How did Akron Public Schools perform on report card compared to other Ohio urban schools?

The Ohio Report Cards are out — but how does Akron Public Schools rank amongst its peers?

In graduation rate, Akron leads the way. For chronic absenteeism, the district is in the middle of the pack.

Compared to the other Big 8 districts, a group of Ohio school systems that face similar demographics and challenges, Akron largely performed well on this year's report card.

The Big 8 districts are: Akron Public Schools, Canton City Schools, Cleveland Municipal School District, Cincinnati Public Schools, Columbus City Schools, Dayton City School District, Toledo City School District and Youngstown City Schools.

Here's how each district performed on five key indicators: overall stars received, performance index, third grade reading proficiency, four-year graduation rate and chronic absenteeism.

Overall stars received

The state gives each district an overall rating on a scale of one to five stars, with half-stars possible. Three stars equaled meeting state expectations. Less than three stars means the district underperformed. More than three stars means the district performed above expectations.

Cleveland: 3 stars

Akron: 2.5 stars

Canton: 2.5 stars

Cincinnati: 2.5 stars

Toledo: 2.5 stars

Columbus: 2 stars

Dayton: 2 stars

Youngstown: 2 stars

Performance Index

The performance index is a measurement of all the districts test scores combined into one number. The higher the index, the better students in that district performed on state tests.

Cincinnati: 66.1

Akron: 63.4

Canton: 58.5

Toledo: 57.9

Columbus: 57.1

Cleveland: 55.8

Youngstown: 54

Dayton: 53.3

Proficiency in third grade reading

The percentage of students who tested proficient on the reading portion of the English language arts test is one of the factors in the district's overall early literacy score.

Cincinnati: 58.3%

Akron: 50.7%

Canton: 46.7%

Columbus: 42.0%

Dayton: 40.6%

Youngstown: 40.2%

Toledo: 39.0%

Cleveland: 35.8%

Four-year graduation rate

The graduation rate is reported a year behind, so the four-year rate reflected on this fall's report card is for the Class of 2023.

Akron: 87.7%

Youngstown: 85.9%

Cincinnati: 82.5%

Columbus: 78.3%

Cleveland: 75.3%

Toledo: 75.3%

Canton: 73.7%

Dayton: 72.3%

Chronic absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism measures the percentage of students who miss at least 10% of instructional time, equivalent to 18 days of the school year. The numbers skyrocketed after the pandemic and have been stubbornly high since, but some districts have started to see their numbers come down. A lower percentage in this category is better.

Canton: 38.5%

Toledo: 41.4%

Cincinnati: 43.5%

Akron: 44.7%

Dayton: 45.1%

Cleveland: 51.5%

Columbus: 54.2%

Youngstown: 58.6%

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: How did Akron Public Schools perform on report card compared to other Ohio urban schools?