MOUNT VERNON — The 2024 Statewide Report Card has been issued by the State Department of Education (ODE.)

These report cards evaluate districts and individual schools using standardized test scores, attendance rates and other data from K-12 educational institutions. 

Districts and schools receive several scores, including an overall rating, on a one- to five-star scale.

One star means a district needs significant support to meet state standards. Three stars mean a district has met expectations. Five stars mean a district has significantly exceeded expectations.

The report cards also include an assessment of a student’s college, career, military and workforce readiness. Those assessments measure how ready students are for next steps, but do not factor into a school’s overall rating. 

“This year, nearly 90% of districts earned overall ratings of three stars or higher, meaning they met state expectations for performance,” stated a press release from Ohio Ed Updates about the report cards.

All five Knox County public schools have received their respective results.

The Knox County Career Center also received a state report card. The district receives a different report card rather than a typical public school district, with different ranking systems. 

Below we break down each school district along with comments from their superintendents.

Danville Local Schools

Overall, Danville Local Schools received a 3 1/2-star overall rating from the statewide report card.

  • Achievement 3
  • Progress 2
  • Gap Closing 4
  • Graduation 4
  • Early Literacy 3 

More information, including specific stats for the elementary and high school, can be found here. 

“As with most districts there is so much that we do that is not reported on the state report card,” Danville superintendent Jason Snively said.

Snively pointed to the culture and community of the district that sets it apart.

“Our principals, teachers and paraprofessionals go above and beyond for students and each other in and outside of the classroom,” Snively said.

Snively was pleased with the district’s overall rating, which meets the state standards. Though there’s still room for improvement.

“One challenge we have is keeping quality educators. The consistency is very important and in many areas where our academic performance is lower is due to turnover in staff,” Snively said. “We often lose teachers to the career center and larger school districts due to the ability for them to pay more. Or, many of our young teachers look to move closer to home after a few years to start families or be closer to families.

“The second thing is many of our students look forward to a career that does not require a college education, therefore their focus moves towards career and technical education and less on academic performance once they get to the JH/HS (junior high/high school.)”

Almost 50% of the district’s juniors and seniors attend the career center, Snively said, adding it’s a benefit for them and the Danville community.

Centerburg Local Schools

Centerburg Local Schools received a 4-star overall rating from the statewide report card. 

  • Achievement 4
  • Progress 2
  • Gap Closing 4
  • Graduation 4 
  • Early Literacy 4 

More information, including specific stats for the elementary and high school, can be found here. 

“While the report is important, it’s not all that we focus on throughout the year,” Centerburg superintendent Ryan Gallwitz said. “There are numerous classes that do not have state assessments such as our Ag, band, art, choir, computer science as well as numerous additional academic courses where our students do great things every day.

“I’m pleased with the progress the district has made over the past few years. The district performance index has continued to improve each year for the past four years. This means all kids are scoring higher each year. The elementary is rated five stars in achievement, the high school is rated four and half stars overall and the middle school has some of the highest math scores in the area. This is due to the hard work from our students and staff.”

Gallwitz pointed to the decline in chronic absenteeism rates as another accomplishment for the district.

However, there’s still room for improvement.

“One concern we have is with our progress rating,” Gallwitz said. “The progress goal is based upon previous test scores. Generally speaking, when you score high, you are expected to score higher the following year. Look at our elementary. We are rated five stars for achievement but we didn’t score high enough to make progress. That can be very misleading. We have a very strong elementary school!”

Centerburg Elementary received a four-star overall rating — with five stars in achievement ranking and two in progress.

Fredericktown Local Schools

Fredericktown Local Schools received a 3 1/2-star overall rating from the statewide report card. 

  • Achievement 4
  • Progress 2
  • Gap Closing 3 
  • Graduation 4 
  • Early Literacy 3

More information, including specific stats for the elementary and high school, can be found here. 

“Overall, the achievements we’ve seen in the State Report Card reflect the hard work of our students, teachers, and staff,” Fredericktown superintendent Gary Chapman said. “For instance, receiving five stars for our 98.5% graduation rate and a district achievement rating of four out of five stars are accomplishments we are incredibly proud of.

“These results highlight the collective efforts of everyone involved in our district’s success.”

However, like any district, the superintendent recognizes areas for improvement.

“Our current focus is on refining the alignment and support of K-12 literacy and language instruction, as well as strengthening the systems and processes that support our students’ achievement, growth, and overall success.”

Mount Vernon City Schools

Mount Vernon City Schools received a 4-star overall rating from the statewide report card. 

  • Achievement 4
  • Progress 4
  • Gap Closing 5 
  • Graduation 3 
  • Early Literacy 3 

More information, including specific stats for the elementary, middle and high school can be found here. 

“We are incredibly pleased with the district’s state report card,” MVCS superintendent Bill Seder said.

“We also closely examine all academic measures from a state average perspective and compare them with 20 districts similar to Mount Vernon as determined by Ohio Dept. of Education & Workforce. Mount Vernon outperformed both cohorts in all academic areas.”

Seder also praised the elementary school receiving at least four stars — with Wiggin Street, East and Twin Oak elementary schools receiving five stars.

The high school received an overall 4 1/2-star rating, improving upon last year’s ratings and ranking in the top 10% of their similar district cohort, Seder said.

For improvements, Seder said the graduation rate ranks as a top priority.

The graduation rate indicator looks at all students who were enrolled as freshmen four years ago and tracks their progress through four and five years of high school, Seder said. While the district met the state standard with three stars, we believe we must do better and are working towards increasing our graduation rate, he said.

“We also understand that there are many other measures of a district and school that cannot be measured on a state report card.  We will continue highlighting and emphasizing the measures that make Mount Vernon City Schools special.”

East Knox Local Schools

East Knox received a 3-star overall rating from the statewide report card. 

  • Achievement 3
  • Progress 1
  • Gap Closing 3
  • Graduation 5 
  • Early Literacy 4 

More information, including specific stats for the elementary and high school can be found here. 

“We were pleased to see some improvement in the achievement component, the graduation rate, and the overall rating at the junior-senior high school,” East Knox superintendent Richard Baird said. “The improvement on the early literacy component was most impressive at the elementary school. Our focus will be to continue to work on the early literacy component as well as the progress component because we know the rest of the data will take care of itself. 

“The progress component measures the growth of the students from test to test and year to year, and if we see growth within each of our children, we will improve in all areas of learning.”