State report cards roll out five-star rating system

A five-star rating system has replaced the old A-to-F letter grades on this year's Ohio school report cards, which were released Thursday morning by the Ohio Department of Education. Each year, it evaluates the performance of every district and school building in the state based on how students fare on standardized tests. The Ohio Federation of Teachers, which represents some 20,000 members statewide, said this year's report cards demonstrate what many teachers already have observed. "Our students need more support to fully bounce back from the pandemic and remote learning disruptions in the last few years," President Melissa Cooper said. In Lorain County, Avon Schools scored the highest, with a total of 24 stars across five categories. It earned five stars for student test score achievement, graduation rate, early literacy and "gap closing," which shows how much students who are disadvantaged or had fallen behind caught up. It received four stars for "progress," or how well all students do in gaining ground. Lorain Schools scored lowest, picking up just 11 stars across all categories. "The report card is a snapshot in time and ours shows better than expected progress in key measures," Superintendent Jeff Graham said. "Our Academic Improvement Plan emphasizes student progress and gap-closing and we received high scores in those areas. I want to thank our staff and community for all of the work they put into creating and supporting the plan." In the two areas he cited, Lorain Schools earned four out of five stars, indicating that students grew past the state's expectations. Graham noted that geometry, biology and American government students at Lorain High School received the highest progress ratings possible. "We know we are moving in the right direction with our community-driven and state-approved Academic Improvement Plan," he said. "However, we know we still have a lot of work to do and we are all working very hard every day to provide the best possible educational opportunities and student care for the children and families we serve." Bob Scott, superintendent of the high-performing Avon Lake Schools with 23 stars, said Ohio's report cards were never meant to rank districts against each other, but to give educators an idea of how they should improve. The new report cards with their star ratings aren't perfect, but they are "without a doubt" an improvement over the old A, B, C, D and F grades, he said. In years past, it was often difficult to figure out why a given district received its grade. "It was almost like they had these secret formulas," he said. Scott said he is not a fan of relying on high-stakes standardized testing. Neither is Elyria Schools Superintendent Ann Schloss. "They're still having these students take tests. … That concept alone is wrong," she said. Students are capable of so much more than what appears on paper, she said — and the report cards don't reflect important developments such as learning to dribble a basketball, the quality special education services or safety. Schloss cast doubt on the reliability of standardized testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the tests were taken, some students were entering Elyria Schools buildings for the first time in 18 months and had never even met their teachers in person, she said. Moving away from letter grades is a positive step, but Schloss said she is still not happy with how report card ratings are calculated. She believes it's "hard to rely on the report cards as a valid measure" of what happens at school. The Ohio Department of Education said in a news release that report card data is intended to guide improvement, but shouldn't be considered the only measure of success for school systems. "Talking with parents, neighbors, students and graduates; browsing school and district websites; or visiting schools and meeting educators can provide a more complete picture of students' educational experiences," it said. Oberlin Schools Superintendent David Hall said he believes the five-star rating system not only provides a clearer view of what is happening in classrooms, but also has actually leveled the playing field. The 2022 evaluations are "more fair" and "less about the haves and have-nots" than in previous years, he said. Oberlin wasn't at the top of the pack. But with 18 stars of 25 possible, Hall said he was pleased with how teachers have made strides since the strangest days of the pandemic, especially in the area of literacy. "We always have work to do, but it seems like we're achieving, we met state standards," he said. Wellington Schools also showed gains, which Superintendent Ed Weber said continues a steady trend for the district. McCormick Middle School had perhaps its best year in a decade or more — it gained so much ground that Weber was surprised. But the yardsticks by which the data is judged keeps changing. Ohio legislators set the standards, and routinely put forward bills to tweak them. Ohio House Bill 82 was responsible for the most recent changes. Weber said it would be helpful for lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education to settle on a list of core values it wants to foster, and give schools time to work on them. "It takes institutional changes, almost a decade, to really get a culture going, or if you're embedding a new curriculum to really get the teachers proficient," he said. "It takes a couple years to learn it and a couple more to get good at it — the longer we can stay with a central core of measurement, the better Ohio schools can do." Changes are being phased in over the next several years to the report cards. Next fall, expect to see overall star ratings for districts and half-stars added to the mix, and a new category for how well students are prepared for life after graduation. Across Ohio last spring there were 134,807 graduating seniors. The state report cards didn't grade districts on their preparedness, but supplemental reports showed it deemed 44,930 — that's two-thirds — to be unprepared for college, the workforce or military service. It also said 78 percent of graduates needed remediation due to SAT or ACT scores, while about 18 percent earned honor diplomas. Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.