The Avon Lake School District has earned “Excellent with Distinction” on the preliminary  Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) annual “report card,” for the 2011-12 school year, meeting all indicators and exceeding the growth standard expected by the state.

It is the highest ranking that can be obtained from the state.

It marks the 10^th consecutive year the district has earned “Excellent.”  Last year the district earned an “Excellent” rating, but did not earn “with Distinction.” The state report card is based on testing scores, attendance rate, graduation rate and other factors.

Click here to see the scores from preliminary results previously posted on Avon-Avon Lake Patch.

On Sept. 27, preliminary data was released indicating the state would likely award the district its highest honor. School superintendent Bob Scott was pleased with the results.

“As always, I am very proud of our students, staff, parents and community,” Scott said. “We consider passing the standardized tests that we have to take as a minimum expectation for all of our students.”

Scott said there were a number of interventions available for students who struggle. 

“We focus on good instruction and a rigorous curriculum in the regular classroom and this chart shows that we going in the right direction,” he said. “The 108.7 performance index is an indicator of the number of students who are accelerated or advanced on these tests.  When you look at the school districts in our grouping it affirms that we are going in the right direction.”

The superintendent said the district’s “big picture” planning uses the data from state tests scores including the Ohio's Achievement Assessments (OAAs) and Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT), but also includes Advanced Placement program, the Dual Credit program, college prep program and intervention program in grades K-12.

“These results plus the college credit, scholarships, and college acceptances of the Class of 2012 show that we are making progress toward our goals of college and career ready for all graduates,” Scott said.

Scott said the district is continuing to work on several areas.

“Normally we would continue working on our at-risk programs including graduation rates as well as classroom instruction and programing to create opportunities for a broader group of students in preparation for post-graduation,” Scott said. “Such as use of tech in the classroom, on-line instruction, differentiated instruction. These are just a few areas.”

Here’s a look at how Avon Lake schools performed:

• 94.4 percent of students graduated within four years.
• The district met adequate yearly progress.
• The district has a value-added score of “above,” which means that, overall, students in grades 3 to 8 learn above what was expected in a year.

You can download all of the available data, including test scores from grades 3 through 8 on reading, math and science  on the Ohio Department of Education’s website.

The final data is on hold until the state completes an investigation into some districts’ attendance numbers. Scott said last week that Avon Lake is one of the districts in the state who has received a “clean bill” for attendance.