The State’s Annual Report Card was released today and Marietta City School District has seen a number of exciting trends in regards to where the district is headed.
Tim Fleming, Director of Curriculum and Technology, discussed how the district has challenged both teachers and students further than in the past with the confidence that all will rise to meet the challenge. “Over the last 4 years we have pushed our standards to a higher level with our curriculum, mindset and overall processes. This change in philosophy was not always easy, but we are excited about how our staff and students are responding to these heightened expectations.”
This change in mindset and expectations is leading to improvements in key metrics that the state looks at when determining a report card grade. The graduation rate has increased 5 percent, chronic absenteeism has gone down a total of 11 percent over the last two years and for three straight years the performance index (achievement level) has improved. All of these improvements not only align with the state standards, but with the district’s core value of Every Student, Every Day.
The district’s literacy score went up one star, demonstrating the massive improvements being seen by our administration in early literacy rates. From second to third grade there has been a 27.4 % to 43.4 % jump in on track reading, which is crucial because literacy is the building block to a strong educational foundation. In addition math has also seen an exciting jump. Math scores for the 8th grade have increased by 36% over the past 4 years. The work being done in these 6-8th grade classrooms are is making a huge difference in the high school algebra courses.
With such a drastic change in both the curriculum and approach, Mr. Fleming is both pleased and eager to see what the next several years will bring. “We are nowhere close to where we want to be, but the results of progress on our report card are strong indicators that what we are doing is working for our students.”