Akron Public Schools students make gains in early literacy, closing achievement gaps

Half of Akron Public Schools third grade students tested proficient or better on the reading segment of the state English language arts tests last year, a six-point bump from the previous year and the highest percentage since at least before the pandemic.

Early literacy was a bright spot for the district on this year's state Report Card, which has not yet been released to the public, but APS administrators gave the board an overview Tuesday about what they know so far.

Akron students are continuing to show academic recovery coming out of the pandemic, but still have some ground to make up to get back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the data provided at the Instructional Policy committee meeting.

The district improved by over 2 points on its performance index, a measure of every student in the district's scores on state tests, Assistant Superintendent and Chief of Academics Tamea Caver said. The district gained about the same amount last year. As a whole, the district still sits a few points lower than it did pre-pandemic.

The results are preliminary, Caver said, but should be finalized within the next week.

The state will issue the updated Report Card for each school and district on Sept. 12. Released every fall, the Report Card shows district's performance on state tests from the previous year, but also provides parents and the community information about absenteeism, graduation rate and readiness for the workforce.

"Right now with the results that we are seeing and the progress that is being made, we believe that it is a community effort and all of us working together," Caver said.

The state assigns star ratings in six categories — although this year, one category will not count — and gives an overall rating for the district. Three stars means the district is meeting state expectations. Less than three means students performed below state expectations, and more than three stars means they exceeded expectations.

Overall, the district received 2.5 stars last year, but has not yet been informed of its overall rating for this year. Only as part of the overall rating can districts receive half a star.

Caver said they believe APS will receive two stars for achievement, three stars for gap closing, two for early literacy, and two for graduation rate. The district does not yet have a rating for progress. That will come with the full release of the Report Card from the state. The sixth category is college, career, workforce and military readiness — expected to be a strong suit for Akron with its College and Career Academies — which will be a factor on next year's Report Card but was not counted this year.

The gap closing measure is an improvement from two stars last year. The rating could still go up, Caver said, as not all the components have been reported yet. Gap closing measures how well the district meets the needs of vulnerable students, like English language learners.

While the district expects to still receive two stars for graduation rate, the same as last year, the actual percentage of students graduating in four years increased, from 86.1% for the class of 2022 to 87.7% for the class of 2023. Graduation rate data is reported one year behind. Stats on the most recent class will be available on next year's Report Card.

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Public Schools students make gains in early literacy, closing achievement gaps