Report card: Oakwood again ranks No. 1 in Ohio in preparing students for success

For the second year in a row, Oakwood City Schools ranked No. 1 of Ohio’s 608 school districts in the “prepared for success” measure on the state report card.

It was one of multiple individual categories in which Dayton-area schools ranked near the top or bottom of the state report card, which was released Thursday. Waynesville, Newton and Covington were among the other districts scoring near the top of the state at least once.

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Data released Thursday showed Dayton Public Schools ranked last in the state in performance index, the most complete measure of state test performance. But there is an asterisk with that data.

The state report card says Dayton’s “Achievement, Progress and Gap Closing data is subject to change due to a local reporting error.” This news organization was seeking comment from DPS on that issue Thursday afternoon.

Oakwood was again near the top in performance index, ranking No. 7 in Ohio. Tiny Marion Local schools near Grand Lake St. Marys ranked fifth, and Waynesville, which had a very strong overall report card, was in the top 5 percent in Ohio.

FULL REPORT CARD: View results for area districts

Oakwood was the only local district and one of only nine in the state to earn an “A” in the Prepared for Success grade. Prepared for Success aims to measure how well prepared students are for a variety of post-high school opportunities. It takes into account students’ scores on ACT/SAT college entrance exams, qualification for industry job credentials or high school honors diplomas, collection of college credits while in high schools and other pathways.

Oakwood also ranked No. 1 in the state by having 77.5 percent of tested students qualify as “remediation-free” on the ACT or SAT.

Year-over-year student progress is one of the report card areas the Ohio Department of Education calls most important. Miami East, Eaton and Brookville schools all scored in the top 5 percent of the state in that category. Other districts earning A’s in that category included Beavercreek, Centerville, Miamisburg and Northmont.

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On the other end of the spectrum, eight local districts received F’s in student progress with Trotwood and Mad River ranking among the bottom 5 percent in the state.

In graduation rate, small Miami County districts Newton and Covington were among the 33 Ohio school districts that posted a 100 percent graduation rate for the class of 2017. Waynesville, Yellow Springs and Lebanon were just behind them at 98 percent. Dayton (69.5 percent) and Jefferson Twp. (77.1) were the lowest locally, with Dayton ranking fifth-lowest in the state.

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