"Work To Be Done" On CHUH State Report Card Scores

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — The Ohio Department of Education's annual report cards for school districts were released Thursday. Cleveland Heights-University Heights School Superintendent Talisa Dixon said that while the district showed improvement over last year, there was still "heavy lifting" to be done.

"Our staff and students should take pride in the improvement we’ve shown from pre-K through high school, but there is still more heavy lifting to do. We know that there are aspects of our report card that warrant further effort and continued focus," she said in a statement on the district website.

There were notable changes from the 2015-2016 report card to this year, for the district. The K-3 Literacy grade improved from a 'C' to a 'B'. However, in another areas, the CHUH Schools saw regression. The district's "Prepared for Success" grade was downgraded from a 'D' to an 'F'. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Cleveland Heights newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

Here's the district's grades for the year:

• Achievement: D
  • The Achievement component represents the number of students who passed the state tests and how well they performed on these tests.
• Gap Closing: F
  • The Gap Closing component shows how well schools are meeting the performance expectations for our most vulnerable populations of students in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and graduation.
• K-3 Literacy: B
  • The K-3 Literacy component looks at how successful a school district is at getting readers identified as not on-track, per the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, on-track to proficiency in third grade and beyond.
• Progress: F
  • The Progress component looks closely at the growth that all students are making based on their past performances.
• Graduation Rate: C
  • The Graduation Rate component looks at the percent of students who are successfully finishing high school with a diploma in four or five years.
• Prepared for Success: F
  • Whether training in a technical field or preparing for work or college, the Prepared for Success component looks at how well prepared students are for all future opportunities.

“However, the state report card is just one measure for our district--and it’s a measure that’s standardized across several hundred school systems in Ohio,” added Dixon. “CH-UH is a special community that knows the value of our public schools goes beyond a test score. We will continue to strive for excellence on these standardized measures, but we will not teach to the test."

She went on to say that the report cards were one small way of measuring the district.

"There is real work to be done ahead, and for CH-UH, we look forward to that challenge," she said.

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