TOLEDO, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce released its annual school district report cards Friday, offering insight into the quality of education locally and state-wide.
ODE used the same scale during the 2023-2024 school year as it did the previous year, offering a year-to-year comparison across the state. ODE scored schools out of five stars, with five being the highest.
For the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, ODE did not provide overall reports because of complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, school districts received a letter rating on a scale of A-F, similar to a student report card.
According to the ODE, the purpose of the report cards is to "provide parents, caregivers, community members, educators, and policymakers with valuable information about school performance, identify areas for improvement, and celebrate achievements."
In a press release issued along with the results, the department celebrated a drop in chronic absenteeism from 30.2% in 2021-2022 to 25.6% in 2023-2024.
How scoring works
Each district is scored on five components: achievement, progress, gap closing, early literacy and graduation.
Score are given to a district/school based on how well they fulfill requirements, and then those points are translated into stars. For example, greater than or equal to 4.125 points (which are calculated by taking a weighted average of all the scored components) equals 5 stars.
The components
Achievement measures how well students performed on state tests throughout the year in a variety of subjects in grades 3 through high school. Thresholds of maximum points earned in academic performance determine how many stars a district receives. According to the ODE guide to the 2024 report card, the achievement component accounts for the "level of achievement of every student, not just whether they score a proficient level based on the test score".
The progress component measures the changes in achievement schools see from year-to-year. The 2024 guide reads, "Academic growth is measured by looking at the current achievement compared to prior achievement results on Ohio's State Tests."
According to the ODE, "gap closing" measures reduction in the educational gap for student subgroups, graduation measures the four-year and five-year graduation rate and early literacy measures reading proficiency in K-3 grades.
The Early Literacy component measures reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
Lastly, the graduation component measures the four and five-year graduation rate in a school district.
The rankings have important qualitative descriptions. For both components, the number of stars awarded have descriptions that are crucial to understanding the rankings. All of the components are measured by the same criteria as the achievement component, with specifications for their particular component (i.e. meets state standards of graduation, early literacy, etc.), while progress component is measured by an "evidence" criteria.
They are as follows:
Achievement component
Five stars: District significantly exceeds state standards
Four stars: Exceeds state standards
Three stars: Meets state standards
Two stars: Needs support to meet standards
One star: Needs significant support to meet standards
Progress component
Five stars: Significant evidence the district exceeded student growth expectations by a large magnitude
Four stars: Significant evidence the district exceeded student growth expectations
Three stars: Evidence the district met student growth expectations
Two stars: Significant evidence the district fell short of student growth expectations
One star: Significant evidence the district fell short of student growth expectations by a larger magnitude
Weighted components
The ODE uses a weighted method to determine a district's overall rating. Moreover, the actual number of stars awarded to a district is different from the raw average. They are weighted with the following percentages:
- Achievement: 28.601%
- Progress: 28.601%
- Graduation Rate: 14.266%
- Gap Closing: 14.266%
- Early Literacy: 14.266%
Northwest Ohio district grades
Below are the report cards for the 10 Ohio districts included in the WTOL Big 11 schools, plus Ottawa Hills, located in Lucas County. If your school district is not listed, you can look them up here.
Anthony Wayne
Achievement component: 5 stars
Progress component: 3 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Previous year's rating: 4.5 stars
Bowling Green
Achievement component: 4 stars
Progress component: 5 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Previous year's rating: 4 stars
Findlay
Achievement component: 3 stars
Progress component: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
Overall Rating: 4 stars
Previous year's rating: 4.5 stars
Maumee
Achievement component: 4 stars
Progress component: 3 stars
Gap closing: 4 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 4 stars
Previous year's rating: 4 stars
Oregon
Achievement component: 4 stars
Progress component: 4 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
Overall Rating: 4 stars
Previous year's rating: 4 stars
Ottawa Hills
Achievement component: 5 stars
Progress component: 5 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 5 stars
Overall Rating: 5 stars
Previous year's rating: 5 stars
Perrysburg
Achievement component: 5 stars
Progress component: 5 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 5 stars
Previous year's rating: 5 stars
Springfield Local
Achievement component: 3 stars
Progress component: 3 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 3 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
Overall Rating: 3 stars
Previous year's rating: 4 stars
Sylvania
Achievement component: 4 stars
Progress component: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Previous year's rating: 4.5 stars
Toledo Public
Achievement component: 2 stars
Progress component: 3 stars
Gap closing: 2 stars
Graduation: 1 star
Early literacy: 1 star
Overall Rating: 2.5 stars
Previous year's rating: 2.5 stars
Washington Local
Achievement component: 2 stars
Progress component: 4 stars
Gap closing: 4 stars
Graduation: 2 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars
Previous year's rating: 2.5 stars
Northwest Ohio
Here are some takeaways from the above list of schools:
Average "Overall Rating" from all listed schools: 3.95
2022 - 2023 Average "Overall Rating": 3.95
Highest "Overall Rating" of listed schools: Perrysburg and Ottawa Hills
Lowest "Overall Rating" of listed schools: Toledo Public
You can search for your school district's performance by clicking here.
Statewide results
On the state level, the most common score for a district was 3.5 stars, with 135 districts receiving that score. No districts received 0 stars, 1 district received 1.5 stars and 68 districts received 5 stars.
The component most districts excelled in was graduation, with 41.6% of them receiving 5 stars in that area.
In a press release, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine lauded the state's new efforts to combat literacy struggles with the implementation of "The Science of Reading," which takes a science-based approach to learning to read.
“Our teachers continue to make great strides in building reading skills for students, and we believe we have the opportunity to continue improving in this area once all schools in Ohio become fully aligned with the Science of Reading,” said DeWine in the press release. “We know the Science of Reading works because we know now exactly how the brain learns to read. This is especially important for our young children, because the earlier they are able to master reading, the better positioned they will be for success in every subject throughout their education.”
This year, the state said, English language arts proficiency showed "significant improvement" among elementary students.
You can read more about statewide results here.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct which district was lowest ranked, as well as to add another district.
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