[September 15, 2022] As families and education stakeholders around the state continue to examine the newly released state report card data, the Ohio Education Association (OEA) is celebrating the hard work of Ohio’s dedicated educators to support the state’s students as they continue to overcome the challenges of pandemic-era learning. Further, OEA expresses its sincere gratitude to the lawmakers who answered OEA’s calls for report card reform, resulting in the fairer assessments that were made public today.
“OEA has long fought against the overreliance on high stakes standardized tests in determining the value and success of Ohio’s public schools and students. The adoption of House Bill 82 in 2021 and other recently enacted laws that resulted in the significant changes in this year’s state report cards represent an incredibly important win in that regard,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “Gone are the misleading A-F grades, which gave an incomplete picture of a district’s performance at best. Gone are the draconian punishments for districts that failed to measure up to the cookie cutter standards of out-of-touch bureaucrats who clung to the report card letter grades to trigger state takeovers and wrest control from local parents and voters. Here to stay is a commitment to a more accurate and transparent assessment system for Ohio’s public schools.”
Among the trends highlighted by this accountability system, it is clear that Ohio’s traditional public schools continue to best serve the students in their communities. This year’s data demonstrates that the average achievement component score for the state’s traditional public school districts is 3.5 stars compared to the 1.7 star rating achieved, on average, by charter schools in the state on that same metric.
While more work is needed to further improve the state’s report card system, including major changes to improve accountability standards for Ohio’s charter schools and the private schools that take taxpayer-funded vouchers, OEA celebrates the move to a more informative star-rating system in this year’s report cards, complete with explanations about what the stars mean to provide the public with critical context. Further, OEA welcomes the inclusion of Student Opportunity Profiles in the 2022-2023 data that will be released next September. Those profiles will provide detailed information regarding what students have been offered to enhance their success. Academic and non-academic supports are essential for our students, especially as pandemic recovery continues.