“We were pretty thrilled when our report card came out on Thursday, [Sept. 14],” said Lindsey Gregg, the district’s director of teaching and learning. “While we know that there are always improvements to make, we were pretty excited about the data we had in front of us.”
Elsewhere in Butler County, only Ross School District scored higher than Talawanda with 5 stars. Middletown School District scored the lowest with 2 stars. Across five categories, Talawanda earned 5-star ratings in both graduation and gap closing, which measures “the reduction in educational gaps” for different student groups. In each of the other categories — achievement, progress and early literacy — the district received 4 stars.
Before 2021, state report cards came in on a letter-grade scale. In the 2018-19 school year, Talawanda earned a C grade, and last year it received 19 out of 25 total possible marks compared to this year’s total of 22. The state didn’t give out overall ratings last year.
Gregg said the improvement — which comes through the pandemic and budgetary problems — comes from the district’s Three C’s: consistency, collaboration and fidelity of curriculum. To encourage collaboration between grades and departments, schools used to let out early every Wednesday, but budgetary constraints have led the district to standardize the week this year. Instead, teachers will get five full days throughout the year to focus on working together without students in the building.
Chris Sutter, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Miami University and a parent of four current Talawanda students, said the pandemic has impacted his kids’ education. He said he struggled himself as an educator to keep college students engaged in class virtually, and he saw the challenges in his own elementary school aged kids.
Sutter and his family moved into the Talawanda School District 10 years ago, and he said the quality of education was a big factor in the decision. He said the budgetary issues are concerning because they could have an impact on the curriculum and quality a few years from now if they aren’t addressed adequately.
“I worry about what happens if the school district crumbles,” Sutter said. “I mean, I think we’ll be okay for a year or two — or maybe three — but if this is the long-term trend, I think that’s gonna have a big impact on the community, a big impact on home values, a big impact on Miami’s ability to hire.”
While maintaining educational standards is important to Sutter now, the importance of being physically present and involved is also a big deal to him. That level of engagement isn’t something that the state report cards always capture, he said. Sutter cares about results the report card shows, but he said it shouldn’t be the school’s only focus.
“To me, how my kids feel about going to school, the social interactions they have, the ability to develop every aspect of their character and personality — is important,” Sutter said. “I think the report cards are a great thing, and it’s good to have some indicators on things that we can measure. If they became the sole focus, I think that’d be dangerous.”
Gregg said the district’s next steps are to meet and discuss what decisions the report card can help them make. In the past, report card findings and state laws have driven purchases of new educational materials, but that may not be possible this year. While the failure of the levy last year puts a strain on resources, she said the district’s mission remains the same.
“Regardless of what our budget says, we have to educate kids,” Gregg said. “We have to provide our best selves as teachers and staff to the students that are in our classrooms. We know that we’ll probably not be able to do a lot of purchases in the next couple of years, but understanding where we’ve been, what we have and what we know is really what we’re focusing on, regardless of the financial distress.”
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