How did school districts fare on Ohio report cards? Columbus scores low; suburbans higher
Columbus City Schools officials publicly stated at last week's school board meeting that they expected low ratings in multiple categories when the Ohio school report cards were released Thursday.
Welp, sadly, they were right.
Out of a five-star system, the district saw two stars in its achievement rating and one star each in its graduation and early literacy ratings.
However, the district did receive three stars in the progress and gap closing ratings.
Ohio report card database: Find your school district's report card
"The annual state report card is a reminder of the work ahead in CCS, but it does not show a whole picture of what students, families, teachers, and administrators have accomplished since the return to in-person learning last year," Columbus City Schools Superintendent Talisa Dixon said.
Board President Jennifer Adair, in addressing during the board meeting what the district expected to be low scores, said that "it shows again how broken a system we have in terms of where urban education sits. It shows the work we have to do to make systematic change."
She added that it's important as adults to change how they interpret the state report cards "because our adult behavior makes our children feel bad."
"It diminished their hope when different stars come out, and we see it's not what our suburban friends are doing," Adair said. "It just makes us know we have a lot more to do."
The report cards are available at education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Report-Card-Resources.
If a district has a one-star rating, Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said it’s important to look into what underlying factors could be at play, such as chronic absenteeism.
“We need to look at all of this data understanding that even last year we were in a period of high level of disruptions (due to COVID-19),” DiMauro said.
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said the report cards show students need more support to bounce back from the learning disruptions brought on by the pandemic and remote learning over the past few years.
“While we believe the report cards could be more useful if they were less dependent on standardized test scores, they are helpful in determining where there are gaps that need to be addressed,” Cropper said.
More:How to read your school's state report card
Columbus City Schools report card: Where they fall flat
According to the Ohio Department of Education, the achievement rating represents student performance on state tests and how well they performed on those tests overall. A two-star rating is described by the state as scores "greater than or equal to 50%, but less than 70% of max score." It's also described as a district that "needs support to meet state standards in academic achievement."
The early literacy rating measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade, and the graduation rating covers a district's four-year and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.
For early literacy, a one-star rating states that a district "needs significant support to meet state standards in early literacy." The rating is measured through a combination of third grade reading proficiency, the percentage of students who move on to the fourth grade and how well a district provides support for struggling readers using two consecutive years of data.
A one-star graduation rating is issued for districts with graduation rates of less than 84% and which need "significant support to meet state standards in graduation rates."
“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,” Ohio Department of Education Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction Stephanie Siddens said.
Russell Brown, Columbus City Schools' chief performance officer, said during the recent board meeting that the district was aiming to get a second star for a graduation rate of 84% in the 2024-2025 school year.
"To get a third star, you have to hit 90%," Brown said then. "That's a very ambitious target and that's going to take a while to get to for us."
Columbus wasn’t the only major urban district to receive one-star ratings. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and Akron all got one-star rankings for the the graduation component star rating. Cleveland, Akron and Toledo also got one-star rankings for the early literacy component.
Columbus City Schools report card: Where they meet the middle
While board members expected a one- to two-star rating in growth, the district did see a three-star rating in its progress category, which includes a district's growth index.
A three-star rating is described by the Ohio Department of Education as "evidence that the district met student growth expectations."
The category tracks how well kids are doing year-over-year as opposed to scores on statewide exams. It's shown up on report cards in previous years but has slightly changed this year as high-achieving districts had been penalized in the past for not progressing when students already exceeded statewide achievement standards.
Furthermore, Columbus City Schools also saw a three-star rating in its gap closing component, which means that it "meets state standards in closing educational gaps." That includes measures in chronic absenteeism improvement, English language proficiency improvement and other subject growth and achievement by different student subgroups.
In the district's prepared statement, Dixon included information she said were positives that were not in the report card. This included the district seeing double-digit growth in English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency in the third and fourth grades (from 23% to 33.5% and 25.4% to 36.8% respectively), an increase in fourth grade math proficiency, and the four-year graduation rates being around 80% and the five-year graduation rates at 84%.
More:Leaky roofs, water problems plague some Columbus schools
How some other Greater Columbus districts scored
Other school districts in Franklin County and surrounding counties saw high ratings, with many seeing full five-star ratings in various categories.
“There are correlations between wealth and the resources that districts have and those ratings,” DiMauro said. “I would caution against ever using the word perfection. It doesn't matter where you are, there are always room for improvements.”
Twelve Ohio school districts — including New Albany-Plain Local Schools, Olentangy Local Schools and Upper Arlington City Schools — saw five-star ratings in every category.
“We expect students to achieve at high levels on assessments, and these results are just one benchmark that we will use to guide our improvement in order to provide the quality and rigor that our students deserve and our community expects,” New Albany-Plain Local Schools Superintendent Michael Sawyers said.
Other districts, like Whitehall and Reynoldsburg, had a mix, with low and high scores in various categories.
“What that data says to us, is that our kids learn best when they are in front of caring adults,” Whitehall City Schools Superintendent Sharee Wells said. “We are most proud of our 5-star rating and gap closing. Although we have a lot of work still left to do, this report card gives a lot to build upon and celebrate.”
Here's how some Greater Columbus school districts scored:
Bexley
Achievement component star rating: 5
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Canal Winchester
Achievement component star rating: 3
Progress component star rating: 4
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Dublin
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Gahanna-Jefferson
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 4
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Grandview Heights
Achievement component star rating: 5
Progress component star rating: 3
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 4
Groveport Madison
Achievement component star rating: 2
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 4
Graduation component star rating: 1
Early literacy component star rating: 2
Hamilton
Achievement component star rating: 3
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 4
Graduation component star rating: 2
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Hilliard
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 3
Early literacy component star rating: 3
New Albany-Plain
Achievement component star rating: 5
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 5
Licking Heights
Achievement component star rating: 3
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 2
Olentangy
Achievement component star rating: 5
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 5
Pickerington
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Reynoldsburg
Achievement component star rating: 2
Progress component star rating: 2
Gap closing component star rating: 4
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 2
South-Western
Achievement component star rating: 3
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 2
Early literacy component star rating: 2
Upper Arlington:
Achievement component star rating: 5
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 5
Early literacy component star rating: 5
Westerville
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 4
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 3
Early literacy component star rating: 3
Whitehall
Achievement component star rating: 2
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 2
Early literacy component star rating: 1
Worthington
Achievement component star rating: 4
Progress component star rating: 5
Gap closing component star rating: 5
Graduation component star rating: 4
Early literacy component star rating: 4
USA Today Network Ohio Bureau reporter Anna Staver contributed to this story.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio school report cards: See how Columbus and other districts rated
