In fall 2011, 3rd-grade reading proficiency rates trailed similar districts as defined by ODE by 4 percentage points and outpaced the state by only 4 percentage points. Moreover, the rate of accelerated and advanced trailed similar districts by 7 percentage points and was equivalent to the state average. Since then, our program has steadily improved. In fact, this fall our proficiency rate surpassed that of similar districts by 2 percentage points and the state by 11 percentage points.
Furthermore, for the first time, the rate of accelerated and advanced are slightly higher than similar districts and 8 percentage points higher than the state average.
In addition, our average scaled score has gone from 3 points higher than the state average in the fall of 2011 to 8 points higher this fall. Once again, these gains have been steady and not the result of a one-year blip on the radar screen. So, as we usher in an age of new, more challenging assessments, we can rest assured that our teachers and administrators have worked diligently to prepare our students for a new normal in education.