Analysis of Local Report Cards: Ohio Urban School Performance for 2007-08

August 27, 2008

For the past five years, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has been analyzing the academic performance of schools in our hometown of Dayton and in other Ohio cities. We continued that analysis this year, taking a close look at the local report card data released by the Ohio Department of Education yesterday (see here).

What the data trends show us, not surprisingly but painful nonetheless, is that schools in the state's largest cities continue to struggle mightily to help students meet basic academic standards and are nowhere close to achieving the goals set by the state of Ohio or by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

This year, for the first time, Ohio's school report cards also include "value-added"-a measure of how much progress a school's students made in reading and math over the course of one year compared to how much the state would expect them to gain. This indicator helps to show us which schools are making the most significant gains with their students over time. In 2007-08, there were a few-too few-urban schools (charter and district) that met achievement goals for their students while also showing growth beyond expectations for the year. There were also a number of schools, district and charter, that made encouraging gains with their students last year but failed to meet the state's achievement goals.

But, most urban schools (charter and district alike) still are struggling not only to help students meet state expectations

» Continued

Analysis of Local Report Cards: Ohio Urban School Performance for 2007-08