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Lebanon schools report statewide test gains, district officials cite new curricula and supports
Summary
Superintendent Michael Sievers and board members highlighted across-the-board improvements in state testing and performance indices, with notable gains at the high school and in Algebra 1 after curriculum changes and gifted interventions.
Superintendent Michael Sievers told the Lebanon City Schools Board of Education on Aug. 18 that preliminary state report-card data show districtwide gains in student performance and passage rates for several tested subjects.
Sievers said Lebanon’s overall performance index increased across multiple buildings: Donovan Elementary increased about 1.5 points, Barrie rose a little over 1 point, Lebanon Junior High rose about 1.5 points, and Lebanon High School rose over 2 points. He told the board the district saw a 22.5% total increase in cross-passage rate on state tests and highlighted subject-level gains: ELA grade 8 up 6.5 percentage points, Algebra 1 passage at the high school up more than 10 percentage points, biology up 8.2 points and American history up 7.9 points.
Sievers credited several factors for the gains: reinstating gifted intervention specialists, targeted curriculum investments approved by the board (including a new algebra curriculum), and new ELA curriculum rollout in early grades. He thanked the board for allocating funds to update curriculum and told staff the improvements reflect classroom work.
District leaders said one final component of the state report card had not been released and that the district planned a fuller presentation in September or early October. Sievers said the district is “looking at another 4 and a half star rating” on the state report card and that the lowest plausible outcome would be a 4 out of 5 based on current indicators; he noted the final calculation remains pending.
Board members and staff framed the results as early positive signals tied to specific interventions and said they will present full data when the complete report is available. No votes were required; this was a superintendent informational report for the start of the school year.
