Those letter grades were not included in the report card for the COVID-disrupted 2020-21 school year. But some of the raw data was listed, including academic, graduation and attendance measures.
West Liberty-Salem’s performance index, also known as the achievement component that measures state test performance, was 75%, second in the county only to Mechanicsburg Schools’ 76%.
As far as chronic absenteeism, which is when at least 10% of the year’s instructional time is missing, West Liberty had a rate of 18.9. These numbers from last year were not available.
The district had a four-year graduation rate of 97.2%, compared to 97.5% last year and 97.7% in 2019, according to state report card data.
When it comes to the prepared for success component, which is how well-prepared students are for future opportunities, West Liberty scored 45.7%. Last year, the district scored 49.8%.
Prepared for success data measures college and career readiness through high school students’ ACT/SAT scores, Ohio Honors Diplomas, job industry credentials, College Credit Plus achievement and more.
Superintendent Kraig Hissong said results were lower than what they typically see in many areas, but “were better in many cases.”
“Student performance was likely impacted by the unusual ending to the 2019-20 school year and the many disruptions for students in school and in life in general due to the coronavirus,” he said. “During the 2020-21 school year, we had students that were still learning remotely every day and many that attended in-person instruction. This impacted student learning. These challenges certainly impacted testing results.”
Hissong said the district has put in place intervention programming to help address learning needs of students that may have been caused by COVID-19
“Our district has used state testing data as a gauge to determine what deficits we have and what we may need to focus on more for this 2021-22 school year,” he said.
Each school and district usually receives an overall A-F grade on the report cards, and more than half of each school’s overall grade depends on how students perform on state tests each spring. The report cards also usually measure student achievement, performance index, year-over-year growth and gap closing.
Last year, schools got the equivalent of an “incomplete” mark and no A-F letter grades because there was much less data than usual. The report cards only contained a handful of normal data points as the spring 2020 state tests in English, math, science and social studies were canceled after mid-March coronavirus-related school closures. The main data categories available last year were graduation rates and high school “prepared for success” measures.
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