Talawanda earns 4.5 stars on state report card; uneven results across buildings

The Talawanda School District earned high marks on its state report card for the 2023-24 school year. The ratings weren’t equal across the district’s five buildings, though.

The district as a whole received 4.5 stars, as did Talawanda High School and Marshall Elementary. Both Kramer Elementary and Talawanda Middle School earned four stars overall, while Bogan Elementary earned three stars, the lowest rating in the district.

State report cards are intended “to celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement,” according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. A three star rating means a district or building meets state standards, while four stars means a district or building exceeds state standards.

Overall, Lindsey Gregg, director of teaching and learning for Talawanda, said the district is happy with the results. Statewide, 27.8% of districts earned 4.5 stars or higher. In Butler County, Lakota and Monroe school districts also earned 4.5 stars, while Ross earned the county’s only five-star rating.

“We have a lot of successes to celebrate,” Gregg said. “We also need to be mindful about the challenges that are amongst some of the things that we look at in our report card, as well, but overall I would say we’re extremely thrilled.”

Talawanda’s graduation rate increased to 98.1% this year, ahead of the state average of 87.9%. Graduation and gap closing, which measures the reduction in educational gaps between student groups, were the two categories Talawanda earned five stars in overall. In each of the other three categories — achievement, progress and early literacy, the district scored four stars.

Gregg said the district’s star ratings are all the same as last year overall, but the district has improved in its actual percentages for each metric. She highlighted the gap closing metric, which takes into account how the district engages with English language learners  (ELL students).

“We have a good influx of ELL students in our district, and to be able to even meet that gap for those students … is really awesome,” Gregg said. “So I’m really thrilled about the gap closing because it really just shows that we are reaching all of our students, not just our white middle class students.”

On a building level, Bogan scored just two stars for gap closing and progress, which measures student growth based on past performance. Kramer had a better score on gap closing overall, earning four stars along with Marshall, but it declined more than 30% compared to the previous school year.

Gregg said some of that change is based on stagnant growth for students, particularly in English language arts.

“We need to do a better job at reaching students where they are and knowing where students are when they come in,” Gregg said.

Lindsey Hartley is a parent in Talawanda, and her fourth grade son Bo currently attends Bogan. She said she was surprised to see that Bogan had scored lower than the other elementary schools, especially given the education her son has received.

“He’s had a good experience there since the first grade,” Hartley said. “He’s enjoyed all of his teachers. They’ve all been very communicative and responsive. I’ve never had any complaints or any issues with any of his teachers.”

Hartley talks to other parents with kids at Kramer and Marshall, and she said they also speak highly of their experiences. Hartley has a background in education herself and said students’ learning can be impacted by their home life and family involvement.

“I don’t think it’s the district or the teacher’s job to really fully teach our children everything that they should know,” Hartley said. “A lot of it starts at home.”

Based on the report card, Hartley said she hopes the district will spend time looking into why Bogan’s scores were lower overall than the other two elementary schools. Then, she said the district should create a plan of action to address those differences and improve this year.

Jared Vreeland, who has a daughter in eighth grade at Talawanda Middle School, went to Talawanda himself through 10th grade. He and his family moved back to the area while his daughter was in sixth grade, and he said he was surprised by the emphasis on credit/no credit grading of assignments in her classes. Despite that, he said her class experience has been positive.

“The teachers are pretty effective, and they do what they can … Every chance I got, I would meet with [my daughter’s] teachers and talk to them,” Vreeland said. “Their goals kind of aligned with my goals for her.”

The middle school scored three stars in achievement and gap closing and four stars in progress. Vreeland said he was surprised by the middle school’s metrics in achievement for eighth graders especially. Less than 50% of eighth graders scored proficient or above in math or English language arts, and both declined from the previous year.

In Vreeland’s experience, the teachers in Talawanda want students to succeed, but class sizes could contribute to a lack of individual attention for students.

“For students whose parents aren’t as involved, it’s very easy to be neglected,” Vreeland said. “If a teacher’s gonna have 25, 26-student classes, how can they be involved with each of them? It’s gonna take a little bit from both parties.”

This year, Gregg said the district is implementing a new English language arts program for K-5 students that puts more emphasis on small groups and intervention for individual students. She said class size could also be a contributing factor for lower scores at Bogan, which has more students per class than Kramer or Marshall. In the future, she said the district may look into hiring another teacher, though it could be difficult with financial constraints.

Talawanda has four data and collaboration days throughout the school year where teachers focus on evaluating their metrics like those provided on the state report cards. By focusing on the data district-wide, Gregg said it helps them see where students are at and plan for the future. The numbers alone don’t show the full picture, though, and Gregg said they pay attention to other items like behavior and mental health to look at the student experience overall.

“We’re being really cognizant on, yes, making sure that our academic data looks good as far as in the hard numbers,” Gregg said. “But we also want to make sure that kids are enjoying school and being part of extracurriculars and making sure that we’re intervening not just in academics but behavior as well, and mental health.”