performance and help improve it.

“This is just one test, or a couple of tests one time a year,” White said. “Teachers have more information, especially these days … that is more important than the state Report Card.”

Added Krantz, “We look at this [the state Report Card] as kind of a floor for our instruction.” ∞