Reynoldsburg schools Superintendent Steve Dackin says he is "not pleased" with some of the Ohio Graduation Test scores for sophomores at Encore Academy, but is confident that Academy principal Katy Myers will turn things around.

Myers updated board members Aug. 21 on her school's continuous improvement plan and shared OGT results for the past school year. According to the results, the percentage of 10th-graders scoring proficient or higher was 92.6 percent in reading; 95.6 percent in for writing; 86.8 percent in math; 89.7 percent in social studies and 86.8 percent in science.

"Part of the challenge here is to ratchet up our goals," Dackin said. "We need to get kids exposed to college credit early on. The OGT scores are minimum standard, but we need to do much better than that.

"I know the staff and Katy can do it," he said.

Myers said Encore Academy's improvement plan would focus on science and math, which is where some students are struggling.

"We do expect to reach a performance index score of 100 or greater on the report card," she said.

She said teachers have been looking at the academic data and reorganizing teacher assignments.

"We restructured our special education classes to have more one-on-one intervention and will have some special education teachers co-teach with regular teachers," she said.

Myers said students will participate in Performing for Academic Success (PASS), which will give them "lots of teacher/student contact to help students get to where they should be in their courses."

She said every student will have a 45-minute PASS period.

"We want this time to be fluid and adjustable," Myers said. "If science is where they are struggling, we want them to be with a science teacher."

She said teachers will continue to implement the state's new common core standards and are working on a literary design collaboration (LDC).

"We had a group of teachers who are trained in LDC so that they can lead other teachers," she said. "It is designed to help increase literacy across all content areas."

Myers said teachers will also emphasize partnerships and service learning.

"BalletMet is one partnership that has helped us tremendously," she said. "We are also working with Granville Studio of Visual Arts to set up a gallery space at the Academy."

She said the school will also work with the Lincoln Presenters.

"We will perform 'Our American Cousin,' which was the play Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated," she said. "We are doing it free of charge for the organization and in return, they will be collaborating with our senior class."

The Academy uses the acronym CREATE to list major goals, which include creatively identifying and solving problems; recognize knowledge as a lifelong reward; explore concepts and ideas through inquiry; adapt to obstacles, new challenges and changing technologies; take intellectual, conceptual and performance risks and effectively collaborate and communicate with others of various cultures, backgrounds and viewpoints.

More about Encore Academy is available online by clicking on the "schools" link on the district website at reyn.org.