The Ohio Department of Education has released its report cards for all school districts. It is the second year that ODE will…
District Achieves High Score
The Ohio Department of Education has released its report cards for all school districts. It is the second year that ODE will use letter grades to indicate student achievement and progress of districts.
Chagrin Falls Schools received the highest Performance Index score in its history.
Chagrin Falls’ Report Card shows that the district has an all-time high Performance Index score of 110.3, which equates to an A. It was achieved through improved School Performance Index scores, which increased in all buildings from last school year, with Gurney Elementary earning a 111.4, Chagrin Falls Intermediate School earning a 108.5, Chagrin Falls Middle School earning a 108.9 and Chagrin Falls High School earning a 113.6.
The District Report Card also reflects continued success in meeting all indicators (A) and significant improvement in reading subgroup populations (including students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students), as evidenced in an improved annual measurable objective-gap closing grade, of a B (from a D in 2012-13).
The District Report Card also reflects an increase in progress of gifted students, improving from a C in 2012-13 to a B in 2013-14 and the overall progress for all students maintaining an A, indicating continued growth.
“The State Report Card has significantly changed in terms of structure and format over the last two years,” said Superintendent Robert Hunt. “We monitor all aspects of the report card, but believe the performance index score and related ranking are the best ways to monitor district progress, relative to state expectations.
“We are very pleased each building improved which contributed to our achievement of the highest performance index score in our district’s history. In addition, we are proud of our continually improving value-added data. While we take pride in these achievements, we also recognize that there are many other components of a successful school district that are not measured in via the State Report Card. We look forward to sharing those with the release of our district’s Quality Profile on Sept. 15.”
For an explanation of the report card system, visit the ODE informational page.
AP Scholar Awards
Eighty-one students at Chagrin Falls High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition for their achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program exams. Their average score was a 4.08.
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program (AP) provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school and to earn college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on AP exams.
The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance on AP exams.
Chagrin Falls High School National AP Scholar, granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams, include Peter Berlin, Tyler Bryant, Thomas Collins, Zach Debernardo, Alexander Goebel, Shantanu Kanvinde, Theresa Kosmides, Claire Rehfuss, and Andrew Relyea.
AP Scholar with Distinction, granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams, include Jared Axelrod, Peter Berlin, Tyler Bryant, Thomas Collins, Thomas Connolly, Zach Debernardo, Christopher Dobeck, Patrick Donley, John Ganger, Sophia Gielink, Peter Girouard, Alexander Goebel, Karin Greenlaw, Max Hallwachs, Ann Hopkins, Matthew Iammarino, Ryan Jaskiel, Shantanu Kanvinde, Jon Karyo, Natalie Klug, Matthew Kohn, Theresa Kosmides, Reed Kreger, Max Maistros, Lily Manchester, Stephanie McCormack, Abigail Meil, Andrew Moran, and Brennan Morell, Anne Moyse, Shannon O’Toole, Eleanor Oneil, Robert Powers, Claire Rehfuss, Andrew Relyea, Devon Riegel, Nicholas Skiljan, Lukas Sontich, Tyler Thompson, Conor Toomey, Jonathan Wainblat, Stuart Wallace, Anna Weber, Emily Wirthwein, Blake Wynveen, and Jake Zalba.
AP Scholar with Honor, granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams, include Robert Benson, Charles Emmerich, Alexandra Gottschalk, Jacob Jaskiel, Eric Sampsel and Katherine Thomas.
AP Scholars, granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams, include Jihan Aitelcadi, Kathryn Bullen, Andrew Crouch, Nadia Debick, Ernest Defoy, Amy Dishong, Blake Eagle, Payton Fricke, Grace Furnas, Andrew Ganger, Caroline Haber, Elisabeth Hanson, Daniel Herbener, Anna Kang, David Lehman, Nicholas Lenart, Claudia Lewis, Ali Magyaros, Sarah Mallak, Michael Munday, Megan Nafziger, Quinn Obrien, Kristyn Ostanek, Aaron Perkins, Mark Rust, Margaret Schlaker, Audrey Wanamaker, Samuel Welch and Sam Zdolshek.
