TOLEDO, Ohio — The state of Ohio released its yearly school report cards for districts on Friday.
People can now check to see how their school district is ranked and rated in Ohio School Report Cards, based on the state's assessment of how schools performed last school year.
Toledo Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in northwest Ohio with more than 20,000 students, received an overall score of 2.5 for the 2022-2023 school year.
For 2021-2022, the district received a 2, making this report an increase.
The report cards are required by law and scores are based off five different components: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy.
The district's highest ranked category is progress with 3, meaning it met student growth expectations. However, that is down from its 4-star progress rating last year.
The district is below state standards in achievement and closing the gap: achievement is rated at 2 stars as it was last year, but one star down in closing the gap.
In graduation and early literacy, TPS scored 1 star, which is the same as 2022-2023 in both categories.
Toledo Public Schools chief of educational development, Jim Gault, said chronic absenteeism is contributing to the district's lack of success in those categories. He said the district is working on this by implementing new programs to get students to come to class.
"We have to meet the needs of all of those children, so providing transportation, providing free breakfast, providing free lunch takes away barriers that can prevent learning," Gault said. "So as we meet the social and emotional needs of our children, and the physical needs of our children, continuing to work our plan around educating them, we will continue to see results."
The low ranking in early literacy is not just a problem for TPS, but also an issue for Perrysburg's school district.
The district received an overall score of 5 stars, which is no change from the previous year. However, reading continues to be a challenge.
Early literacy looks at the reading improvement and proficiency of students in kindergarten through third grades.
While Perrysburg scored 5 stars in achievement, progress, graduation and gap closing, the district received a 4 in early literacy, which is an increase from last year's 3-star rating.
The superintendent of Perrysburg Local Schools, Tom Hosler, said he's happy with the improvement in early literacy, but it's still an issue they're hoping to address this year.
"We've invested in the last year in programs that we know are going to make a huge difference in this area," Hosler said. "So one of the challenges with making changes is we get the results and these are last year's results. So we've already began to make adjustments so next year we'll continue to see those changes and improvements."
One of those improvements includes a foundational reading core program for grades K through 3 that focuses on letter sounds, phonics, fluency and comprehension.
The district is also now providing full day kindergarten for everyone, which the superintendent said will hopefully increase its rating in early literacy.
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