By Cindy Kranz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Third-grade teacher Lori Barnes gets a laugh out of Sean Heinsen at Heritage Elementary School. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

Lakota Local School District, one of the state's fastest-growing districts, was the largest school system in Ohio to achieve a perfect rating Tuesday, when the 2003 Local Report Cards were released.

The Butler County district of 15,498 students - the eighth-largest in the state - is among 13 Tristate districts that achieved an Excellent rating, according to the Ohio Department of Education. This is the fourth year report cards have been issued.

Lakota Superintendent Kathleen Klink attributed the district's achievement to the hard work of teachers and administrators, the students themselves and parents who "instill the love of learning and work so hard to get (children) ready for school.

"Being the largest district in Ohio to be named excellent is a tribute to all those people,'' Mrs. Klink said.

Mrs. Klink said she was particularly pleased that Lakota was able to reach all 22 standards while spending just $7,221 per student. That's $836 below the state average of $8,057 per student.

EXCELLENT DISTRICTS

These 13 Southwest Ohio school districts are among 109 in the state that Tuesday received the top rating, Excellent, from the Ohio Department of Education on the 2003 Local Report Card: Butler County: Lakota Local Clermont County: Milford Exempted Village Hamilton County: Forest Hills Local Indian Hill Exempted Village Loveland City Madeira City Mariemont City Oak Hills Local Sycamore Community City Wyoming City Warren County: Kings Local Mason City Springboro Community City

OHIO'S LARGEST DISTRICTS

District -- Enrollment -- Rating 1. Cleveland: 72,199 -- Academic Emergency 2. Columbus: 64,835 -- Academic Emergency 3. Cincinnati: 42,774 -- Academic Emergency 4. Toledo: 36,495 -- Academic Emergency 5. Akron: 29,676 -- Academic Emergency 6. Dayton: 20,547 -- Academic Emergency 7. South-Western (Franklin Co.): 20,369 -- Academic Watch 8. Lakota: 15,498 -- Excellent 9. Westerville: 13,849 -- Effective 10. Parma: 13,475 -- Continuous Improvement *Enrollment figures are from October 2001, the latest number available from the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education changed its report card for school districts this year. The changes are in part a result of legislation signed by Gov. Bob Taft in 2001. New report cards were released Tuesday.

ABOUT REPORT CARDS

This year's district designations are based on 22 performance indicators, including district attendance and graduation rates and students' performance on fourth-, sixth-, ninth- and 10th-grade proficiency tests. Five 12th-grade proficiency tests have been eliminated. Here are the old and new rating systems: 2002 26-27: Excellent 21-25: Effective 13-20: Continuous Improvement 8-12: Academic Watch 0-7: Academic Emergency 2003 21-22: Excellent 17-20: Effective 11-16: Continuous Improvement 7-10: Academic Watch 0-6: Academic Emergency The report card also includes information about students' attendance and staff teaching in schools, figures for students' proficiency test passage, data broken down by gender and ethnicity and per-pupil spending. Paper copies of the 2003 Local Report Cards will be mailed to parents in March. Source: Ohio Department of Education For more detailed information, visit Web site.

INFOGRAPHIC

• Area district ratings

But school administrators said improvements can still be made.

"We believe instruction must go beyond the report card, beyond the proficiency tests,'' Mrs. Klink said.

Statewide, 109 districts received an Excellent designation, an increase of 38 districts from last year's 71 Excellent districts.

Some 165 districts - 13 in the Tristate - received a higher designation this year. In contrast, 18 Ohio districts met six or fewer standards and received an Academic Emergency designation. That's up from 12 districts last year.

Four local districts lost ground in the 2003 Local Report Cards:

Cincinnati Public Schools dropped from Academic Watch to Academic Emergency.

Mount Healthy and Williamsburg fell from Continuous Improvement to Academic Watch.

Ross Local slipped from Excellent to Effective.

The number of indicators or standards has changed this year because the state dropped the 12th-grade proficiency tests, which accounted for five indicators on the Local Report Cards. That had an effect on districts such as Cincinnati and Mount Healthy, both of which made improvements in other areas.

"The drop in the rating is not due to a drop in our performance," said Mount Healthy Superintendent David Horine.

"It's due to the loss of the 12th-grade indicators. We did not lose any indicators as a result of a drop in performance. We either did not statistically change or we improved in 20 out of 22 areas."

The rating drop couldn't come at a worse time for the district of 4,000 students, which on Feb. 4 will attempt for the third time in six months to pass an operating levy.

Because of the way the state has changed the indicators, Mr. Horine said, the school district and students are going to be penalized. "Our performance did not drop, but there is a potential negative impact on our ability to pass a levy here, and that's not right."

Jan Leslie, spokeswoman for Cincinnati Public Schools, said, "We're very pleased with the gains that we saw across most grade levels. Though we dropped a category, which was disappointing, it wasn't unexpected with the change in the state rating system. We're improving, but we understand and know we need to accelerate those improvements, and we're working hard to do so."

Meanwhile, Oak Hills, which has 8,000 students, has steadily climbed the ratings ladder to achieve the top spot.

"We have an academic improvement model that focuses on student learning, public engagement and staff development," Superintendent Patricia Brenneman said.

"The district has it, as well as every building. I think we've articulated the vision. Everybody on the team worked really hard to focus on results and make sure every student learns at a high level."

Jay Kemen, Oak Hills director of curriculum and instruction, said the district is committed to improving math and reading proficiency of all children. "If we can do that, everything else kind of springs from that. We really are focused on upgrading learning child by child."

To achieve its goals, the district embraced different educational methods to improve student achievement.

"We try very consciously to bleed out the very best pieces from a variety of venues and use those we think will fit very well with our students, our community and our staff," Dr. Kemen said.

Finneytown Local School District, which has about 2,000 students, climbed from Continuous Improvement to Effective.

"We're focusing on what needs to be taught, and we're assessing how well we did with each child," said Superintendent Sam Martin. "Where we find weaknesses, we remediate. We're just getting better at it. I think a lot of schools are getting better at it and more focused."

While he's pleased with an improved rating, he said there is too much emphasis on measuring excellence by numbers.

"I'm glad to go up in the eyes of the standards of the state, but I don't think it really reflects everything we do and what makes a good school," he said.

If a school cut out all art, music, physical education, community service and extra-curricular activities, he said, by state standards, it could still be an excellent school.

"I don't agree," Mr. Martin said. "It's important that if we're going to measure schools, that we expand how we're measuring them. It doesn't boil down to just numbers. It's personalities. It's how the teachers love the kids. It's a lot of things that you can't quantify."

Bethel-Tate, a Clermont County district of 2,000 students, moved from Continuous Improvement to Effective.

"We made great gains on our fourth-grade test," Superintendent Jim Smith said. "We went from meeting one standard last year to all five standards this year. That was a tremendous gain for us. We just missed two (standards) on sixth grade. Otherwise, we would have had 19. We were one student away from hitting two of those."

Bethel-Tate will continue to work on improvements at the sixth grade and to keep the momentum going in the fourth grade, Mr. Smith said. "The victory on fourth-grade tests will be a hollow victory if we don't repeat this year."

In Warren County's Springboro school district, Assistant Superintendent Larry Hook attributed the jump from Effective to Excellent to a team effort and a districtwide strategic plan, started about two years ago.

The true test, he said, is maintaining the level of excellence for the 3,000-student district.

"You can't rest on our laurels. We have to continue to strive for excellence as a school district. We want to stay on the mountain top."

Sue Kiesewetter and Erica Solvig contributed to this report. E-mail ckranz@enquirer.com