Leaders in Ohio education policy are celebrating statewide gains at schools on the annual state report cards this week, with average math and English scores at a five-year high and chronic absenteeism at a five-year low.
The scores show an overall slow but steady recovery from low test scores and high levels of students absenteeism since the 2020-2021 school year when many schools moved to remote-only instruction due to the pandemic.
At Northeast Ohio's biggest schools districts, most saw their overall scores on hold steady from the 2024-2025 school year to the 2025-2026 school year.
The report card looks at a mix of metrics to come up with overall scores, including everything from graduation rates to students' performance on standardized tests. The top grade in any category, and overall, is five stars. Three out of five stars means a district is "meeting state standards." The state added a new score last year that measures how districts are preparing students for college, careers or the military after graduation.
Some schools’ overall scores remained the same despite minor changes in individual categories such as achievement and early literacy.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District celebrated a rise in its Gap Closing rating from three to four stars in a news release. Gap Closing is a measure of how schools reduce educational gaps for specific groups like students of color. CMSD also saw an improvement to its college, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness score, even though that rating overall remains at just one of five stars.
Officials acknowledged during a CMSD board meeting Tuesday that the district still has its work cut out for it on that measure.
"Of the Ohio 8 (biggest urban schools), we had the largest gains, but we're also the furthest behind," said CMSD CEO Warren Morgan.
It's long been the case that Ohio's biggest urban school districts educate the largest numbers of students living in poverty as well as the highest numbers of students with disabilities, regularly got low marks on state report card measures on Early Literacy, Graduation and overall test scores. In Cleveland, only about a third of third graders tested as "proficient" in reading. In Akron less than half of those students did.
Several notable cases of improvement locally
Youngstown City School District received three out of five stars on its report card, meaning, for the first time in the 25-year history of the state report cards, the district is now "meeting state standards."
The district is still listed as being under academic distress, but superintendent Jeremy Batchelor says he hopes that will soon be a thing of the past.
"This is historic for Youngstown City Schools, and it's a really big deal for our community," he said.
Still, Batchelor said the district has a lot of work to do to improve on all measures. Its graduation rate is up several percentage points, but that rate still hovers at 89.1%, and Youngstown again received one of five stars on early literacy this year.
Lorain City Schools, which was released from academic distress status in 2023, also saw an improvement on its report card this year, up to 2.5 stars overall from 2 stars. Lorain and Youngstown schools' gains were largely driven by an improvement on their College, Career Workforce and Military Readiness score and the Gap Closing measure.
East Cleveland Schools, which was released from state oversight late last year, maintained a three out of five rating on its report card.
Not far from Lorain, Elyria schools also saw an improvement on its overall score from 2 to 2.5 stars overall.
Early literacy change affects overall scores in Akron, Canton
The overall score for Akron and Canton schools dropped by a half star each, partly due to declines in their early literacy scores, which were already at one out of five stars on their last report card.
The state changed the way it approaches third grade literacy rankings this year. Schools no longer get credit for third graders being promoted to fourth grade if those third graders did not pass the third-grade reading test. In Ohio, students can still be moved on to the next grade despite failing tests if parents request it or they receive another exemption. That dropped Akron's overall early literacy score to 44.9%, down from 57.9%.
Akron School Board Vice President Rene Molenaur said the change in how the early literacy component is calculated "has helped us sharpen our focus on elementary literacy and identify where we need to continue improving." Just 58.3% of third graders met the criteria for promotion to fourth grade by meeting test score requirements in Akron last school year. She said the board will continue to meet and review the district's strategies on Early Literacy.
She noted the district is still posting strong scores in the Progress and College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness measures, with four stars each.
The latest on test score anomalies
52 school districts and charter schools have "watermarks" on their report cards this year that list "testing anomalies" the state has uncovered.
These anomalies could result from students completing a test too quickly; answers being changed from wrong to right in the last 15 minutes of the test or at higher rates than usual; or if a test scores are inconsistent with a student's previous performance or "estimated ability."
The state says it's still investigating the potential testing issues at schools. That includes at three CMSD schools and 12 charter schools in Cuyahoga County.
"Schools identified with testing anomalies received notifications that their report cards would display a watermark indicating that the data is currently under review," said Ohio Department of Education and Workforce spokesperson Lacey Snoke. "As it is still very early in the review process, we are unable to comment further at this time. Further updates will be provided when appropriate."
CMSD officials said they are "actively reviewing the matter" and are cooperating with the state in a release this week.
"It is the District’s expectation that comprehensive assessment procedures and testing protocols are in place to ensure the integrity of the testing process," the release reads.
Elsewhere in Northeast Ohio, one charter school in Lorain County and one in Summit County were flagged for testing irregularities. One elementary school at Newton Falls Exempted Village School District in Trumbull County was flagged, as were six public schools in Steubenville.
The state says it directed its state testing vendor to launch a "comprehensive review" of state testing data this spring after Columbus City Schools self-reported issues at two high school buildings.
