(Portions of this article are from The Gallipolis Daily Tribune 10/13/2009)
Gallia County Local Schools is celebrating after once again earning high marks from the Ohio Department of Education.
For the second consecutive year, Gallia County Local has earned an excellent rating on its District Report Card. Only 10 years ago, the district was listed in academic emergency.
“We’re just thrilled,” said Superintendent Dr. Charla C. Evans. “It’s certainly something that we’ve worked for for a long time. When you hit that first time, you certainly want to repeat. There’s still room for improvement. There will always be room for improvement.”
Gallia County Local met 25 of the 30 indicators on the report card and posted a 96.9 out of a possible 120 rating on the Performance Index portion of the report card. Additionally, the district met its Adequate Yearly Progress mark and went above its Value-Added Measure.
Individually, River Valley High School, River Valley Middle School, Addaville Elementary, Hannan Trace Elementary and Southwestern Elementary were each rated excellent. South Gallia High School and Vinton Elementary were rated effective.
River Valley and South Gallia each met eight of the 12 state indicators. RVHS scored a 101.9 on its Performance Index, while SGHS recorded a 91.2.
River Valley Middle met nine of 10 indicators, scored 96.5 on the Performance Index, met its Adequate Yearly Progress and went above the Value-Added Measure.
Addaville Elementary met all 10 state indicators and recorded 102.8 on the Performance Index. The school met the Adequate Yearly Progress standard and met the Value-Added Measure.
Southwestern Elementary hit 15 of the 19 indicators and recorded 96.4 on the Performance Index. The school met its Adequate Yearly Progress and scored above the Value-Added Measure.
Hannan Trace Elementary reached 12 of 19 indicators and scored 93.5 on the Performance Index. It met its Adequate Yearly Progress and went above the Value-Added Measure.
Vinton Elementary met seven of 10 indicators and scored 94.4 on the Performance Index. The school met Adequate Yearly Progress and went above the Value-Added Measure.
Patrick Stout, director of instructional services, said the district’s success on the report card can be credited to better planning and greater cooperation between administration and faculty.
“One of the things that I think we do pretty well is planning and preparation,” he said. “The superintendent sets up retreats for our administrators so after the year is over we take a hard look at our practices and our procedures. We have meetings right after school’s over in June and our teachers come together in their grade-level meetings and they look at their assessments and they try to think about what could be done better.
“I think that planning and constantly looking at what we’re doing is key,” Stout added. “We police ourselves.”
To see the district report card in its entirety
click here.