John Gregg officials and students had an opportunity to present to the Edison Local Board of Education as the school hosted the latest session on Sept. 17.
Principal Tammy Burchfield explained that her building leadership team was working to improve outcomes with academics to attendance.
“At one time I had asked them, ‘What is it that you want to build and create?’ And what we came up with is we wanted to build and create upon excellence,” Burchfield said. “John Gregg Elementary has established clearly defined systems and protocols that create a safe, productive environment where students can achieve their highest level of potential and excellence. Then what we did was we had to define what excellence is, so the three things that we’re looking at is attendance, behavior, and academics.”
She shared data from the previous year and indicated levels for excellence, good, and developing. The plan was for students to meet standards and she said they must be good before they attain excellence. Requirements for excellence in attendance meant having 50 percent or more of students achieved 95 percent or above in attendance; John Gregg students fell just shy at 48 percent. In the good category, more than 95 percent of students had to attain 90 percent or above and the result was close at 93.3 percent. Burchfield said they did exceed in the developing category with 97.6 percent of pupils attending at least 85 percent of the time.
She added that the State of Ohio has changed some of the parameters as a district and the school developed a new policy.
“As far as attendance, we’re developing. That means that we have to do more additional supports to try to get to good. That’s our goal is to get to good and then we can hopefully get to excellence.”
Regarding behaviors, Burchfield said 87 percent of students had no office referrals for major incidents, while the standard was more than 90 percent for excellent and they fell slightly short in the good category. But 90.3 percent had no referrals or one under the Tier I PBIS category, which was promising.
“It’s good. It’s solid and that is out of a population of 373 [students],” she continued.
Additionally, she reviewed behaviors on the school bus and said roughly 270 kids use that mode of transportation and results fell within the good level.
Burchfield then moved on to academics, noting that three different measures were used for reading, including the Acadiance reading screener, MAP for progress, and the state test. Although 44 percent of the students were well above the benchmark in the excellent category, officials noted that the result fell short of the 80-percent level with 73 percent for the good level.
“That means we still have work to do, so in this measure, we’re developing,” she added.
Twenty-six percent of students reached the 80th percentile for math, which had a standard of 30 percent or above for excellent. Seventy-six percent were above the 40th percentile, which required a minimum of 80 percent for the good category. Burchfield said students were still developing and work would be done to help them improve. According to MAP math measurements, 34 percent were in the 80th percentile—or excellent—and 82 percent were above the 40th percentile to reach the good level.
Among the state testing standards, English/Language Arts (ELA) for grades 3-6 showed 45 percent met the accomplished or advanced requirement–which was excellent–but to be good they had to reach 80 percent. That result was 67 percent, meaning there was room to grow. Fifth graders who took the science test yielded strong numbers as well, with 78 percent hitting the mark for advanced or accomplished and 89 percent being proficient.
“I just wanted to share with you where we were at the end of last year. We have new goals that we’ve established and then we’ll take a look at it,” Burchfield said, adding that she could provide some updates in the spring.
Meanwhile, student board representatives Cali Cooper and Khloee Clancey had a literal seat at the table with Edison leaders as they shared insight on what their peers were discussing. Cooper and Clancey outlined a list of suggestions for the board that ranged from updated sports equipment to repairs on the campus.
“We are very honored to be here,” said Cooper, who is a fifth-grade student.
“We asked the John Gregg students what their concerns were,” commented Clancey, a sixth grader.
Among their suggestions were to replace the balls used on the playground or inflate them and purchase more foam footballs; to repair a hole in the right lane of the pickup line; and to add more hot lunch choices to the menu. Discussion ensued and the students said they had two hot lunch options but hoped for a few more, while kids may like more fruits since they have a wide selection of vegetables. Cooper also added a need for more Project Lead the Way computer kits in teacher Brooke Barker’s classroom.
Superintendent Bill Beattie said he would speak with district Food Service Director Christine Chipps about the menu recommendations. The student representatives were told to provide more information to their principal and perhaps some changes could occur.
Board Vice President Ron Smyth also praised the pupils for their work.
“Very, very good job. We really appreciate you and can’t wait to hear from you again when we’re back here in the spring,” he said.