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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And so it begins: <br>
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Westlake has issued a statement on their levy site saying that their "D" on value-added means that the measure is wrong. <br>
<a href="http://www.westlakelevy.com/faqs.cfm">http://www.westlakelevy.com/faqs.cfm</a><br>
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"</font></font></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">While Westlake earned an overall grade of A for the improvement, the
ratings for the sub-groups for Gifted, Students with Disabilities, and
the lowest 20% scoring students were D’s. Considering our high
achievement level (ex. Top 2% for Gifted) we believe that these ratings
on the new Ohio legislative report card are not the most accurate way
to inform of performance and we are not alone in this belief. There is
considerably less room for improvement for high performing students. We
continue to strive to see scores for each individual child are at the
very top and remain focused on ensuring we make the necessary
adjustments for improvement in all areas."<br>
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>From yesterday's Gongwer -- The superintendent from Dayton Public Schools, Lori Ward, </font></font></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">who
should according to Dick Ross be left alone to make the best local
choices for gifted children, can't even figure out what the state
definition of gifted is saying all children are gifted. Dayton identifies fewer than 5% of it's student population as gifted and has one GIS for a district of almost 14,000. But it is the output measure that is flawed: </font></font></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="1"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"A gifted ranking of schools is
calculated based on the percent of all students in the district that are
identified as gifted, the percent of students identified as gifted that receive
gifted services, the percent of all students in the district that receive
gifted services, the Performance Index for gifted students and the Value-Added
Gifted measure from the district report cards, according to the Department of
Education. Many high-performing schools were
among those to get low letter grades for the gifted VA measure. Urbans again
were not at the top of the ranking list. "I think everybody was kind of
looking at gifted and scratching their heads," Ms. Ward said.The law requires only that schools
identify gifted students, not that they serve them. </span></font></div>
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</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="1"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"If you're going to report on
achievement of a group, and the law says you identify only, literally, then
we've got to step back," she said. <br>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="1"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"We have economically
disadvantaged students, we have special needs students, we have gifted
students. How do you establish your resources to meet the needs of those very
different groups?" Ms. Ward said the highest performing
school in the Dayton district - Stivers School for the Arts - received a C for
its gifted Value Added. </span></font></div>
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</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">"If you ask the majority of our
parents, they're going to say all of our children are gifted," she said,
pointing to the vague nature of the label. </font><br>
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