This article will be updated when information from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce report cards are made available.
The state's report cards are set to release Sept. 15, and Columbus City Schools said preliminary results show that it will gain a half-star – breaking a string of two-star results on the state's assessment of districts.
According to a CCS press release, the district is projecting to earn 2.5 stars on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) report cards, a half-star better than the two-star result the state's largest district has earned for years.
The overall 2.5-star rating means CCS still needs support to meet the state’s overall standards.
In a statement, Superintendent Angela Chapman said while the district
is pleased that results are improving for the district, "we are not satisfied with 2.5 stars."
“Every day we work to get better in helping our students reach their potential, to learn and grow in a safe environment, and to make the most of this opportunity to become tomorrow’s leaders," Chapman said.
According to CCS, it received the following preliminary component ratings:
- Achievement: 2 stars
- Progress: 3 stars
- Gap Closing: 2 stars
- Early Literacy: 1 star
- Graduation: 1 star
- College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness: 3 stars
The district also said its Career and Technical Preparatory district, which includes the district's Fort Hayes Career Center, earned another 4.5-star rating, demonstrating continued high performance.
District says internal figures show widespread improvements, more work needed
Across the district, 45 of CCS' over 100 schools met or exceeded state standards overall, the release said.
The preliminary data show 77 CCS schools meeting state standards for student growth, according to the release. State test results provide more evidence of that growth. Reading proficiency improved in five of seven tested grades, with eighth grade recording the largest increase at 7.4 percentage points. More than half of fifth graders reached proficiency for the first time.
Mathematics proficiency also improved in five of seven grades, and every tested grade sustained gains compared with the 2022-2023 school year. On average, mathematics proficiency has increased 9.4 percentage points since 2021-2022.
Chapman said the "we know the work happening in our classrooms is making a difference."
“Now, we have to build on that progress and turn student growth into stronger achievement across more schools," Chapman said.
What are the state report cards?
In 2021, the ODEW switched from an A-F model to five-star scale model was adopted, assigning an overall star rating and individual ratings for six components: gap closing, achievement, progress, graduation, early literacy and college, career, workforce and military readiness.
Each category is weighted differently, with 25% of the weight placed on achievement and progress categories, and 12.5% weight to the gap closing, graduation, early literacy and college, career, workforce and military readiness categories.
This year's ratings have minor changes in the graduation and college, career, workforce and military readiness components, which meant the state anticipated "slight increases in performance" in these two categories as a result of the changes.
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio's school report cards released today. CCS says scores are up
