Columbus City Schools showed improvement on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce annual report cards, while suburban neighbors continued to post high marks.
CCS improved to a 2.5-star rating for the 2025-2026 school year, up from a two-star rating the previous year. Driving this improvement, the data shows, is the state's "Progress" measurement, which looks at the amount of growth made by groups of students compared to students like them across the state.
Data shows Columbus students overall student growth expectations are exceeding state expectations in English and Language Arts at all grade levels. The subjects CCS students struggled the most in are Science in fifth grade and high school Algebra..
Neighboring school districts within and surrounding Franklin County also showed improvements from the previous year. Notably, Delaware City Schools, Hilliard City Schools, Pickerington City Schools, Reynoldsburg City Schools, South-Western City Schools and Whitehall City Schools. which all saw improvements to their overall grade.
Several area school districts scored five stars, including Bexley, Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington, New Albany-Plain and Olentangy Local school districts.
Despite a higher score, Russ Brown, CCS's chief of strategy and performance, said the district is still looking to improve. He said this comes from looking at the strategies of other urban districts, which face similar challenges.
"I don't know that we necessarily look to the suburbans for that. I think we often look at other urban districts and what they're doing. Not to say that we can't learn from the suburban districts," Brown said.
Columbus Superintendent Angela Chapman echoed Brown in a statement.
“We are encouraged that the State of Ohio recognizes the progress Columbus City Schools is making and our high scores for Career and Technical Education, but we are not satisfied with 2.5 stars," Chapman said.
Cleveland Municipal School District also scored 2.5 stars overall, but had higher scores in the state's metrics for "Progress" and "Gap Closing." Cleveland, however, scored only one star on college, career, workforce and military readiness while Columbus scored three stars for the second year in a row.
Cincinnati Public Schools scored three stars out of five while exceeding or scoring the same as Columbus in every category.
Another bright spot for CCS is its graduation rate, but this was not counted in this year's report cards.
The state's largest school district achieved its highest recorded graduation rate in history at 84.6% in the 2025-2026 school year. This year's report cardsonly look at the 2024-2025 school year, which had an 83.3% graduation rate.
Brown said there is reason for optimism that the district will score two stars on graduation next year.
"That's actually the highest graduation rate that Columbus City Schools has seen since we went to this four-year cohort graduation model. And we know that that, coupled with our five-year graduation rate, will ensure that we earn two stars on next year's report card for graduation," Brown said.
Brown said the $50 million in planned budget cuts this year, which district officials contend is caused by a lack of state funding, could put the progress at risk.
"I become worried about our the ability to sustain this. It is frustrating to be in a state that you know continues to underfund K-12 education. And creates disadvantages for our students," Brown said.
Last year, CCS was near the top for area districts for a new category introduced measuring college, career, workforce and military readiness and kept its overall ratings level. Many of the suburban school districts this year improved these scores to meet or exceed Columbus.
Pickerington City Schools lagged behind Columbus's three-star rating in this category last year, scoring two stars out of five. This year, along with the district's overall grade improving to 4.5 stars, the college, career, workforce and military readiness score rose to 3 stars.
Pickerington's Assistant Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer Alesia Gillison said in a statement the results highlight the impact of the district’s ongoing focus on student learning and preparation for life beyond graduation.
“Our results reflect the collective efforts of our teachers, support staff, students and families,” Gillison said. “Growth in early literacy and college, career, workforce and military readiness shows that our continued focus on student learning spans the educational K-12 educational continuum, and we are preparing students for success beyond graduation.”
Upper Arlington City Schools, one of the county's five-star districts, scored a three-star rating in the college, career, workforce and military readiness category last year, but increased to four stars this year.
