Source: Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

POLAND — As the bells have rung on another academic year, the grades are in — but it’s not the students on the hook. Instead, Mahoning Valley schools themselves are getting a glimpse of their performance as the state handed in its 2023-24 report cards.

Released Friday morning, these assessments offer insight into how schools in the Valley are faring across several key metrics, from early literacy to student progress and graduation rates.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce evaluates schools annually based on a series of metrics designed to gauge not only student performance but also how well the schools are supporting growth in areas such as literacy, preparation for post-graduation and the academic progress of historically underserved groups. Each component of the ODE’s assessment gives a one- to five-star rating for achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation and early literacy:

● 1 to 1 1/2 stars means districts needs significant support to meet state standards.

● 2 to 2 1/2 stars means the district needs support to meet state standards.

● 3 to 3 1/2 stars means the district meets state standards.

● 4 to 4 1/2 stars means the district exceeds state standards.

● 5 stars means the district significantly exceeds state standards.

YOUNGSTOWN

While Youngstown suffered again this year, having its gap-closing rating drop from four stars to one and dropping one-half a rating overall, representatives focused on the positives.

“In the recent state report card, Youngstown City Schools is honored to have five-star ratings at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School and Choffin Career and Technical Center,” spokesperson Stacy Quinones said in an email. “These institutions serve scholars with pathways to college access and career readiness, in an environment of rigorous academics and hands-on learning. Additionally, we are proud at the elementary level of Paul C. Bunn Elementary earning a four-star rating, exceeding state standards.”

Quinones added the district’s graduation rate for students with disabilities rose 9.2% from its 80.3% last year.

BOARDMAN

For new Boardman Superintendent Chris Neifer, there weren’t any surprises.

“I have looked at it. We knew what was coming, and we are excited to say we continue to maintain a four-star rating,” Neifer said. “We had one area where we dropped and one area where we went up, so we continue to maintain doing excellent things here in Boardman.”

A drop in gap closing by 2% caused the district to fall from five to four stars in that category, Neifer added.

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown Superintendent Tim Kelty said he plans on meeting with district leadership to have deeper conversations about the district’s scores, receiving a cumulative three-and-a-half stars. The district received four stars overall last year.

“We had a meeting today. We have to dive a little deeper into the meanings of those scores and how they got there,” Kelly said.

Kety refused to comment further on the scores, saying he didn’t have all the information at this time.

POLAND

Poland Superintendent Craig Hockenberry said they were “pleased” with this year’s results, noting the challenges of staying on top with a consecutive four-and-a-half stars.

“When you continue to score well year in and year out, it’s really hard to stay on top,” Hockenberry said. “There’s a whole different style of instruction and everything, there’s a whole different style that we have to work on, and there’s different things we have to focus on than other school districts.”

Hockenberry considered progress, which the district scored three stars in again, to be the “kink in their armor” because of the lack of low-performing students

“We don’t have many opportunities to move them from the lowest scores to the highest scores,” Hockenberry said. “So we’re trying to take some of the highest achieving kids in the Valley and we’re trying to move them even higher.”

Hockenberry praised the state’s new grading system, saying the one amended in 2021 to be “extremely punitive”.

“It never told the whole story; you know, you bring a report card home and you got a D or an F, you got in big trouble when you were little,” Hockenberry said. “And this gives that opportunity to grow the stars in a more positive way.”

McDONALD

At McDonald, scores remained strong in every category from last year, with an overall five-star rating.

Superintendent Kevin O’Connell said, “I am proud of our teachers for the high expectations they set our kids and our kids for working so hard to achieve those expectations.To be honest, I think there’s some areas that we still look at to want to grow, but we think the overall report card was solid in almost every category.”

One of those areas of growth will be early literacy, as it was the only metric to see a drop for the district, falling from a four-star rating to a three.

“We’ve got to keep that commitment to make sure that we’re helping any kids with reading. And basically you’re taking a look at that primary level, and you want to really do everything you can to get those kids reading on track at that early age. So we’ll double down our efforts there and make sure that we’re doing everything to support,” O’Connell said.

That effort, O’Connell explained, will include researching the data on each student, emphasizing that every students has their own “unique way” of learning. “So we’ve got to take an individual look at each student, get the data, and we’ll do different benchmark assessments on them.”

One of the advantages to the district is its small size, which gives them the ability to know their students and parents, and establish a level of communication.

“It goes back to that, it’s good old fashioned teaching and spending the time knowing your students and pushing them. And a lot of our students will tell you that they want to achieve not only for themselves, but they want to make their teachers proud too, so they work hard to meet those expectations,” he said.

LIBERTY

Liberty Local School District received a boost to its early literacy scores, going from last year’s one star to three stars. Superintendent Brian Knight said the district plans to look for trends, areas of improvement and opportunities to support students and staff.

“I was very pleased to see that EJ Blott Elementary received an overall rating of four, with an increase in our Early Literacy component,” Knight said. “Our district prioritized this area last year.”

The district saw a decrease in its chronic absenteeism rate and continues to exceed state standards with its graduation rate, Knight added.

Reporter Chris McBride contributed to this story.