Ohio Virtual Academy Earns an EFFECTIVE School Rating

Online public school set to start its 10^th year

MAUMEE, Ohio, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Strong student performance helped propel the Ohio Virtual Academy (OHVA), a statewide online public charter school, to an Effective school ranking on its 2010-2011 annual report card.

The Effective ranking was the result of a number of academic achievements by the school, including attaining the state's highest Value Added Rating and improving its Performance Index Score.

OHVA is one of the largest public schools in the state.  Last year the school served over 10,000 students in kindergarten through high school.

Kristin Stewart, OHVA Head of School said, "We're extremely proud to be distinguished as an Effective school. This is a credit to the dedicated OHVA teachers, parents, and students who worked tirelessly to achieve this level of success."

OHVA achieved an "Above" Value Added Rating – the highest level – indicating the school made better than expected academic gains for students.  While an achievement test can only demonstrate a student's level of proficiency at a single point in time, the value added rating measures students' academic growth or improvement over a period of time.  This determines the academic progress – the "value added" – by a student during that time period in the school.

Academic growth is often considered a truer measurement of a school's effectiveness, especially for statewide online schools that enroll a high number of transfer students. With a highly individualized learning program, OHVA has helped students that are behind grade level and struggling to reach proficiency achieve significant academic gains throughout the year.  The longer these students stay in OHVA, the better they perform on achievement tests.

Stewart added, "We're especially proud that our school helped students make considerable academic gains.  To achieve an above value added rating is especially noteworthy considering the state raised the bar from one to two standard deviations required to make academic growth gains.  It's a great validation of our commitment to serve every student that comes to us, regardless of his or her academic needs."

OHVA also improved its performance index from the previous year to 89.5 percent.  The performance index measures the achievement of every tested student, not just those who score proficient or higher.

The school exceeded the state standard for participation in the state assessment tests with a 99.6 percent attendance rate.  Achieving this level of attendance is especially challenging for a school serving thousands of children around the state and requires a strong commitment to academic assessments and accountability from the entire school community.

OHVA uses the award-winning curriculum and academic programs developed by K12 Inc.  OHVA is one of the largest online public schools operated by K12.  Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia also offer online public schools that use the K12 program.

OHVA is set to begin its tenth year serving students in Ohio.  The first day of school is Monday, August 29.  OHVA is still accepting enrollment applications and hosting multiple events and information sessions for families across the state.  For more information visit www.K12.com/OHVA.

SOURCE Ohio Virtual Academy

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