How did your district do on Ohio state report cards? Here's how to read the results

Madeline Mitchell, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has released overall ratings for its public schools.

Most schools and districts met or exceeded the state's standards, according to the newly released report cards published Thursday morning.

Sixty-one public school districts fell short of meeting state standards, according to this year's Ohio report card results.
Sixty-one public school districts fell short of meeting state standards, according to this year's Ohio report card results.

But 61 of the state's 607 public school districts fell short, scoring less than three stars overall.

State report card: Cincinnati Public Schools does not meet state standards

Schools receive star ratings on five components: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy. Another component analyzing college, career, workforce and military readiness will be scored on future report cards, according to the state, beginning with the 2024-25 school year at the earliest.

In a searchable database below, you will find the state's progress and graduation ratings for each district.

2023 Ohio school report card database

Here's a short explainer on what those categories really mean:

  • Achievement − student performance on state tests and whether they met established state thresholds, for grades 3-12.

  • Progress − the growth of all students by comparing last year's state test scores to their performance on previous state tests.

  • Gap closing − looks at several data points to assess whether student subgroups based on race, ability and economic status are meeting state standards.

  • Graduation − the four-year and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates. Five stars mean a graduation rate of 96.5% or more; four stars mean a graduation rate between 93.5% and 96.4%; three stars mean the district met the state's graduation rate standard, which is a graduation rate between 90% and 93.4%; two stars mean a graduation rate between 84% and 89.9%; and one star means a graduation rate of less than 84%.

  • Early literacy − information from third grade reading tests, fourth grade promotions and literacy improvement from kindergarten to third grade.

This year there are also overall ratings up to five stars. In general, a three-star rating indicates the school or district met state standards. More than three stars means the school or district exceeded state standards, and below three stars means they fell short of state expectations.

A more detailed explanation of what goes into the state's ratings for each component can be found online at the Ohio Department of Education's Guide to 2022 Ohio School Report Cards.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How to read 2023 Ohio report card results and a list of star ratings