Auditor of State Dave Yost has released an interim report concerning the review of school attendance practices in Ohio, which showed irregularities, and made initial recommendations to improve the system. Marion City School District was included in the report which accuses the district of improperly withdrawing students.
In the initial phase of the audit, the Auditor of State’s office selected 100 schools from 47 school districts with the highest number of students that took assessment tests and whose test scores were subsequently “rolled up” to the state, thereby alleviating the district from accountability for student performance.
Five school districts identified in the report were found to have improperly withdrawn students from their enrollment. They are Campbell City School District (Mahoning County), Cleveland Municipal City School District (Cuyahoga County), Columbus City School District (Franklin County), Marion City School District (Marion County), and Toledo Public School District (Lucas County).
During the course of testing, the Auditor noted numerous instances of students being automatically transferred to the Marion Digital Academy during the 2010‐11 school year. As such, these students were included on the list of those students being pushed to the State and excluded from District report card results. That move would in theory help improve the district’s report card.
The Auditor reported that in many of these cases, the student’s file included a letter indicating the following:
“{Student} has missed four (4) days of school this quarter, which violates our attendance policy. {Student} has lost all high school credit for the current quarter of the 2010‐2011 school year. Due to nonattendance and the loss of credit for the quarter, we are enrolling {Student} in a credit recovery program through Marion City Digital Academy. While home computers will not be provided, Marion City Digital Academy will provide computer access at Harding High School from 12:00‐2:30, in rooms 126 and 127. Students are responsible for transportation to Harding High School and will not be permitted in other areas of the Harding High School Campus.
We wish {Student} the best of luck in all future endeavors. If you have any questions concerning this notice or {Student’s} attendance please contact the Marion Digital Academy.”
The student was then withdrawn from Marion City School District and enrolled in the Marion City Digital Academy. The Auditor’s Office says they have determined this practice was only in place during the 2010‐2011 and that the Marion City School District informed the State that it has since deemed this intervention unsuccessful and eliminated it.
AOS identified 46 students transferring to Marion City Digital Academy during the 2010‐2011 school year with no parent or guardian initiation or approval included in Marion City School District’s student files.
Of the initial 100 districts tested by the State Auditor, 21 school buildings in 20 districts have zero attendance issues identified to date, and are considered to be “clean,” while 28 school buildings in 17 districts had errors in attendance reporting that are not believed to be pervasive. The testing of 15 buildings in 6 school districts is not complete yet, and these buildings are declared “indeterminate” at this time.
Also in the first phase, an additional 28 school districts with lower withdrawal rates were tested. Of those districts, 19 are considered “clean” with no issues to date. Nine were found to have errors in reporting, but the errors are not believed to be pervasive.
The report recommends that the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) improve independence of its accountability measures. It also suggests removing report card performance ratings information from the Secure Data Center, thereby reducing the opportunity to manipulate the outcome of report cards. For certain withdrawal codes in the Education Management Information System (EMIS), it is recommended that ODE cross-check the timing of student withdrawals and enrollments. This more in-depth analysis limits the ability for schools to mistakenly misreport or intentionally “scrub” students without ODE inquiry.
Auditor Yost’s audit of attendance practices in Ohio’s schools began when results of an internal audit at Columbus City Schools revealed irregular attendance and enrollment practices and similar allegations surfaced at Toledo Public Schools and Lockland City Schools.
You can click here to view the complete report and documentation of the investigation by the State Auditor.
About Marion Online News
