In September, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) officially released the 2022-2023 annual school report cards. I’m pleased to share that Upper Arlington Schools is one of just eight districts in the state to earn a five-star overall rating as well as earning five stars in each of the five separate components on the report card: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy.
Our school district has been — and will continue to be — committed to the development of the whole child. So while this is a well-deserved recognition, we keep in mind that this is just one data point we review in our pursuit of challenging and supporting every student, every step of the way.
This is the second year that ODE has given schools and districts star ratings, on a scale of one to five, for the five components and the first year for the overall star rating. As you may recall, our district also received five stars on all five components last year. Earning a five-star rating in each of these categories for two years in a row is notable, particularly in the area of growth, which, due to the way it is calculated, is difficult to achieve year after year.
The state report card is just one of the many data points we review to monitor the success of our students and academic programs. We will also continue to evaluate all of the other data available to us regarding our students’ growth, achievement and well-being. You can read more about that in our annual accountability report, the Quality Profile, on our website at www.uaschools.org/qualityprofile.aspx.
Strategic planning update
This fall, we are beginning discussions regarding strategic planning for our district and thinking about what will come next. An important starting point for these conversations will be the feedback we have gathered through my UAdventure series this fall and through the Board of Education’s Listen Learn Lead community engagement process over the past two years.
The goal is to begin work on the next strategic plan in earnest in the new year, and we will share more updates on this in the coming months.
Equity partnership update
We have been working with Insight Education Group over the past few months to conduct an equity audit of the district. The audit will incorporate information from surveys and focus groups conducted this fall, as well as qualitative and quantitative district data, to help identify ways to ensure that district policies and practices are equitable for all students.
Insight Education plans to have an audit summary report to share with the district this winter.
Robert Hunt, Ph.D., is the superintendent of Upper Arlington Schools. You can follow him on Twitter at @Hunt_EdLeader.