Oregon-Davis Superintendent Responds to School Accountability Grades

Oregon-Davis Schools are more than just their A-to-F School Accountability Grades, according to Superintendent Dr. Don Harman. “You’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re comparing apples to oranges,” he said. “And if you look around the state, I would daresay most superintendents are not a fan of the A-to-F grading program that the state has. We’re doing a phenomenal job here. Our teachers and our support staff, they’re doing a phenomenal job, and I think, a lot of times, unfortunately, our community weighs a lot on those letter grades.”

Oregon-Davis Junior/Senior High School got a C for the 2016-2017 school year, while the elementary school dropped from a B to a C. But Harman says there are many factors that community members may not be aware of, that could cause a drop in School Accountability Grades. “You have to consider this: right now, we’re using the ISTEP. In a couple years, the state is going to go to an ILEARN. So now, we’re going to change the playing field.”

Moving forward, Harman says Math and Language Arts skills will be a big focus at all grade levels. “Really, that is a big push with our curriculum, is to address our Math and Language Arts, and then obviously that will feed into other areas. Language Arts impact the fine arts and things like that. You know, attendance is always a big thing that we’re trying to improve and graduation rates.”

Principals Tim Pletcher and William Bennett discussed their school improvement plans with the Oregon-Davis School Board last week.