CINCINNATI — Ohio has released this year's school report cards, scoring districts and schools throughout the state on a variety of factors.
The grades are for the 2022-2023 school year.
The largest school district in the Greater Cincinnati region, Cincinnati Public Schools, scored just two stars out of a possible five.
"Needs support to meet state standards," reads the description for the two-star rating.
Perhaps most concerning about CPS' report card was its one-star rating on its graduation rate, which the state says is just over 80% for four years. That would mean one in every five kids attending CPS high schools is either never graduating, or graduating late.
"Absolutely it's not acceptable, and I think it's important to also recognize that graduation rates are a year removed, so as we're talking about graduation rates from this year, we're actually talking about the school year before last," said Wright. "So it's something to look at."
Early literacy, which specifically ranked reading and proficiency improvements in reading for students in kindergarten through third grade, also earned CPS a one-star rating.
According to the state report card, CPS' early literacy rates fell at right around 58%.
You can view the report card for your district below:
"The overall data represents a district that is still recovering from the pandemic," reads a press release sent by CPS after the report card data was released. "Looking deeper into the report card data, results from last year reveal more than half of all CPS schools earned three stars or higher for the Overall rating, the District showed growth in 12 of 20 tested areas and five fewer schools were categorized by the State as requiring intensive support."
The region's second-largest school district located in Ohio — Boone County Public Schools are actually the second-largest overall — fared a bit better. Lakota Local Schools earned a 3.5-star rating and the report card declares the district meets state standards.
In overall achievement, Lakota pulled in four stars, exceeding state standards. But the district earned just two stars in the Progress category, which held their overall score down.
In 2021, Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill into law that greenlit changes to the state report card ranking system. Instead of letter grades, districts and schools are scored on a scale of one to five stars in areas including achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy.
Plans are also in place to begin grading districts and schools on their college, career, workforce and military readiness down the road and have that factor into a school or district's overall rating.
State leaders told WCPO's sister station WEWS this new system better showcases achievements and make it easier for parents to see how districts are performing.
“I think there are some real improvements in this report card,” said Scott DiMauro, President of the Ohio Education Association. "We think for far too long report cards have been boiled down to just a few components and are really tied to student test scores. We know that students are much more than a test score."
This is the first year districts and schools receive overall ratings, with an overall rating of at least 3 stars meaning a district or school meets state standards.
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