Through 34 different college-level courses and exams, AP provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to earn college credit or advanced placement and stand out in the college admission process. Each exam is developed by a committee of college and university faculty and AP teachers, ensuring that AP exams are aligned with the same high standards expected by college faculty at some of the nation’s leading liberal arts and research institutions. More than 3600 colleges and universities annually receive AP scores. Most four-year colleges in the United States provide credit and/or advanced placement for qualifying exam scores. Research consistently shows that AP students who score a 3 or higher on AP exams (based on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest) typically experience greater academic success in college and have higher college graduation rates than students who do not participate in AP.
Rotary Student of the Month
Chagrin Valley Rotary Club has selected Chagrin Falls senior Claudia Lewis as its high school Student of the Month for September.
Claudia was chosen for her service and leadership qualities.
An honor student who takes a variety of Advanced Placement classes, she has been recognized as an AP Scholar. She has been named to the school’s Honor Roll with Distinction, as well as the Academic All-Ohio team and All-District second team by the Ohio School Girls Lacrosse Association.
She is currently student council executive president, an intern for The Write Place and a member of the Chagrin Falls Education Foundation Executive Student Board and Key Club. Her athletic accomplishments include four years with the lacrosse team, three years with the soccer team and one year of cross country.
She works at the Chagrin Valley Recreation Center and volunteers at the West Side Catholic Center and as a coach with the Chagrin Athletic Association. She has also served as team captain for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk and collected gifts for the Bellfaire Holiday Gift Giving program.
Her future plans are to attend a four-year university followed by medical school.
Claudia will be recognized at the Rotary’s monthly meeting.
Top 100 School
Chagrin Falls High School has once again made it to Newsweek’s list of America’s best high schools.
Newsweek rated Chagrin Falls High School as one of the top 100 schools in the country, out of about 14,000 surveyed. It placed at number 66, third among Ohio high schools on the list. The school came in at 216 in 2013.
“This recognition acknowledges not only the strong academic program provided to our students due to the support of our community but also an indication of the high number of motivated students we have accessing the highest level of academic rigor,” said Superintendent Robert Hunt.
Newsweek said it changed the way it created the rankings this year and the criteria was “more rigorous than ever.” It worked with the research firm Westat Inc. to create a metric based on data provided by the National Center for Education Statistics and from its own survey of schools. For a school to make the list, Newsweek looked for student performance that exceeded expectations on state tests and high marks on college preparedness.
Gurney Off To Great Start
Students and staff at Gurney Elementary School are excited about many new changes for this school year.
One of the biggest changes is the new Chromebooks that third-grade students will be using this year for both homework and long-term projects. Of course, the new equipment requires students to learn a new skill keyboarding.
Over the summer, second and third-graders completed almost 8,000 activities surrounding the summer keyboarding assignment. As a reward, they watched staff slime Mr. Justin Cannon at the opening day assembly.
As the year goes on, the children will hone their keyboarding skills with the help of Mrs. Czerr, the new library and keyboarding teacher. Keyboarding is a skill the students will need when they take their PARCC assessments, which are now taken electronically.
The school also began a full grades K-3 Spanish program under the tutelage of new staff member Corynn Scaminace.
Principal Dr. Rachel Jones said, “She has big plans to turn us into terrific Spanish speakers and to bring the Spanish culture to our school year.”
Other new staff members include educational aides Sandra Goodin, Meredith Goodwin, Allison Kaas, Lisa Kane and Kristy Holmes.
In addition, the school will hold curriculum nights for first, second and third grades instead of open houses. The event is designed to help parents better understand aspects of the curriculum, such as reading comprehension, math skills and the Raz Kids computer program, in order to best support their children at home. Curriculum nights will be Sept. 30 for third grade, Oct. 1 for second grade and Oct. 2 for first grade.
