COLUMBUS, Ohio — The report cards are in!
The Ohio Department of Education has released its 2022 school report cards for districts throughout the state -- but this year's ratings are different.
Parents will notice that schools did not receive an overall rating this year. Instead, the new report cards include several categories in which schools are ranked from one to five stars.
The categories include:
- Achievement: This component represents whether student performance on state tests met established thresholds and how well students performed on tests overall.
- Early literacy: This component measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
- Graduation: This component looks at the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate and the five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.
- Progress: This component looks closely at the growth all students are making based on their past performances.
- Gap closing: This component measures the reduction in educational gaps for student subgroups.
- College, career, workforce and military readiness: This component looks at how well prepared Ohio’s students are for future opportunities, whether training in a technical field or preparing for work or college.
"With the exception of the college, career, workforce and military readiness component, the components receive 1-5-star ratings based on performance," the Ohio Department of Education explains. "This helps give Ohio parents and schools a snapshot of the quality of education being provided to students."
"Gone are the A to F grades that were used in such a punitive fashion to label, blame and shame schools and districts," adds Dr. Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association.
So how does your child's school rank in the new report cards?
You can search for any school district in the state HERE. We've also broken down some report card highlights from a few of the largest districts within Northeast Ohio below.
CLEVELAND
- Achievement: Two out of five stars
- Progress: Four out of five stars
- Gap closing: Four out of five stars
- Graduation: One out of five stars
- Early literacy: One out of five stars
AKRON
- Achievement: Two out of five stars
- Progress: Two out of five stars
- Gap closing: Three out of five stars
- Graduation: One out of five stars
- Early literacy: One out of five stars
CANTON
- Achievement: One out of five stars
- Progress: One out of five stars
- Gap closing: Two out of five stars
- Graduation: One out of five stars
- Early literacy: One out of five stars
Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon was pleased that CMSD ranked as the top urban school district in the state. "Our achievement scores have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, but more importantly, our gap closing and our progress measures were four stars each," he said.
However, there's plenty of improvement for CMSD. It got a one-star rating in early literacy and in graduation rates. "Early literacy is low statewide and that's true for us as well. Kids weren't able to get those literacy skills while they were wearing masks and we were in remote learning," Gordon added.
But there is reason for some optimism overall in the area and the state.
"In some places, you've seen the bounce-back from all the disruption of two years ago already show its effect," says DiMauro. "And even places like Akron, where you see a significant rebound on some of the original disruption and decline in some of their measures is very encouraging."
Despite multiple categories in which Akron Public Schools received just one star, Superintendent Dr. Christine Fowler-Mack noted a key area of improvement in her district. "Some of the areas where we feel like we've made progress are in gap closure, especially with our African American males who have shown improvement."
As far as Akron's overall performance goes, Fowler-Mack added, "if it's giving a grade, its giving a grade to how our students experienced the pandemic."
“The more we understand the needs of students through the Ohio School Report Card results and other data, the better we can personalize education, focus instruction and tailor enrichment programs to accelerate and enhance learning,” Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Stephanie Siddens said. “Ohio’s education community, together with families, is working to improve achievement for students. Our charge is clear, and the work ahead remains more urgent than ever as we continue an emphasis on literacy and mathematics acceleration while providing supports and interventions to help students overcome obstacles to learning.”
See more about each of these categories in the following guide from the Ohio Department of Education:
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Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in an unrelated story on Sept. 13, 2022.