Lynchburg-Clay Local School District celebrates academic successes
Lynchburg-Clay Local School District received an overall rating of 3.5 stars, meaning the district meets state standards, on the recent state report card.
Since the Ohio General Assembly amended Ohio’s accountability law in the summer of 2021, districts and schools now receive overall ratings and star ratings for five components. Districts and schools receive an overall rating of 1 to 5 stars in half-star increments.
This is the second year that this rating system has been used for state report cards. The previous system assigned letter grades, but the new report cards assign stars based on performance for each component.
Across all the buildings in the district, overall ratings ranged from a “meets state standards" rating of 3 stars at Lynchburg-Clay High School, to “exceeds state’s standards” 4 stars at Lynchburg-Clay Middle School and “exceeds state’s standards” rating of 4.5 stars at Lynchburg-Clay Elementary.
The components include achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation, early literacy and college, career, workforce and military readiness. The College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness Component is report only and does not contribute to the overall rating on the 2023 Ohio School Report Cards.
The District’s Building Leadership Teams spent time examining each building's components with a “Here’s What, Now What” framework. High School Principal Linda Hatten praised the efforts in their 4-star Gap Closing component while encouraging the staff to implement evidence based strategies that will allow all students to progress through the achievement levels.
The Middle School received 5 stars on Gap Closing, indicating that the building “significantly exceeds state standards in closing educational gaps,” and a 4-star rating in Achievement. The Achievement Component measures students' academic achievement using each level of performance on Ohio's State Tests.
Lynchburg-Clay Elementary earned a 4-star rating in both the Achievement and Progress components. They also received a 5-star rating in Gap Closing. Building Leadership Team member Kelly Wood states, “We are doing great things here, and it’s time we toot our own horn.”
Looking forward, the district has high expectations for both students and staff. Among their future initiatives are plans to implement The Ohio Improvement Process (OIP) for data-based decision making. The leadership teams (classroom, school and district) are using this framework to engage in problem solving as they take actions to remove barriers and implement solutions.
Superintendent Jack Fisher reflected on the ratings, “As with any report card, there are things to celebrate and things to work on. This report card has both for us. None of us live and die by test scores. Providing a safe and healthy environment and quality programs is what we strive for, yet the report card is one measurement of our achievement.”