Local school officials are looking at their schools’ strengths and weaknesses after the department of education graded them on their performance and progress last year.
The vast majority of Johnson County schools met or exceeded federal accountability standards during the 2018-19 school year, according to final ratings released Friday by the Indiana Department of Education.
Center Grove Community Schools was the most successful district in the county; all of its schools met or exceeded expectations, according to documents provided by the Indiana Department of Education.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Through a federal lens, Edinburgh Community Schools struggled the most. Edinburgh Community High School met expectations, but East Side Elementary School and Edinburgh Middle School were both rated as approaching expectations, documents revealed.
Schools that exceed federal standards are at or above the level the U.S. Department of Education hopes to get all schools to long term. If a school meets expectations, it is at or above the national level set for the 2019-20 school year.
If a school is approaching standards, it is at or above where the average school in the bottom five percent should be during the 2020-21 school year. Any schools below that level do not meet expectations. No Johnson County schools fell into that category.
The federal accountability system measures a school’s progress through a variety of indicators, including: English language arts and math scores on the ILEARN exam; graduation rates; strength of diploma; English language proficiency; and chronic absenteeism, according to the department of education’s website.
Chronic absenteeism is the biggest issue at East Side Elementary School, Principal Jason Schoettmer said.
“One area of growth we’re looking at is attendance,” Schoettmer said. “We have some community support through juvenile probation, and our new (school resource officer) does home visits and (talks) to families about attendance.”
Attendance is also an issue at the middle school, he said.
Most Clark-Pleasant schools met federal expectations, but one fell short. Pleasant Crossing Elementary School was listed as approaching standards. The school needs to work to improve students’ math proficiency, Superintendent Patrick Spray said.
“There is maybe an instructional mismatch or a curriculum mismatch with what is taught and assessed. We already put into place some remediation for students in the building. ILEARN is what drove those numbers for federal accountability,” Spray said.
The ILEARN exam is a large part of the reason accountability grades have not been released at the state level yet. The majority of Johnson County students didn’t reach proficiency in both math and English language arts on the exam, and similar struggles were seen throughout the state. The results caused educators to push for a hold harmless, meaning the results would not result in negative consequences for schools. State letter grades for schools have no release date, as lawmakers still need to decide whether to allow the hold harmless.
If a school is rated as not meeting expectations at the federal level — a step below approaching expectations — the U.S. Department of Education can intervene, asking schools to create a step-by-step plan to improve, checking in annually to make sure they follow those steps. The federal government does not withhold funding from schools based on performance, IDOE spokesperson Adam Baker said in an email.
All Greenwood schools met expectations. Although Greenwood schools has ranked well in not only federal accountability but the last state grades that were released, it is only one data point that the schools use, Superintendent Kent DeKoninck said.
“Whether it’s the federal or the state, I try not to get too overjoyed or concerned by them. A lot is based on student achievement scores and testing. You have to keep that in mind when you look at those,” DeKoninck said.
“We’ll look at the areas we’re strong in and the areas we’re not strong in. It’s one more set of data points to guide instruction.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Most Johnson County schools were given a "meets expectations" rating by the U.S. Department of Education. The following schools received different ratings:
Center Grove Community Schools
- Center Grove Elementary School: exceeds expectations
- Center Grove High School: exceeds expectations
Clark-Pleasant Community Schools
- Pleasant Crossing Elementary School: approaches expectations
Edinburgh Community Schools
- Edinburgh Community Middle School: approaches expectations
- East Side Elementary School: approaches expectations
Franklin Community Schools
- Needham Elementary School: approaches expectations
- Webb Elementary School: approaches expectations
Source: Indiana Department of Education
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
All Johnson County schools are rated in one of these three categories:
- Exceeds expectations: at or above the long-term goal
- Meets expectations: at or above the current goal
- Approaches expectations: at or above where the average school in the bottom five percent should be during the 2020-21 school year
Source: Indiana Department of Education
[sc:pullout-text-end]
