February 29, 2016

Contact Jill Moberley, Public Information Officer

jmoberle@dps.k12.oh.us

For Immediate Release

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Lori L. Ward shares her thoughts about the state report card and district plans for improvement in the following column, which appeared in the Feb. 21, 2016 Dayton Daily News “Our Schools” page.

Beyond the headlines

The release of more report card data this week will grab attention, and headlines, but it won’t tell the whole story. In the year since the Ohio Department of Education gathered the district data for the 2015 report card, Dayton Public Schools has made progress on an improvement plan that was commended by the ODE last November. Plans include an intense focus on grades seven and eight, with the creation of three middle schools next fall; the addition of a 7-12 high school; and elementary schools that stop at sixth grade (excluding special centers).

Our preK-12 enrollment begins March 1 for the 2016-17 year. We invite families who think they know us to take another look. We know that when families enroll their children with us, commit to working with highly qualified teachers, and make sure their children attend class every day, their children will succeed and graduate college and career ready. We ask all of our stakeholders to take away the following:

• We strongly believe and have invested in high-quality preschool as a vital means to helping our youngest learners become kindergarten ready.

• We continue to focus on teacher recruitment, ensuring that our teachers have deep subject knowledge and a passion for our students. Our teacher ranks are beginning to stabilize after three years of record retirements (made to avoid penalties through the state retirement system).

• We continue to make student attendance a priority, working to improve attendance and eliminate chronic absenteeism. Our best investments in instruction and curriculum won’t matter much if students aren’t in class to benefit from them. If we’re serious about improving our schools, we need to ensure that all students are in class regularly so they have an equal opportunity to learn.

• We have adopted new English language arts (reading) materials, which offer a wealth of online resources for teachers, students and parents beyond the classroom, and we are closely monitoring implementation.

• We continue to work with our community partners, who expose our students to the arts through programs like Q the Music and Muse Machine.
• We have celebrated 20 Gates Scholars, and our DPS Class of 2015 earned $22.4 million in scholarships.
• We have seen our district graduation rate grow 12 percentage points in five years. Of the high schools in Dayton (charter and traditional), the only two to receive a grade of A or B for graduation rate are DPS high schools.

 Our students and teachers see daily what tests and media stories will never measure, whether it’s a student gaining the confidence to participate in a speech competition, an immigrant family learning to navigate the school system to help their children succeed, or a special needs child mastering a simple task that will move him closer to independence. 

We will continue to do the hard work without excuses, and we will keep our focus on moving forward with lessons learned.

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