Beavercreek report card: Strong growth, but achievement grade dips

Beavercreek City Schools earned high marks for student growth and serving gifted students, according to state report card data released last week, but the district ranked low in dual enrollment college credits.

The Dayton Daily News is analyzing local school districts’ report card results in more detail. The report card starts with state test score data, but also includes details about teaching staff, attendance, ACT scores and more.

Highs and lows

** Beavercreek earned its second straight “A” in the progress category, which measures year-over-year change on Ohio’s state tests. Beyond the top-line grade, Beavercreek earned A’s on most of the subscores in progress as well. That means both gifted students and students in the lowest 20 percent of performance showed solid growth. The district’s only grade below “A” in progress was for students with disabilities, and that score was a “B.”

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** Beavercreek met the state standard for serving gifted students, joining only 11 other school districts statewide. To get credit for the gifted indicator, a district’s gifted students must score high on performance index and year-over-year progress, and the district must properly identify gifted students and provide enough services to them. Oakwood and Eaton were the only other local districts to meet the gifted indicator.

** For a high-performing district, Beavercreek ranked surprisingly low in the percentage of students who earned at least three “dual enrollment” credits through a college. At 12 percent, Beavercreek was 36th of 40 school districts in the core Dayton area on that measure.

RELATED: What do the report card categories mean?

“As the state continues to raise the bar, our staff continues to work to attain those high expectations,” Beavercreek Superintendent Paul Otten said. “We definitely recognize that there are areas that we must focus on for improvement, but we are also pleased with the growth that we have seen in our students.”

Teacher data

Beavercreek teachers averaged 14 years of experience, right at the state median for districts, according to report card data. They averaged a $67,149 salary, which puts the district just outside the top 10 percent in the state, about $1,000 lower than Lakota and Huber Heights, and $1,000 above Kettering and Centerville.

The district’s teacher evaluations placed 90.4 percent of Beavercreek teachers in the highest category of “accomplished,” and 9.2 percent in the next category of “skilled.” Less than one-half of one percent of teachers were deemed “developing” and none “ineffective.”

School-by-school data

Trebein Elementary scored very high, earning an “A” in Achievement. Four other elementaries – Fairbrook, Main, Shaw and Valley, got B’s in achievement, while the high school, both middle schools and Parkwood got C’s.

In year-over-year progress, Ankeney and Coy middle schools earned A’s, along with Trebein and Fairbrook Elementaries. Main, Shaw and Valley got B’s, Parkwood was the lone “C” and Beavercreek High School received a “D” in student progress.

RELATED: Oakwood No. 1 in state; two districts ace graduation rate

In K-3 Literacy improvement, every elementary school earned a “B” or a “C”, and in gap closing — which measures whether demographic groups are narrowing the gap with the student body as a whole — schools were nearly evenly split between C’s and D’s, with only Trebein earning a “B.”

The high school earned an “A” for its graduation rate and a “C” in the “prepared for success” measure.

Prepared for Success

Beavercreek earned a “C” in the “prepared for success” measure on the state report card. Almost 49 percent of the class of 2010 graduated from college within six years, putting Beavercreek just outside the top 10 percent in the state.

On two separate measures, the district ranked just outside the top 5 percent in the state. About 36 percent of students earned an honors diploma, behind only Oakwood, Yellow Springs and Springboro locally. And 79 percent of Beavercreek’s Class of 2014 had enrolled in college within two years of leaving high school, putting the district 40th in Ohio.

Besides the low dual-credit percentage mentioned above, Beavercreek was also slightly below average locally in the percentage of students earning industry credentials, at 3 percent.

Odds and ends

When compared to last year’s report card, Beavercreek maintained its A’s in progress and graduation rate, and maintained its “C” in prepared for success. The achievement grade dropped from a “B” to a “C” in part because the state raised the bar. Meanwhile the K-3 Literacy improvement grade rose from a “C” to a “B” and the gap closing grade rose from an “F” to a “C.”

Report card data shows 99.4 percent of third graders met the Third Grade Reading Guarantee requirements for promotion to fourth grade. Almost 40 percent of Ohio school districts had 100 percent meet the requirements.

RELATED: Large suburban schools get many C’s, some A’s

“Our students receive an excellent education because of the dedicated teachers, administrators, and support personnel who dedicate their lives to those students,” Otten said. “Our staff members believe in developing a child both mentally and emotionally over the course of several years. This report card does not accurately reflect the skills our students possess, the great strides they have made, or the amazing things our alumni do every day around the world.”

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