No Stark County area school district received a perfect score on the state’s report cards that show how well Ohio students performed academically last school year on state tests and other measures.
That’s a change from previous years.
Last year, three Stark districts — Lake Local, Jackson Local and North Canton City schools — received a five-star rating. This year, they each dropped half a star to a 4.5-star rating. Tuslaw Local Schools also received a 4.5-star overall rating, the same grade it received last year.
Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools in Tuscarawas County and West Branch Local Schools in Mahoning County each earned a 4.5-star rating.
Stark’s largest districts saw no improvement from last year’s grade. Canton City and Massillon City both earned 2.5 stars.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce released the report cards Sept. 15.
Unlike the report cards students bring home with the A-F grading scale, the state grades school districts and each school building using a star rating system.
Three stars mean the district is meeting the state’s expectations. One and two stars mean the district performed below expectations, and four and five stars mean the district exceeded expectations.
School districts receive ratings in six categories, or components: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation, early literacy, and, new this year, college, career, or military service readiness. The latter component was tracked as part of last year’s report cards but was not counted toward a district’s overall rating until this year.
The ratings are based on the districts’ performance during the 2024-2025 school year. They are intended to help parents, educators and taxpayers understand how students in their district are doing and to identify areas in need of improvement.
Of the 23 Stark-area public school districts, nine saw their grade increase by at least half a star, while Sebring Local Schools improved from 2.5 stars to 3.5 stars. Seven districts saw their score drop half a star and seven districts’ scores remained the same as last year.
Brett Yeagley, who took over as Lake Local’s superintendent this school year, is pleased with the results. Despite the drop in the overall score, Yeagley looked at various components of the report card and saw positive things.
“We use this as an auditing tool to reflect on what areas we are doing well and what areas we need to look at,” he said. “We are striving to do our best for our kids and our community while being academically responsible.”
The district’s overall achievement score was a five, he said. That score reflects how students did on the state assessment tests.
On the other hand, the district scored three stars on the college, career and readiness component.
“This is a snapshot of the kids that graduated,” Yeagley said.
The district must provide its students with opportunities to improve their ACT scores or earn 12 industry-recognized credentials.
While students may not meet the score requirements on the state report card, many often graduate and attend college, he said.
“We believe fully in our kids and they are ready for success,” Yeagley said. “We just have to look at different ways to ensure they succeed.”
Minerva Local Schools received a four-star rating.
District curriculum director Scott Cassidy is happy to have achieved the rating, noting the district is proud of its five-star gap closing score, which measures whether students of different races, income levels and abilities meet state standards in English language arts, math and graduation.
“This indicates that we are growing all student populations throughout the school year and is something our school community is very proud of,” he said.
What do the report card categories mean?
Here’s what each category measures:
Achievement: Tracks how students in grades 3-12 performed on state tests and whether they met state thresholds. The ratings are based on the tests that students took during the 2024-2025 school year.
Progress: Shows how much improvement students have made year over year by comparing the most recent state test scores with prior state test scores. Three stars mean students demonstrated that they learned as much as they were expected to learn over a school year. Progress can be an important measure for districts with lower achievement scores because it can show whether districts are helping students catch up faster, even if they are still behind.
Gap closing: Measures whether students of different races, income levels and abilities meet state standards in English language arts, math and graduation. Chronic absenteeism, gifted services and support for English learners are factors in this category.
Graduation: Tracks the percentage of students in the class of 2024 who graduated within four years of entering high school and the students in the class of 2023 who graduated within five years.
Early literacy: Shows how well the district has helped its struggling readers get back on track, how well students performed on third grade reading tests and the percentage of third graders who were promoted to fourth grade.
Performance index: The performance index is a measurement of all the district’s test scores combined into one number. The higher the index, the better students in that district performed on state tests.
College, career, workforce and military readiness: Shows how ready students in the class of 2024 were to pursue post-secondary education, the workforce or the armed forces by using metrics such as state tests, Advanced Placement exams, military enlistment, honors diplomas and technical assessments.
Assessing the statewide report card scores
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute noted that overall reading proficiency rates statewide declined slightly from 60.9% to 60.4%, while math proficiency increased across all grades from 53.5% to 55.3%.
“No one should be satisfied with the results from this year’s report cards,” Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for the Washington, D.C.-based education think tank, said in a prepared statement. “Too many students across Ohio fall short of state academic standards, and achievement in our urban school systems remains tragic. Without ambitious efforts to improve our school systems, another generation of Ohio students will leave high school without the reading, writing, and math skills necessary to compete for the jobs of the future.”
How did Stark County area districts perform on the state report cards?
Here’s how many stars each district in the Stark County area earned this year:
Alliance City Schools
Overall: 3 stars
Achievement: 2 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 2 stars
Graduation: 2 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 67.1
Brown Local Schools
Overall: 3 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 1 stars
Gap closing: 2 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 4 stars
Performance index: 72.8
Canton City Schools
Overall: 2.5 stars
Achievement: 2 stars
Progress: 3 stars
Gap closing: 2 stars
Graduation: 1 star
Early Literacy: 1 star
College career workforce and military readiness: 1 star
Performance Index: 57.2
Canton Local Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 4 stars
Performance index: 77.8
Carrollton Exempted Village Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 4 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 76
Dalton Local Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 5 stars
Progress: 3 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 1 star
Performance index: 91.1
Fairless Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 5 stars
Performance index: 78.3
Jackson Local Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 5 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 91.3
Lake Local Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 5 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 4 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 92.8
Louisville City Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 3 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 86.2
Marlington Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 4 stars
Performance index: 80.9
Massillon City Schools
Overall: 2.5 stars
Achievement: 2 stars
Progress: 1 star
Gap closing: 2 stars
Graduation: 2 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 67.9
Minerva Local Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 3 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 79.7
North Canton City Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 5 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 91.8
Northwest Local Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 5 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 2 stars
Performance index: 90.5
Osnaburg Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 4 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 4 stars
Performance index: 77.4
Perry Local Schools
Overall: 4 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 5 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 85.5
Plain Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 3 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3stars
Performance index: 83.4
Sandy Valley Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 3 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 2 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 4 stars
Performance index: 83.4
Sebring Local Schools
Overall: 3.5 stars
Achievement: 3 stars
Progress: 2 stars
Gap closing: 2 star
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 5 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 5 stars
Performance index: 75.4
Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 3 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 86.2
Tuslaw Local Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 4 stars
Graduation: 5 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 5 stars
Performance index: 89.7
West Branch Local Schools
Overall: 4.5 stars
Achievement: 4 stars
Progress: 4 stars
Gap closing: 5 stars
Graduation: 4 stars
Early literacy: 3 stars
College career workforce and military readiness: 3 stars
Performance index: 87.5
Includes reporting by the Akron Beacon Journal.
Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: State report cards | No Stark County area school district got a perfect score
Reporting by Amy L. Knapp, Massillon Independent / The Repository
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