Composite story
Youngstown City Schools meets Ohio standards for the first time with a 3-star report card
Youngstown, OhioPublished 17 Sep 2026
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Andre Carrotflower. CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Ohio’s 2025-26 school report cards show Youngstown at three stars for the first time in 25 years, while Cleveland stayed short of meeting standards and Akron and Canton each dropped a half star.
Ohio released 2025-26 school report cards on Sept. 15. Youngstown City Schools earned three stars overall, meeting state standards for the first time in the 25-year history of the ratings, a half-star rise from 2025. Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor called it historic; the district remains under academic distress, with one star in early literacy. Ideastream said Lorain and Elyria rose to 2.5 stars and East Cleveland held at three. Akron dropped from 3.5 to three stars and Canton also lost a half star after a change in how third-grade literacy is scored. Statewide, English and math proficiency hit five-year highs of 62.2% and 56.4%. The state flagged testing anomalies at 52 schools, including three Cleveland public schools.
Disputed opinions
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Youngstown City Schools meets Ohio education standards for first time
Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 17 Sep 2026
Facts
The district said third-grade achievement has quadrupled over five years.
East High School earned three stars.
East High School was once among the lowest-rated schools in Ohio.
Chaney High School earned three stars.
Chaney and East High Schools have merged.
Opinion
Batchelor said they have earned the right to celebrate this moment.
Batchelor said the three-star designation is a milestone but not the end goal.
Batchelor said later accomplishments begin with the foundation provided to young children today.
Batchelor said Youngstown elementary educators grasp the responsibility they carry.
Batchelor said East High School’s rating is particularly notable.
Batchelor said those supporters refused to let East High determine where it could go.
Batchelor said East High’s supporters should be extremely proud of what they accomplished.
Ohio's public schools showed improved grades in 2025-26 state report cards
Published 16 Sep 2026 accessed 17 Sep 2026
Facts
Steve Dackin said every student subgroup made literacy progress last year.
Statewide math proficiency reached a five-year high of 56.4%.
Dackin said Ohio had progress in math.
Dackin said two-thirds of graduates are earning post-secondary readiness credentials.
No Ohio districts scored under two stars, and only 38 had two or 2.5 stars.
The largest rating group was four stars, with 160 districts.
Opinion
Officials say there is still work to do on proficiency.
Education Director Steve Dackin called the literacy gains really good news.
Dackin said Ohio has not seen literacy gains across every subgroup for a long time.
Dackin said Ohio is moving the needle forward in the aggregate.
Dackin said some public and charter schools are not doing as well as officials would like.
Dackin said the flagged tests are a really small percentage.
How Northeast Ohio's big school districts fared on the 2026 state report card
Published 16 Sep 2026 accessed 17 Sep 2026
Facts
Most of Northeast Ohio’s biggest districts held overall scores steady from 2024-25 to 2025-26.
CMSD’s gap-closing rating rose from three to four stars.
In Cleveland, about a third of third graders tested proficient in reading.
Youngstown is still listed under academic distress.
CMSD’s college-and-career readiness rating remains one of five stars.
Youngstown’s graduation rate is up several points but still hovers at 89.1%.
Youngstown again received one of five stars on early literacy.
Ohio’s biggest urban districts educate the most students in poverty and with disabilities and regularly score low on literacy, graduation, and tests.
Akron and Canton each dropped a half star, partly because of early-literacy scores that were already one star.
Lorain City Schools rose to 2.5 stars from 2 stars.
Lorain and Youngstown gains were driven largely by readiness and gap-closing scores.
East Cleveland Schools maintained a three-star rating.
Akron’s early-literacy score fell to 44.9% from 57.9%.
Elyria schools rose from 2 stars to 2.5 stars.
The flagged schools include three CMSD schools and 12 Cuyahoga County charters.
Molenaur noted Akron still has four stars each in progress and college-and-career readiness.
Opinion
Batchelor said the rating is historic for Youngstown City Schools and a big deal for the community.
CMSD officials said Tuesday the district still has work to do on readiness.
Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said he hopes academic distress will soon be a thing of the past.
Batchelor said the district has a lot of work to do on all measures.
Rene Molenaur said the literacy-calculation change sharpened Akron’s focus on elementary literacy.
CMSD said it expects comprehensive testing protocols to ensure integrity of the process.
’26 report cards show ups, downs
Published 16 Sep 2026 accessed 17 Sep 2026
Facts
Youngstown, Lowellville, and Sebring received a slight ratings bump.
Batchelor said Youngstown is celebrating a four-year 90.7% graduation rate.
The literacy high followed districts’ first full year of Science of Reading, per Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.
Boardman, Austintown, Canfield, and Poland received the same ratings as last year.
Austintown Local Schools retained a four-star rating.
Boardman retained a 3.5-star rating.
Canfield Local Schools received 4.5 stars, matching 2025.
Poland Local Schools earned four stars, the same as last year.
Sebring improved a half star from last year to four stars.
Opinion
Batchelor said the district is overwhelmed with pride at the three-star overall rating.
Batchelor credited teachers, staff, administration, scholars’ work, and family support.
Superintendent Timothy Kelty said Austintown’s four-star rating reflects strong work across the district.
Neifer said the readiness gain came from project-based learning, STEAM, and life-skills courses.
Knoll said reading growth tends to slow from elementary into middle school.
Kelty said Austintown is taking targeted steps to strengthen instruction and growth.
Kelty said Austintown is proud of staff dedication and student work.
Neifer said Boardman is proud of AP and College Credit Plus participation.
Neifer said Boardman remains focused on real-world opportunities at all grades.
Steve Demaiolo said he is extremely proud of Canfield kids and staff.
Tommelleo credited students, teachers, staff, families, and the community.
Tommelleo said Poland has a tradition of high expectations, instruction, and student supports.
Tommelleo said Poland remains committed to a year’s growth and beyond for every student.
Tommelleo said work already underway will positively impact student growth.
Principal Brian Clark said Sebring is pleased with progress and growth.
Akron area schools see report card improvement, literacy a challenge
Published 16 Sep 2026 accessed 17 Sep 2026
Facts
Akron Public Schools dropped from 3.5 stars to three stars, the only Summit district to slip.
Summit County students scored better overall on state tests in 2025-26 than the year before.
Summit County districts collectively did a better job preparing students for life after high school.
Ohio grades districts and buildings with stars instead of A-F.
Ninety-four percent of 607 Ohio districts earned three stars or higher.
Barberton rose from 2.5 stars to three stars, largely on post-high-school readiness.
A failing report card comes with consequences.
Akron outperformed nearly all of Ohio’s other large urban districts on the performance index.
Hudson scored 108.2 of 110.2 on the performance index, 16th among 607 Ohio districts.
The performance index reflects every test score, not only students who passed.
Norton’s performance index was unchanged from last year.
Only Mogadore Local Schools saw a significant third-grade reading gain.
Manchester still had Summit’s highest third-grade reading proficiency at 88%, down from nearly 91%.
Opinion
Officials said report cards are only one part of Ohio’s education story.