By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The state released its school report cards Thursday morning – a moment that many districts await with great anxiety.
Bowling Green City School District can breathe a sigh of relief.
The district, which achieved an overall ranking of 4 out of 5, saw progress since last year’s state report card in two categories. The district gained in the rankings on Early Literacy, scoring 3 this year compared to 2 last year. The district also progressed in the Graduation ratings, moving ahead to 5 compared to 4 last year.
The other categories remained the same – with Gap Closing remaining at 5 of 5; Progress consistent at 4 of 5; and Achievement staying at 3 of 5.
“Overall, it’s a solid report card,” BG Superintendent Ted Haselman said Thursday afternoon. The report identified areas in which the district excels, and those in which the district needs to improve.
“We’re happy with the growth that we’ve seen, but we’re striving for more,” Haselman said. “We’ll continue to review our curriculum and methods of instruction, and make tweaks where needed.”
The overall ranking for all districts in Wood County are: Perrysburg, 5; Eastwood, 4.5; Bowling Green, 4; Northwood, 4; Otsego, 3.5; Elmwood, 3.5; Lake 3.5; Lakota, 3.5; and North Baltimore, 3.
The grades are based on standardized tests, and look at student achievement, early literacy, progress from one year to the next, closing gaps, and graduation rates.
“You will see areas of great strength and areas for growth within our district,” Haselman said. “While we know the state report card is a measure of our district, we also know it is not the only measure.”
“We do so many more things than are reported in the report card,” he said. While the state grades are important, “this is just one measure. We’re providing great experiences and learning everyday for kids that aren’t reported.”
In a letter written to the community about the grade cards, Haselman wrote:
“There is no doubt this Ohio Department of Education Report Card data is proof that Bowling Green City Schools continues to make progress and continuous improvement. The district is very proud of our accomplishment and I hope you as a community member are as well. The ratings in our Report Card are a result of everyone’s hard work.”
To view the district’s Report Card online or review the state’s Guide to the 2023 Ohio School Report Cards, visit reportcard.education.ohio.gov.
Haselman’s letter to the community went into detail about the state grades. He wrote the following:
Today, the Ohio Department of Education officially released the Ohio School Report Card from the 2022-23 school year. The Report Card results are based on student assessments given last school year along with other measured indicators.
Ohio School Report Cards provide parents, caregivers, community members, educators, and district leaders information about district and school performance — to celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement. The information provides transparent reporting to drive local conversations on continuous improvement and identifying needed supports.
The 2023 District Report Card provides an overview and explanation of five key components: Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Early Literacy, and Graduation. Districts and schools receive an overall rating of 1 to 5 stars, in half-star increments, with 5 stars being the highest.
Bowling Green City Schools achieved an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
After thoroughly reviewing the entire Report Card and analyzing the data much more deeply, there are many examples indicating the students of Bowling Green City Schools receive a quality education. Below is a breakdown of each ODE Report Card component.
● An area in which the district’s Report Card was extremely strong was in the area of Gap Closing. Ensuring success for every child means that schools must close gaps that exist in the achievement between groups of students based on factors such as income, race, ethnicity, or disability. Our district’s student demographic determines the district’s subgroups once thresholds have been met (a specific number of students in the population demographic). In Gap Closing the District received a 5 star rating. It is important we close these gaps ensuring all students show achievement, and this component rating is proof that we are doing just that.
● The district’s Graduation component was another extremely strong area for BGCS. The district earned a 5 Star Rating for Graduation with 96.7% of Bobcats graduating in 4 years. This high rating indicates BGCS supports our students until the end of their K-12 educational career.
● The Report Card area of Progress measures year-to-year academic growth of our students. This component is measured by looking at the current achievement of a group of students compared to prior achievement results on Ohio’s State Tests. The state expects each student to “grow” or show one year’s worth of growth in a tested subject. For example, if a student’s reading level is 4.5, a year’s worth of growth would show an ending reading level of 5.5 and would equate to a component score of a 3 star rating. The district earned a 4 star rating in Progress. This high rating indicates our students are achieving more than expected growth and is described by the Ohio Department of Education as “significant evidence the district exceeded student growth expectations.” Bowling Green students are showing more than a year’s worth of growth.
● The Achievement component represents whether student performance on state tests met established thresholds and how well students performed on tests overall. BGCS earned a 3 star rating, or the state’s expectation, for this report card component.
● The Early Literacy component shows one thing: how school districts are working to support struggling readers in kindergarten through grade 3. Bowling Green City Schools has worked extensively over the last few years to increase our K-3 Literacy Achievement by implementing components of the Science of Reading. Our data has shown significant growth for our K-3 learners. Governor Mike DeWine visited our district last spring, March 2023, to celebrate our efforts and see the impact we are having on our early readers. There is currently an error on Bowling Green City Schools ODE State Report Card due to inaccurate reporting. This error has been brought to ODE’s attention and is noted at the top of the district’s report card page. The Report Card is indicating a 2 star rating because while grade three students take state tests twice during the school year, only the fall state tests are currently being calculated in the component rating. When the spring tests are added to the calculation, the district would have earned a 3 star rating, or the state’s expectation, for this report card component. In the spring of 2023 our third grade students took the Ohio State English Language Arts (ELA) Assessment and 73% of our students scored Proficient or above.
