COAL GROVE

- Dawson-Bryant's schools will soon begin SOARing towards providing individual education for each one of its 1,300 students.

Battelle for Kids, a statewide learning partnership of the Ohio Business Roundtable, announced earlier this week that the Dawson-Bryant School District was one of 36 districts across the state that have been added to Project SOAR (Schools' Online Achievement Reports), a program designed to help school districts in Ohio analyze student performance data each year.

Dawson-Bryant is the first Lawrence County school to be a part of the program.

The centerpiece of Project SOAR is a secure, Web-based database that school districts can use to view building, grade and individual student performance each year without having to wait on the tests.

"I think what it does is instead of saying, 'This is where we think little Johnny is at academically,' it will help us assess where little Johnny actually is and what his academic issues are," said Superintendent James Payne. "It helps us pinpoint our instruction and help, us with curriculum issues, such as expanding or contracting.

"It gives us a snapshot every year of how all our students are doing."

Payne emphasized that the program will allow the parents, students and educators to take a more pro-active approach rather than simply reacting to the state's standardized test results.

The data-driven program will arm the district with more knowledge so that everyone involved can help the children realize their potential. Probably most important, it will help create dialog between students, parents, teachers and administrators, Payne said.

"Everyone has hopes and dreams and we want to help all our students realize those," Payne said. "If we don't know where to pinpoint on an issue, we don't know where to place resources to get that accomplished."

The pilot launched in May 2002 and has now grown to 78 districts that span all geographic and economic levels. Project SOAR now represents approximately 25 percent of Ohio's students in grades 3 through 8.

"With the addition of these new school districts, we are able to provide hundreds of educators with a valuable tool to measure and evaluate student progress from year-to-year," Jim Mahoney, executive director, Battelle for Kids, said in a written release.

"The information provided by value-added is helping educators target their instruction more effectively and helping ensure that all Ohio students achieve at higher levels and gain the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in life."

A data analysis measure will become an official part of Ohio's education accountability system during the 2007-08 school year.

"Three years from now it will be embedded into the system. By getting in early, we can not only early our children early but be on the cutting edge and work the cobwebs out," Payne said.