Some Portage school districts struggle to recover COVID-19 losses in Ohio report cards
Some Portage County school districts have rebounded quickly from COVID-19 pandemic losses, while others continue to struggle.
The Ohio Department of Education on Thursday released the state report cards for the 2021-22 school year, providing data on last year's test scores and other measures of student success. This year's report card highlights the successes and struggles of catching students up following months or even a full year of remote learning due to the pandemic.
This is the first year the state is using a rating system of five stars, moving away from an A-F letter grade system. Three stars is considered meeting state standards, with one and two stars indicating need for significant or some help toward meeting the standards, and four and five stars exceeding expectations.
Because of the pandemic, this year's report card will not be held against struggling districts and is for information purposes only. Districts also did not receive overall ratings this year but did receive ratings in five areas: achievement, growth, graduating rate, early literacy and gap closing.
A sixth category that measures students' readiness for life after high school will be added next year.
This year's report card highlights the successes and struggles of catching students up following months or even a full year of remote learning due to the pandemic.
A high star rating but low progress score, for example, would indicate a district had high test scores but did not improve significantly over the previous year. A high progress score but low achievement would indicate a struggling district is making significant year-to-year gains.
The stars for achievement are based on a district's performance index, which has long been linked to socioeconomics, and which combines the individual test scores of all students across a number of different subjects.
Aurora had a near-perfect performance index score of 102.7 of a possible 107.3. The only times the district's score dropped below 100 in the past five years was 2020, with a score of 81.5, and 2021, when scores bounced back to 96.9.
The district achieved the maximum of five stars for achievement and progress, as well as the other four measures the state measures.
During the first full school year of the pandemic, the district gave families a choice of attending school in person, or remote, Superintendent Mike Roberto said. A majority of families chose the in-person option, which was the only one available the following year.
"We believe the best way for students to learn is in the classroom, with their teachers," he said.
Kent has continued to bounce back from its pandemic losses with a performance index score of 84.5 of a possible 107.3. That was slightly lower than its scores of 93.1 in 2018 and 92.7 in 2019.
The district's performance score dipped to 72.5 in 2020 and 75.9 in 2021.
The state awarded Kent with three stars for achievement, meeting state standards, and the maximum of five stars for progress, which exceeded state standards.
During the height of the pandemic, Kent had a hybrid model. All students were remote on every Monday, and they went to school for two days, and two days remote, with the students were divided so they could have space for social distancing. Some students were fully remote.
"Being in classes five days a week makes a huge difference," Kent Superintendent George Joseph said
Ravenna's performance index score of 68.7 of a possible 107.3 was slightly lower than its 2020 score of 70.7. In 2021, the measure dipped to 59.8.
The state awarded Ravenna two stars for achievement, indicating that the district needs state support, and one star for progress, which the report states means "significant evidence that the district fell short of student growth expectations by a larger magnitude."
"We are proud of what’s been accomplished considering the learning loss suffered during COVID by all of our students," said Ben Ribelin, assistant superintendent for Ravenna. "We also recognize there are lessons to be learned from this report that we can build on, as well."
Ravenna, he said, did in-person, online and hybrid models during the pandemic.
"The pandemic changed everything," he said "We know that in-person learning is the best model for student learning."
He said the district is providing interventions, instruction and tutoring to close the learning loss gap, and is already starting to make gains.
"We have a lot of work still ahead of us, but we are building on a lot of momentum," he said.
Mogadore made a strong recovery in its efforts to rebound from the worst of the pandemic year of 2020, according to the state report card.
In 2021, the district stalled, matching its 2020 performance index score of 82.2. But this year, its performance jumped 6.9 points to 89.1 on the performance scale, an increase of 8.4%. The score left it just 1.4 points from the high of 90.5 recorded in 2019.
The state awarded Mogadore schools with four stars for achievement and the maximum of five stars for progress, exceeding state standards in both categories. A three-star rating indicates a district is performing to state expectations.
A phone message seeking comment was left for district Superintendent John Knapp.
See how your school district fared in the 2022 state report cards
These are the results from Portage County's school districts:
Aurora
Achievement: ★★★★★
Progress: ★★★★★
Crestwood
Achievement: ★★★
Progress: ★
Field
Achievement: ★★★★
Progress: ★★★
James A. Garfield
Achievement: ★★★
Progress: ★★★
Kent
Achievement: ★★★
Progress: ★★★★★
Mogadore
Achievement: ★★★★
Progress: ★★★★★
Ravenna
Achievement: ★★
Progress: ★
Rootstown
Achievement: ★★★
Progress: ★
Southeast
Achievement: ★★★★
Progress: ★★★
Streetsboro
3 stars for achievement, 5 stars for progress
Waterloo
Achievement: ★★★
Progress: ★★★
Windham
Achievement: ★★
Progress: ★★★★
Beacon Journal staff writers Jennifer Pignolet and Alan Ashworth contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Some Portage school districts struggle to recover in Ohio report cards
