Brunswick Schools analyzes at its 2023 Ohio School Report Card

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick City Schools received 22 out of 25 stars on the district's most recent Ohio School Report Card, which is two more stars than the year prior. During the board of education meeting on Tuesday, Brunswick City Schools Director of Instruction and Innovation Pat Geschke detailed how the district scored in each of the five categories. Districts can earn up to five stars in achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy. When a district meets state standards, it earns three stars, and five stars are earned when state standards are significantly exceeded. Overall, Brunswick City Schools received a ranking of 4.5 out of five stars. Brunswick earned four stars for achievement, which represents how well students performed on state tests. Geschke said the performance index went up by approximately 10 points from 2021 to 2023. A goal was to increase the number of students who scored proficient and above by 5 percent and to decrease number of students scoring below proficient by a similar percentage, he said. The district fell a little short of the goal. Progress for the district looks at growth for all students based on past performance. Brunswick earned four stars, which is one more star than last year. In every math class from fourth grade to high school, except eighth-grade math and algebra, there was evidence that the district met or exceeded growth expectations. There was also significant evidence of growth for all grades in science. The gain index measures the certainty of growth, Geschke said. For most districts, that number falls between negative two and positive two. Brunswick's math gain index was 4.89, and its science index was 9.83. Gap closing measures the reduction of educational gaps for certain subgroups, and Brunswick was given five stars this year, while four stars were received last year. When looking at the growth goal in math for subgroups, four out of the nine groups met that goal. The improvements in math across the district reflect the adoption of a new math curriculum last year, Geschke said. "I think we should be really, really proud," he said. "(We have) a brand new curriculum. It speaks again to our teachers' ability to collaborate, to problem solve, to work together to implement a curriculum with fidelity, and we're seeing the results." Another component of gap closing reflects how gifted students are doing. Geschke said Brunswick City Schools will be improving its gifted score in the future because language arts and math teachers at the middle school are now given specific professional development training. The district currently offers honors and advanced classes at the middle school, but the state does not classify them as "gifted" without the extra training. "It's been an initiative to keep pushing rigor, especially for our high achieving students," he said. Brunswick received four out of the five stars in early literacy. Geschke said for Brunswick, the state measures how many students are promoted from third grade to fourth grade and scores on the third grade reading test. A little over 70 percent of third graders scored proficient or above, and 100 percent of third graders were promoted to fourth grade last year. "As a district, we really believe that it's important for kids to stay in their grade and (we) intervene as opposed to retain," he said. "We work really hard to make sure that happens." Approximately 97 percent of students who entered ninth grade in the fall of 2018 graduated in the class of 2022. As a result, the district received five stars in that category. "This is a pre-K (through) 12 metric," Geshke said. "We get kids excited to be Brunswick Blue Devils. We get kids excited to come to our schools starting at the very earliest ages." Board of Education Vice President Rich Nowak said being compared to other districts is an inevitable part of the report card results. "I know we don't teach for the test, but it is important for us to look into this score because we have to build brand new schools," he said. "We have to pass bond issues, and people want to see that their money is going well. Right now, everybody who sees this says their money is well spent." The report card is just one data point, and it does not measure all that students accomplish, Geschke said. "We're not going to live and die by the report card," he said. "We're going to use it to benefit us, to benefit our kids, to learn from it, and then we're going to teach." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.