CLEVELAND — The Ohio Department of Education released this year’s school report cards Friday morning, scoring each district and school on a variety of factors, including Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Graduation, and Early Literacy. Each factor received a score from 1 to 5 stars.
Search and browse the database below to see how your child's school performed last year:
See more school performance data and compare this year's score to last year's on the Ohio Department of Education's School Report Card website here.
In 2021, Gov. 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.
RELATED: How well did your school do? Ohio releases 2022-2023 school report cards
As a result, this is the first chance schools, and districts can compare their overall ratings to the year before since overall ratings were first introduced last year, with an overall rating of at least 3 stars, meaning a district or school meets state standards.
The following school districts in Northeast Ohio received an overall rating of 5 stars: Aurora City, Avon Lake City, Avon Local, Bay Village City, Beachwood City, Brecksville-Broadview Heights City, Chagrin Falls Exempted Village, Cuyahoga Heights Local, Fairview Park City, Highland Local, Hudson City, Jackson Local, Kenston Local, Kirtland Local, Lake Local, Mayfield City, North Canton City, Orange City, Revere Local, Rocky River City, Solon City, Strongsville City, Twinsburg City, West Geauga Local.
You can also see how well your child's school district performed last year:
See more district performance data on the Ohio Department of Education's School Report Card website here.
At Richmond Heights Local Schools, the district saw its overall grade jump from 3 stars in 2023 to 3.5 stars in 2024, and its high school overall rating climb from 4 stars in 2023 to 4.5 stars in 2024. The district opened up a new high school facility in 2021.
“Our high school is soaring,” Superintendent Dr. Marnisha Brown said. “The data reflects that a 21st century learning facility does produce results and we’re very excited.”
That’s why this fall, voters in Richmond Heights will again be asked whether or not to approve a request for funding for a new elementary school. Brown told News 5 that the current elementary school, built in 1965, has become dilapidated, and she points to the 2-star difference between the schools’ report cards as a driving force behind this levy and increase in earned income tax.
“A new building is so much more than an edifice, it’s a mindset,” Brown added. “When we came over here, it was the same students and the same staff and it opened up possibilities. Aviation, maker space, the possibilities of what could be done, the innovative programming, new teaching styles, we look forward to that in our elementary school.”
Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro told News 5 that while many students will see how well their district is doing, there is still a gap in information unknown to the state when it comes to education.
"Over the course of the last year, we've seen this explosion of dollars going to support private school tuition in the form of EdChoice vouchers," he said. "Unfortunately, despite this large increase in the number of students who are getting vouchers from the state, the vast majority of whom are already attending private schools, our report card system doesn't provide apples-to-apples comparisons."
DiMauro did warn parents that when evaluating a school or district's score, there are several factors to consider.
"The first thing I would encourage parents to do is to look at the trends within their school," he added. "How do this year's scores look compared to last year's scores? Also look at that value added component which reflects student growth. I hope that this opens up a conversation among parents and between parents and educators to identify what are those areas where there are still some gaps and how are we working together to fill those? And a lot of times it means that we have to really collaborate with parents to advocate for additional resources, additional supports to make sure the kids have what they need."
You can also view the report card for your district and districts across the state on the Ohio School Report Cards site here.
Earlier this year, News 5 Investigators found the number of Ohio families who received taxpayer money in the form of EdChoice Expansion vouchers exploded during the 2023-24 school year, sending close to $400 million in taxpayer money to private, often religious, schools.
RELATED: Ohio triples EdChoice Expansion program, sending $387 million in public money to private schools
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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