The state today released report card results showing districts’ performance in educating and catching up students, and some of the largest districts in Northeast Ohio showed slight improvements, including in Cleveland and Canton.
The districts had seen student test scores dip significantly after pandemic-related school closures, but most signs suggest students results are improving. However, the report card again, as in years past, provides a stark reminder of the realities facing the state’s urban districts, with the districts teaching the largest number of students in poverty having some of the lowest scores.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in a statement Friday said the state is seeing improvements across a number of fronts, and touted the state's new program that requires districts to use reading curriculum backed by science.
“Our teachers continue to make great strides in building reading skills for students, and we believe we have the opportunity to continue improving in this area once all schools in Ohio become fully aligned with the Science of Reading,” said Governor DeWine. “We know the Science of Reading works because we know now exactly how the brain learns to read. This is especially important for our young children, because the earlier they are able to master reading, the better positioned they will be for success in every subject throughout their education.”
Cleveland Metropolitan School District in a press release Friday heralded CMSD's overall score on the state report card jumping from 2.5 to three stars out of five, which means the district meets the state's expectations.
"This achievement is a testament to the incredible dedication of our educators, staff, scholars, community partners and families," CEO Warren Morgan said. "This three-star rating represents a significant shift for CMSD as we are meeting state standards for the first time ever and continue striving towards a future of excellence. This is just the beginning of our journey as we continue our charge of ensuring every scholar in our District has the opportunity to succeed and thrive."
In general, the report cards measure students’ performance on annual tests from the year prior (the 2023-2024 school year), along with other measures. Here’s what the individual metrics are:
- Achievement: This component represents whether student performance on state tests met the state’s thresholds and how well students performed on tests overall.
- Graduation rates: Measures the graduation rate of students, adjusted for four- and five-year cycles of students.
- Progress: A metric that examines growth all students are making based on their past performances.
- Early literacy: Measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
- Gap closing: A measure of the reduction in educational gaps for student subgroups, meaning based on race, income or disability status.
- College, career and workforce readiness: This looks at how well-prepared students are for future work in a technical field, or for other work or college.
A brief breakdown of how test scores compare to the year prior for the 10 largest school districts in Northeast Ohio are below.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Cleveland schools’ overall star rating jumped from 2.5 stars to three stars from the 2022-2023 school year to last school year. The district improved incrementally on a number of fronts, including its gap-closing measure and its progress measure. Although both still sit at four and three stars, respectively.
But the school district is still struggling on the early literacy and graduation rate fronts, with one star on each level. CMSD’s graduation rate is 77%.
The Ohio Department of Education on the CMSD report card page bears a watermark that shows "misreported data" might be impacting the district's scores on the report card. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan in a press conference Friday said that only relates to an issue with testing last school year at one school, in a single classroom. He said it has no bearing on the district's overall report card score.
Akron Public School District
Akron Public Schools overall rating remained at 2.5 stars, but it did see some incremental improvements across most of its measures; most notably, its gap-closing measure jumped from two stars to three stars, and its early literacy score moved from one star to two stars. The district still has two-star ratings for progress and graduation rates, although its graduation rate did improve from 85.6% to 88%
Parma City School District
Parma City School District’s overall rating remains 3.5 stars. It saw slight improvements on most measures outside its gap-closing mark, which dropped slightly.
However, the district still earns five out of five stars on that measure. It meets state standards on student achievement but still has lower-than-average two-star ratings on graduation and early literacy rates.
Canton City School District
Canton City School District saw a slight improvement in its report card scores this year, moving from two stars overall last year to 2.5 this year. Its largest improvement was in the area of progress, moving from one star to two stars. It saw marginal improvements on some of its other scores, but it still has a one-star rating for graduation (the rate is 74.7%) and two-star ratings on everything else.
Mentor Public Schools
Mentor Exempted Village School District’s overall rating sits at 4.5 stars, a high score that is mirrored across many other wealthy suburban school districts. The district saw a slight dip in its early literacy measure, but still posted strong four and five-star ratings across the other measures.
Willoughby-Eastlake City schools
Willoughby-Eastlake’s score dropped slightly this school year, from 3.5 to three stars. It mainly saw a dip in its early literacy and progress measures, from three stars to two stars on both fronts, although its graduation rate slightly improved, still sitting at four stars.
Medina City School District
Medina City School District’s rating still sits at 4.5 stars, with four and five-star marks on all measures outside its early literacy component, which sits at three stars.
Brunswick City School District
Like Medina City School District, Brunswick's rating still sits at 4.5 stars, with four-and-five star measures across the board outside its early literacy score. That dropped down to a three-star rating.
Lorain City School District
Lorain City School district's two-star rating overall has not changed from one year to the next. The district did see an improvement in the gap-closing measure but its achievement and graduation rates dipped slightly. The district still has a two-star rating on gap-closing and progress, and one-star ratings on achievement, graduation and early literacy.
Jackson City School District
Jackson City School District's rating moved from 4.5 to five stars in the report card this year, driven by an increase in its achievement score from four to five and early literacy from three to four. The district, in Summit County, boasts fours and fives on its other metrics.
Districts under state oversight
Youngstown City School District and East Cleveland City School District have state-mandated improvement plans after being designated as under "academic distress" over the last two decades. The districts have all regained local control after a period of state control.
Despite that, Youngstown City School District's overall report card dropped from 2.5 to two this year, driven largely by a significant slide in its gap-closing measure, from four stars last year to just one star this year. The district's other scores are mostly the same, one star in early literacy and achievement and two stars in graduation and progress.
East Cleveland City School District's overall rating still hovers at two this year. Its achievement rating stayed at one star and its gap closing remains at two stars, while its progress and graduation increased from one to two stars. Its early literacy score, however, dropped from two to one star.
