Middletown City Schools District is continuing to improve in the classroom, and Superintendent Greg Rasmussen doesn’t want the trend to end.

“We’re making good progress, but we are far from where we want to be,” Rasmussen said Tuesday afternoon while sitting in his office. “We’ve got to do better.”

Since 2009, the performance index — a rating of all test scores throughout the district, at every grade level — has risen from 81.7 in 2009 to 87.2 this year, Rasmussen said.

The number of state indicators the district has met has doubled from five to 10, he said.

Last year, Middletown schools ranked 12th out of the 608 Ohio districts in academic growth, he said. Lakota was No. 1 and Mason was No. 5.

Compared to other Butler County schools, Middletown ranked second in the four-year growth, behind only Madison. Middletown went from 80 in 2007-08 to 87.2 last year, an increase of 7.2. Madison rose 10.8 during the same period.

Compared to other “like districts” in the state, Middletown was second to Mansfield, Rasmussen said. Mansfield increased by 9.0 in its performance index.

Rasmussen said the district’s teachers are challenged because Middletown ranks low in kindergarten readiness. He said the district needs to do a better job of preparing students for kindergarten, and some of that responsibility falls on the parents, a sentiment echoed by the school board at its work session Monday night.

Once the district improves its early childhood education, Rasmussen said, “Watch us go.”

Rasmussen said he’s impressed by how the staff, teachers and school board members are working together to create a “professional learning community” throughout the district.

At Monday’s meeting, board members looked over several district goals and while the district saw growth in most targets, there was room for improvement, they agreed.

One of the district’s goals was to narrow the gap between the test scores of its students with disabilities and those without disabilities. While both scores are improving, there remains a significant gap, a trend the board members said needs to be addressed. Board President Marcia Andrew said the district is “asking for amazing growth with our kids with disabilities.”

The Rev. Greg Tyus said parents need to understand the district’s data because he feels it sometimes is penalized by what it’s “getting from the home.” He said parents should be told that they have “a direct influence on the success of the students and the district,” and that they are “valued” in the educational process.

The board also reviewed the state’s proposed new accountability system for its districts. Those six grading categories include: Gap Closing, Achievement, Growth, Prepared for Success, Graduation and Literacy Progress. The district will be given a grade — from A to F — when the system starts in August 2015.

Later, Katie McNeil, a board member, expressed concern about the overall safety of the students and staff in the district. She said the district needs to communicate to parents that their children are safe.

Rasmussen called the student and staff safety, and providing an open feel in the buildings “a real balancing act.” And because of “today’s environment” with the rash of school shootings, Rasmussen said, parents need to understand the days of every door to the buildings being open are over.