Research Bites: Education in Ohio’s State of the State cities
Last week, Governor John Kasich announced that Wilmington will host his 2015 State of the State address. While Ohio governors have traditionally given their State of the State at the capitol, the address has been held outside of Columbus since 2012. This led me to wonder about education in the cities that have hosted the address ever since Governor Kasich has taken it on the road. The cities are Steubenville (2012), Lima (2013), Medina (2014), and Wilmington (2015). Here’s a quick look at the education in these four Ohio towns, district only, since just Lima has brick-and-mortar charters (two of them). As you’ll notice, Medina and Steubenville have relatively strong student achievement, while Lima lags behind. Given the sluggish student performance in Lima, it is of particular concern that the district does not have a single A-rated school along the Ohio’s value-added measure, which estimates the academic impact of schools measured as achievement gains tracked over time.
Student Enrollment (left) and % Economic Disadvantage (right), 2013-14
Medina City Schools is by far the largest and most affluent of these school districts. Lima and Steubenville are of similar size and practically all of their students are considered economically disadvantaged. Wilmington has considerably fewer economically disadvantaged students than Lima or Steubenville, though it is of similar size.
3rd Grade Reading Proficiency (%), 2013-14
Steubenville City Schools takes top honor in the percentage of third-graders reading at proficient or above on state tests. Impressively, especially given its economic characteristics, nearly all of its students reach proficiency on the most recent state test. Of the four districts, Lima comes in last place (71 percent proficient), below the statewide average.
High School Graduation Rate (%), 4-Year Rates, Class of 2013
Of these districts, Medina City Schools has the highest high-school graduation rate (97 percent) with Steubenville coming in second at 90 percent. As in the third-grade reading proficiency category, Lima City Schools comes in last place (70 percent of its students graduate in four years), below the state average of 82 percent.
Percentage of students attending a high-impact school (rated A on value-added), 2013-14
Across Ohio, about 40 percent of students attend an A-rated school on the value-added measure (an estimate of the impact of a school). All four of these cities had a smaller fraction of students attending an A-rated school than the statewide average. Lima City Schools did not have an A-rated school along value-added in 2013-14. (The city is home to a charter school that received an A rating.)
