Only 3 Valley schools earn B on state report cards, but educators not surprised

YOUNGSTOWN

As state and Mahoning Valley educators predicted, the latest state report cards for schools and school districts show lower grades than what many parents and community members expect.

This is the third new test in three years, and the state has raised the benchmarks for performance.

“Teachers didn’t suddenly stop teaching,” said Kim Davis, director of teaching and learning at the Mahoning County Educational Service Center. “The teachers didn’t change. Administrators didn’t change, and the kids didn’t change. Something did change – and that was the test.”

Whenever there’s a new test, it takes a couple of years before schools’ tests scores increase, she said.

“We have to respond to that,” Davis said. “We have to look at what changed and what do we need to do to deal with that. And that’s truly what we’re doing.”

There’s no one letter grade that by itself scores a district’s or school’s performance, she said.

Because tests and benchmarks have changed, comparing how a school or district performed on this year’s

report card to last year’s isn’t an “apples to apples” comparison, educators said.

Of the 45 Valley public school districts, just three – Canfield, Poland and Lakeview – earned a B on the Indicators Met measure of the report cards released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Education.

Read what that means and more about the results in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.