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Marlington Local reports 3.5 overall rating, flags kindergarten readiness and chronic absenteeism
Summary
Curriculum director Renee Kaley told the board the district earned a 3.5 overall rating on the 2023–24 Ohio report card (down from 4.0), highlighted a drop in the progress component and raised alarm about kindergarten readiness and a near‑20% chronic absenteeism rate.
Renee Kaley, Marlington Local’s curriculum director, told the school board on Oct. 17 that the district’s 2023–24 state report card showed an overall rating of 3.5 — down from 4.0 the previous year — and that the progress component dropped from 4 to 2.
“This year our overall rating was a 3.5,” Kaley said, adding that the progress component reflects value‑added student growth and that the district “fell short of our student growth expectation.” She cautioned that new curriculum implementation, staff turnover and substitute coverage can depress growth measures.
The presentation broke the report card into its component parts: achievement (state tests and performance index), progress (value‑added growth), gap closing (subgroup performance), early literacy and college/career/military readiness (this year report‑only). Kaley reported a district performance index calculation and noted gifted students can be advantaged by taking advanced coursework that affects achievement-level calculations.
Kaley singled out early literacy as an urgent concern. “I have a kindergarten class right now that 21 out of the 23 students, based upon their KRA data, says they are not ready for kindergarten,” she said, calling that finding “alarming” and describing district interventions to move students to on‑track status.
Board members and Kaley discussed preschool access and capacity as possible levers to improve readiness. Kaley said the district currently runs two preschool classes (about 60 seats total across AM/PM sessions) and that expansion is expensive; she cited related services for the preschool program totaling more than $600,000. The board agreed to pursue more data collection, adding preschool participation questions to kindergarten registration to measure prior preschool exposure.
Kaley also addressed chronic absenteeism, reporting a district rate near 20% and explaining how coding (period‑by‑period attendance, career‑technical schedules) can inflate high‑school absenteeism figures. She described school‑level strategies — student engagement initiatives and targeted outreach by building teams — intended to reduce absences.
Board members asked for follow‑up on preschool participation data and signaled interest in targeted interventions. Kaley said the state’s college/career/workforce/military readiness measures will be included as scored components in future report cards but are report‑only this year.
The board heard the update as an information item; no formal vote was taken on curriculum changes at the meeting.
