A reflective look at this school year thus far is done in a framework of amazement at how quickly a semester can pass.  Much has been accomplished throughout the district and much is yet to be done.  As superintendent of our Meigs Local Schools, I am excited to share positive news about the excellent progress we continue to experience in our district. In these days of bleak news around our state and nation, I am glad to report that our district continues to achieve, as reflected in our most recent district report card, the best our district has ever received from the Ohio Department of Education.  For the second year in a row, our district was rated EFFECTIVE showing growth in the number of state indicators met and the performance index.  More importantly, the district showed growth in all three student sub groups; all students, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.  The district once again achieved the established value added growth measure.  Congratulations to all members of the Meigs Local Schools community!

Ohio’s education system has improved in recent years, with better early childhood education programs, improvements in testing, and more emphasis on holding schools accountable for student achievement. Yet, there is still more work to do. Part of that work is setting higher expectations for what our children learn in the classroom, how that learning is assessed, how education systems will be evaluated, and how performance results will be communicated.

The State of Ohio is addressing these issues through:  (1) new learning standards, (2) the next generation of assessments, (3) an updated School/District Report Card, and (4) a new educator evaluation system.  Although the timeline for implementation of these areas for improvement vary, it is extremely important that our school community is aware of these changes and the impact that they will have on our schools, students and our educators. My goal for the next four issues of the Marauder Quarterly is to provide you information on these Ohio Department of Education initiatives.  I will attempt to inform you on “What is changing,?” “Why is the change needed,?” “How will the change happen,?” and “How will it work?”  On page four of this issue, I have provided you with the first article in this informational series “Ohio’s New Learning Standards”.

The administrators and teachers of the Meigs Local School District have been working tirelessly to implement these mandates through their active participation in our building leadership teams (BLT’s), teacher based teams (TBT’s) and our Race to The Top committee.  As superintendent, I am confident that the resiliency and the unselfish dedication of our educators will “pave the way” for the implementation of these statewide initiatives and the future success of our students .