May 13, 2015
Contact: Jill Moberley, Public Information Officer
Jmoberle@dps.k12.oh.us
For Immediate Release
An Ohio Department of Education District Review Team returned to Dayton Public Schools to present a report of findings and recommendations at a special May 12 Dayton Board of Education meeting. The report followed the team’s review Jan. 26-30 of the district’s system-wide functions in six areas: leadership, governance and communication; curriculum and instruction; assessment and effective use of data; human resource and professional development; student support; and fiscal management.

The report underscores a need for alignment of various district plans, greater participation and consistency in professional development, and commitment to fully implement programs and processes.

The next step will be to work with the State Support Team on a plan to move the district toward improvement, with progress updates for staff and community over the next three years. Dayton Public Schools is not in academic distress or at risk of imminent state takeover. Collaboration with members of the ODE Review Team is expected to result in improvement on the state report card over the next three years.

“Placing our hard work under the scrutiny of others is difficult, but is necessary for change to occur. As we address these recommendations, we must not be discouraged or lose sight of our progress and achievements as a district,” DPS Superintendent Lori L. Ward said. “We have already begun our work to transform our school system and have implemented changes that provide a solid foundation for future success.”

Some of those implementations include the following:

–    School Improvement Grants and the Race to the Top Grant strengthened the relationship between teachers and administrators and laid the groundwork for future progress.

–    Implementation of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and Ohio Principal Evaluation System (OPES) has provided valuable tools for measuring teacher and administrator effectiveness.

–    Implementation of the Ohio Improvement Process, which includes Teacher Based Teams, Building Leadership Teams, and the district’s Transformation Leadership Team.

–    The district’s graduation rate has climbed from 59 percent to 71 percent since 2010.

–    Continued focus on early literacy is moving the gauge: 84 percent of our third-graders met the third-grade reading guarantee.

Background: The ODE assigns District Review Teams to districts that qualify for the highest level of technical support.

An Academic Distress Commission will not be part of Dayton’s future unless DPS gets a summative grade of F on three consecutive report cards in each of the next three school years: 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. It is expected that in collaboration with ODE, the district will address the recommendations for change and make improvements.

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