Hello Kings Community,

As we move into 2013, you can expect to see big changes in education. Starting next school year we will have fully implemented the Common Core State Standards for teaching. This new curriculum establishes clear guidelines for what students are expected to learn, so educators and parents know what they need to do to help. To learn more about the Common Core State Standards visit http://www.corestandards.org/.

Something new this year is the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee. Under this new state law, we had to assess our students’ reading skills in kindergarten through third grade. We also notified families if their child was “not on track” to read at grade level by the end of the year. Starting next school year, the law calls for districts to retain 3rd graders who score below 392 out of 500 on the state reading test. While the state works to finalize some of the finer details of this law, we at Kings will continue to offer reading intervention to those students who need extra help. You can learn more about the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GEJJAXWEE.

Finally, another major change starting next school year is the State Report Card. Starting in 2013, schools will be graded on an A-F scale instead of the current excellent-academic emergency scale. Under this new law, schools will be assessed based on 15 performance indicators such as test scores, graduation rate, student preparedness for college, literacy, and more. The idea behind the new report cards is to give parents and others a clearer understanding of how well schools are doing.

Throughout the remainder of the school year we will continue to prepare for these major changes coming from the state.

I am excited to say that for the 12th consecutive year Kings Local School District is ranked Excellent by the Ohio Department of Education. Some of the data surrounding the report card is still unofficial; however we are confident that our ranking will stay at the highest level.

This year we have also seen a great number of student achievements, both athletic and academic. We are proud of the many accomplishments of all our students. There are just too many to mention!

I am proud to lead this district and look forward to working with everyone throughout the rest of 2013.