Grandview Heights’ high marks on state report card reflect support of community

On Dec 20, 2021

The Ohio Department of Education recently released its 2020-21 state report cards, and we are proud that Grandview Heights Schools remains a top school district in Franklin County and in the state of Ohio.

Thank you to the Grandview Heights Schools staff for the social, emotional, behavioral and academic focus you place on each and every one of our students. Our success is made possible because of your hard work. It’s been a very difficult time for all of us, and your dedication and perseverance make a huge difference in our district’s success.

Angela Ullum is chief academic officer for Grandview Heights Schools.

At 101.1, Grandview Heights Schools’ Performance Index score, which is the level of achievement for each student on each state test, is the highest in Franklin County, ranking our district No. 1 in the county and in the top 4% statewide.

In the Prepared for Success category, the district scored 97.2%, placing the district in the top 1% statewide. This component looks at how well prepared our students are for future opportunities, whether training in a technical field or preparing for work or college. In addition, Grandview Heights High School was named to the list of Top 20 High Schools in Ohio by U.S. News & World Report.

Ohio’s school report card program is designed to give parents, communities, educators and policymakers information about the performance of districts and schools – to celebrate achievement and success, as well as identify areas for improvement.

For the second year in a row, there are no letter grade ratings on account of the unprecedented disruptions the pandemic caused. However, Grandview Heights Schools demonstrated improvement in several areas. Students remaining in the classroom five days a week throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the key factors to our success over the past year.

We did see a very minor learning loss in math, but this is a trend being seen across the nation. Learning loss in this specific area is being attributed to the fact that trying to teach hands-on math concepts is more difficult in a virtual environment.

Despite this learning loss, we saw improvement in our Gap Closing and Progress scores. Gap Closing shows how well schools are improving or meeting the performance expectations for all students in English language arts, math, graduation and English language proficiency, whereas the Progress score looks at year-over-year growth for students.

Although test scores play an important and impressive role in education, they are but one measure of student and district achievement. Our foundational Learning Attributes of accountability, collaboration, communication, empathy, honesty, perseverance, resourcefulness, respectfulness and safety provide our students with the ability to succeed in the classroom, on the field and courts, atop the performing-arts stage and in serving the community. The recent Division III state championship by our boys varsity soccer team is an excellent example of how our students use our learning attributes to reach their goals.

Our consistent, positive report cards and continued progress would not be possible without the support of our community. Thank you for continuing to make Grandview Heights Schools a sought-after, highly-respected district.

Angela Ullum is chief academic officer for Grandview Heights Schools.