This year with the help of researchers from Public Impact in North Carolina we continued our tradition of conducting an annual analysis of student achievement in Ohio’s Big 8 districts and charters. State report card data were released in late August, and we released a quick turn-around analysis on Big 8 charters and traditional schools. However, this year we decided to dive deeper into the data and stagger various analyses day-by-day on the Fordham blog. This approach allowed us to develop a deeper and more nuanced perspective that a one- or two- day analysis simply couldn’t deliver. Many interesting findings emerged from the data; a few are highlighted below.
- Fewer students in Ohio’s urban district and charter schools attended a school rated D or F in 2010-11 (40 percent this year, down from 47 percent last year).
- Dayton student performance saw an uptick, with far fewer students attending an F-rated school, and more students meeting or exceeding value-added gains.
- Charter schools were some of the highest rated schools (according to both absolute achievement and growth) in the Ohio Urban 8, as well as some of the lowest rated.
- Cincinnati once again was the highest rated urban district, holding onto its “B” rating for a second year in a row. Only four percent of CPS students attended a school rated “F.”
- While 60 percent of both charter and district schools made expected growth on the state’s value-added measure, charter schools generally outperformed their district counterparts on this measure. A smaller percentage of charters (16 percent) than district schools (20 percent) failed to meet growth targets. And nearly a quarter (24 percent) of charters exceeded academic growth expectations, compared to only one in five district schools.
For more information on how schools are performing in each of the Big 8 cities check out this comprehensive report produced by Public Impact, or check our blog series on achievement in 2010-11.
