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“The department identified a calculation issue with some measures appearing on the Career Technical Planning Districts’ report cards released earlier,” an Ohio Department of Education statement says. “The issue, caused by a systemic data compilation error, resulted in the exclusion of a small number of students from all graduation rate, prepared for success, and nontraditional participation measures.”
Right now, Springfield-Clark County CTC had a mix of grades on its report card. It scored an A on its post-program outcomes, a B in overall graduation rate and an A in students graduated in five years. It also received Ds in prepared for success and technical skill attainment.
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In Champaign County, Ohio Hi-Point scored similarly. It too received an A on its post-program outcomes, scored As for its graduation rates and then Ds on the prepared for success and technical skill attainment.
The state hopes to release the corrected report card schools by the end of October.
“For the majority, we anticipate the differences to be minimal,” the ODE statement says.
CTC Superintendent Michelle Patrick said she’s waiting to see what the final scores will be, but said the report card is just one tool the school uses to measure how well it’s preparing students for the workforce or college.
“There is more to it,” she said. “With career-tech report cards, we are still working out the kinks to understand the depth and the meaning behind those. It is important to have checkpoints but it is more important to have those conversations with the community to make sure our kids are ready to make it to the next level.”
CTC instead will be focused on making sure students are getting training that will help students land a job in their career choice, Patrick said, and be prepared to adapt to changes.
“We are always looking at staying at the cutting edge of business and industry,” Patrick said.
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Senior Jenna Fitch enrolled in the CTC from Shawnee High School last year because she believed it would give her a head start in the dental field.
“It was great that we could graduate with a certification so I can go work in a dental office as soon as I graduate high school,” she said.
If she passes all the state board exams, she will graduate with a dental assistant certificate. Fitch said she doesn’t regret the move.
“If I ever change my mind, I can go to college, but I can always fall back on this,” she said. “It’s open so many opportunities for me. Not only learning about my career that I want to go into, but I have made so many friends and done so many activities.”
By the numbers
1,550: Number of students in Springfield Clark County CTC.
96 percent: Graduation rate for Springfield Clark County CTC.
97 percent: Graduation rate for the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center.
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