There will be far fewer As on this year’s state-issued report cards under a new, more rigorous school rating system the state plans to start using.

Only three of the 28 school districts in Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Warren counties that received Excellent or Excellent with Distinction ratings on last year’s report cards would get an A under the new system — Oakwood, Miami East and Mason.

Last year, 382 school districts and charter schools in Ohio received the equivalent of an A, or excellent rating, but only 22 would have gotten that top grade if the new evaluation system had been in place.

Centerville City Schools, which had earned an Excellent with Distinction, the equivalent of an A plus, is now looking at a B.

“I think we have some work to do,” Centerville Superintendent Tom Henderson said Thursday. “I think it’s going to be challenging for large districts — all districts, really — to get that A rating.”

Henderson noted his district would get a B in the category of Performance Index although it received 105.9 out of a possible 120 points last year, its highest score yet.

“This is a far more rigorous system than the one currently used, and in general, grades will be lower by one or even two levels from the counterpart ratings that we have been using in our current accountability system,” state Superintendent Stan Heffner told district superintendents in an e-mail this week.

Heffner and other educators say the new rating system will give a clearer picture of how schools and districts are performing, and report cards will be easier to understand because the state will issue letter grades instead of descriptive ratings such as Effective and Academic Watch.

Ohio outlined its plan for holding schools more accountable as part of a waiver request the state submitted to federal regulators last month, seeking freedom from several provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Beavercreek, Northmont, Yellow Springs, Troy and Valley View also would drop from an “Excellent with Distinction” rating to a B.

Kettering, Miamisburg and West Carrollton, which were rated “Excellent” last year, also would get Bs.

Huber Heights, Fairborn, Northridge, Vandalia-Butler and Franklin would drop to a C.

Dayton Public, which moved from Academic Watch to Continuous Improvement on last year’s report card — the equivalent of going from a D to a C — would slip back to a D, joining Trotwood-Madison and Jefferson Twp.No school district in the four-county area would earn an F.

“Under the new system, each district and school would receive an overall grade calculated from four separate grades in the following categories: student performance on state tests and graduation rates; a school performance index; how much progress students are making; how well economically disadvantaged, minority, disabled and other categories of students are doing.

In addition to the new school and district ranking system, Ohio plans to start using national Common Core academic standards and a new student testing system beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

A simulation of how the new rating system would have affected districts and schools had it been in use last year was released by the Ohio Department of Education after The Columbus Dispatch requested it.

Under the new rating system, 74 percent of charter schools would get a D or F grade, compared with 9 percent that would get an A or B. For traditional school districts, 87 percent under the new system would get a B or C grade.

The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.