Mid-Ohio ESC Receives Exemplary Rating as Community School Sponsor
Governor Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill 166 in July. This budget bill included provisions to improve report cards for community schools receiving dropout prevention and recovery report cards. The bill required that the Ohio Department of Education recalculate to 2017-18 report cards with a reconfiguration of the High School Test Passage Rate. After that recalculation, Mid-Ohio Education Service Center (MOESC) was notified that they have received an Exemplary rating, the highest rating on the scale.
MOESC currently sponsors GOAL Digital Academy and the Tomorrow Center, both community schools that serve students from Crawford, Morrow and Richland counties. According to Jim Smith, Sponsor Liaison at MOESC, “Our work as a community school sponsor is to ensure that our community schools adhere to the terms of their contract and provide oversight and technical assistance to help our schools better serve their students.”
Smith said he is extremely pleased with the new rating, but it wasn’t a lone effort. “I'd like to thank the superintendent of GOAL Digital Academy, Tish Jenkins, and the Director of School at the Tomorrow Center, Jamie Byrne, and their faculty and staff for always being cooperative and providing me with the information and documentation I need. To me the most important facet of my job is working closely with and building positive relationships with those associated with our community schools so that we all strive to work together for what is best for students!”
The report card is comprised of three areas: Academic Performance, Compliance, and Quality Practices. The Academic Performance component looks at measures of student success including achievement, student growth, early literacy, graduation and how well students are prepared for college, careers and life. The Compliance component asks whether the sponsor is compliant with all relevant laws and rules and whether they are monitoring their community schools’ compliance with laws and rules. Finally, Quality Practices compares the sponsor’s processes against best practices such as strategic planning, staff capacity, contract development and oversight of schools. Academic Performance was the category that was recalculated, and that change in measure ratings resulted in 12 sponsors increasing their overall report card rating, including MOESC moving from Effective to Exemplary.
MOESC Superintendent Kevin D. Kimmel said, “Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center is very proud of earning this exemplary sponsorship rating from the Ohio Department of Education on the 2017-18 report card. This is the highest rate that a sponsor can earn, and it would not have been possible without the hard work and leadership of Mid-Ohio ESC’s Sponsor Liaison Jim Smith. Mr. Smith works tirelessly to ensure that Mid-Ohio ESC adheres to the strict standards as outlined in Sponsor Quality Practices Rubric by the Ohio Department of Education. On behalf of the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center Board of Governors, I would like to commend Mr. Smith of his dedication and support of GOAL Digital Academy and the Tomorrow Center.”
Kimmel continued, “The Mid-Ohio Board of Governors will be recognizing Mr. Smith at the September 25th board meeting by presenting him with a commendation for his contributions which led to this Exemplary rating on the Sponsor Report Card.”