Brian Massie, citizen journalist
We were wondering how the Covid virus impacted the proficiency scores at Lake County schools, so we did some research. The details of all the proficiency scores for all of the Ohio School Districts can be found on the following website. You will have to be a bit proficient with Excel to be able to sort the very large database. [Hint: sort by County, District, Building]
We have the details for the Mentor School District, and we will break it down by elementary schools , middle schools, and high school. The information is further divided by building, grade level and subject.
Elementary Schools:
Use the “arrow” icon to reorient the pages…
Page 1 3rd Grade Reading & Math by School Building
Page 2 4th Grade Reading & Math by School Building
Page 3 5th Grade Reading & Math by School Building
Page 4 5th Grade Science by School Building
Page 5 Summary of all Elementary Schools Reading and Math
Overall, the reading proficiency of Mentor’s Elementary Schools before Covid was an an outstanding 80.3%. They dropped 8.6% to 71.7% n the two years after 2020.
Math scores were also a very respectable 78.9% before Covid and dropped 10.6% to 68.3% in the two years after 2020.
Orchard Hollow was leading the way in reading with 91.1%, and 88.6% in math before Covid. One could say that they were producing “good fruit”.
Middle Schools
Page 6 6th Grade Reading and Math by School Building
Page 7 7th Grade Reading and Math by School Building
Page 8 8th Grade Reading and Math by School building
Page 9 Summary of all Grades Reading and Math
Use the “arrow” icon to reorient the pages
The alarming statistics in the middle schools are the math proficiency scores. Prior to Covid the overall score for all middle schools was 68.9% and dropped 19.8% to 49.1% after 2020.
These numbers indicate to us that there is a serious problem in Mentor’s math education. We have seen similar numbers in the Riverside School District. We do not know if this is the result of the infamous “Common Core” curriculum, but the end results are just not acceptable. The school is doing a disservice to the students and the community, if it continues on their current path.
High School
Page 10 Individual subjects compared to the State Proficiency Scores
Page 11 Summary off all high school subjects
Overall, the proficiency score was 73.9% before Covid, and dropped 8.9% to 65.0% after Covid. However, the algebra and geometry scores before Covid were paltry 62% and dropped to the 45% range after Covid.
Parents should be outraged about the math education in Mentor’s middle and high schools. Unfortunately, as we stated above, this is in line with what we see at the Riverside School District.
Summary
Page 12 Summary of all reading scores for 3rd – 8th grade
Page 13 Summary of all math scores for all grades
Page 14 Summary of all subject for all grades
When we look at the overall reading scores we find a drop of 5.4% from 76.7% before Covid and 71.3% after 2020.
However, on page 13 you will see quite a range of scores. The elementary schools before Covid fared rather well with math education, but the middle and high schools tells another story. The overall drop of 15.8% in all math courses, does not really identify the problems in the middle schools and high school math education.
Public education in math is a disaster in the upper grades!
Page 14 recaps the scores for all grades and subjects. The answer to our question about the impact of Covid on Mentor’s proficiency scores is an overall drop of 9.8% in proficiency.
However, there is an old joke about averages. If you had one foot in a burning fire, and one foot in a bucket of ice, would you “on average” feel comfortable?
When we pull back the curtain on the details, the real problem in Mentor’s performance is their math education in the middle and high schools.
It is something that the parents and the school board may want to determine what is the root cause of the problem. There is a reason that young adults cannot make change when working the local cash registers.
If you look at the State of Ohio proficiency scores on each page, you can quickly determine that public education in Ohio is on life support. With the $ billions spent on public education, one has to wonder if this is not a planned dumbing down of our society. Although the social justice warriors preach equality of opportunity, they really want equality of outcome with their “Equity” mantra. No child is left behind, everyone gets a participation trophy, and meritocracy is so “old school”.
So what would Jesus say?: “…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”…Matthew 18:6
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Categories: Education, Lake County Cities & Townships, Mentor, Uncategorized