New state report card data shows Akron Public Schools jumped an entire star rating, from 2.5 to 3.5 out of 5 stars, thanks in part to a new component that measures how well schools are preparing students for college, careers or military service after school.
The component, which is counted toward overall scores for the first time this year, has affected school districts' scores across the state, including dropping Cleveland Metropolitan School District's score from three in 2023-2024 to 2.5 stars for the 2024-2025 school year. The district in a press release said it "historically has struggled" on college and workforce readiness for students.
"Currently, only 59% of high schools offer career/trade programs, 78% of high schools offer college credit and 38% of K-8 schools offer enrichment courses," the district wrote, highlighting its consolidation plan it said will improve those measures.
The Ohio Department of Education in a press release reported the 2024 graduating class saw gains over the last year in several college and workforce readiness measures. About 16% of graduates earned at least 12 credits before graduating, while about a quarter of all students earned 12 or more "industry-recognized credential points in a single career field or a state-recognized license."
When looking at other major urban districts in Northeast Ohio, Youngstown City School District saw incremental improvement on its report card this year, from 2 to 2.5 stars overall, thanks in part to the college and workforce readiness component. Youngstown received 3 out of 5 stars on the workforce score, as did Lorain City School District. Canton City School District received 1 out of 5 stars on the workforce measure, but retained its 2.5 overall score thanks to an improvement in "progress," which measures student growth.
Cleveland schools in its press release highlighted that outside the college and career score, scores on math and high school English did increase slightly, along with other measures related to progress.
State officials said, broadly, math achievement has rebounded since pandemic-related school closures, reaching the highest level in five years, while state test scores in English language arts have also reached a five-year high, according to the state press release.
While the state reports chronic absenteeism, defined as students missing 10% or more of class time, has declined over the last three years, large urban schools continue to struggle with the issue. For Cleveland schools, 55.7% of students were chronically absent, up four percent from the prior school year, while at Akron Public Schools, 43.5% of students chronically missed school.
Akron's College and Career Academies
Akron Public Schools received the highest score of any urban school district in Ohio on the college and career readiness score, with 4 out of 5 stars.
Marcie Ebright, director of Akron's College and Career Academies, said the district has been working for decades to create schools that provide students real opportunities to learn about trades, like nursing, welding and hospitality, but also prepare them for navigating college in fields like biomedical research. The district's high schools are "adopted" by colleges and universities in the area to allow access to college credit-granting classes.
In total, Ebright said the district has 54 college and career-related "pathways" students can pursue.
"Every single one of our pathways is staffed with an industry professional," she explained. "So it's a little different than maybe your traditional high school English teacher. So when we staff, say, the fire safety pathway, we have someone who is a fire professional that's working with those students. And so they come in to teach the skill set and curriculum that the students need to be successful in that particular industry."
The district also has roughly 300 business and industry "partners" who work with the district to provide students with real job experience, Ebright said. Thirteen of those partners actually have named "academies" in schools, like tire companies Goodyear and Bridgestone.
"You may have someone in construction in the community who works directly with our construction pathway students and gives them real-world design problems. Takes them out into field sites so students can learn," Ebright said. "So the teacher in the classroom may have been teaching them how to frame out a door. And then the students go out into a job site and see that practical application of how that looks in the real world."
She said the district will continue to prioritize that kind of education, by building new partnerships with businesses and industries as time goes on.
