DPS report card rises slightly after state error fixed

Dayton Public Schools’ state report card just got a slight tweak in a positive direction.

Both Stivers High School and the district as a whole saw their grades for “five-year graduation rate” rise by one level, after a fix by the Ohio Department of Education. Stivers rose from a ‘B” to an “A” in that category, and the district rose from an “F” to a “D.”

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As the name suggests, five-year graduation rate measures what percentage of students graduate within five years of starting high school. Dayton Public Schools’ districtwide rate rose from 79.9 percent to 80.7 percent after the change. Stivers’ rate changed from 94.8 percent to 96.3 percent.

The five-year and four-year graduation grades combine to create an overall component grade for graduation. DPS’ changes were not significant enough to change the districtwide component grade for graduation, which remained at an “F,” but Stivers’ component grade for graduation did rise, from a “B” to an “A.”

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According to a note from Marianne Mottley, director of the office of accountability for ODE, about 140 high school graduates in multiple schools around the state had not been properly counted, including a small number from Dayton Public Schools.

“You had some kids whose status changed right at the end of the year,” Mottley wrote to the district. “When you reported their diploma, it didn’t get recorded in our system. It was our error, not yours.”

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Mottley said for both Stivers and DPS as a whole, the five-year graduation rates had been right on the cusp of moving up a grade level, so adding in those few students made the difference.

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