CMSD Sees Gains In K-3 Literacy And Graduation Rate On 2015 State Report Card

State Report Cards released by the Ohio Department of Education today show progress in two important areas for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District:  K-3 literacy and on-time graduation. The District’s K-3 literacy rate grew by 4.2%, a measure that CEO Eric Gordon calls “significant” for a large urban district. Although CMSD would have improved its rating to a D on the scale used by the Ohio Department of Education last year, the state raised its passing rate for this year’s class, dropping CMSD’s score to an F, despite the District’s gains this year. “Even though state tests change from year to year and make it difficult to make the apples-to-apples comparisons we can see on the more consistent NAEP (Nation’s Report Card) tests, we are encouraged by the gains we are seeing in grades K-3 and by our gains in the most stable measure of our growth--a record-high graduation rate,” said Gordon.  The District’s on-time graduation rate grew from 52.1% to 66.0%--a 13.9% gain over four years.The reported graduation rate, 65.9, measures CMSD’s 2013-14 class and is watermarked this year due to an appeal the District filed to remove five non-CMSD students whose scores should not have been counted.  Removal is expected to improve the District’s score to 66%—a district high for CMSD that has reached a record-high graduation rate four years in a row.

“Continued growth in our graduation rate, along with gains in our K-3 literacy rate over last year,” said Gordon, “reflects the growth and momentum evident in our NAEP scores that branded CMSD the ‘fastest growing district in the nation’ by the Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools.” 

One new aspect of Ohio’s more rigorous state assessment is the addition of the new “Prepared for Success” measure of college readiness, which Gordon said is not accurately reflected on this year’s report card because CMSD did not properly report on the new measure.

 “We own this error, as our systems were simply not set up to report to the state information about our students’ participation in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework and AP tests,” said Gordon. “Our college prep courses were not consistently titled across our large district to clearly differentiate between Honors and AP courses for this new measure on the State Report Card.” 

Gordon said many AP courses were therefore mistakenly recorded in State reports as a zero—a problem of how courses were coded that was caught and has since been addressed to ensure AP courses in high schools across the city are fully counted at CMSD. 

While changes like this, and a far more rigorous assessment, may make it more difficult for Ohio districts to show gains on this year’s report card, Gordon said he feels CMSD gained in far more ways than in its literacy scores and graduation rate. 

“We believe in accountability,” said Gordon. “Even before the ODE added a college readiness measure on this report card, we in Cleveland had already put the Higher Education Compact in place to track and report on our students’ college readiness.” 

With a new state report card, CMSD now has a K-3 literacy measure on which to build, he said, and a college readiness pathway that will inspire further growth and graduation figures he has every faith will continue to rise. 

“We believe the State is refining its practices and looking at the right things,” said Gordon. “We will continue to look closely at this and at other measures of our work and will adjust our practices to align with the higher expectations we have already imposed on our own district under The Cleveland Plan.”