Through programs tailored to help students improve with their literacy prowess, Park Avenue Elementary has boosted its student body’s overall state reading rating.
The elementary school previously received a D grade from the state’s education testing authority, but have since jumped to a B using the previous analysis method.
“We made significant growth from (our) previous grade,” Park Avenue Elementary School Principal Jim Swain stated at the Feb. 16 Mount Gilead Board of Education meeting.
Though the grade is not official, due to a delay in the state’s release of testing results, school officials were pleased with the progress.
“It is a significant jump,” Mount Gilead Superintendent Jim Thompson said. “If our students do not know how to read they are going to struggle with everything.”
Thompson cited the improvement is a result of faculty’s work in the literacy programs the school has in place.
The Ohio Department of Education is set to release official testing results sometime this summer.
Additionally, Swain reported that 71 percent of the third grade class at the elementary school has met the state’s reading benchmark that is needed to continue to fourth grade.
The testing was done in December, and the remaining students who have not met the threshold have until the end of the year to do so.
