Report cards are out for school districts in the state.
The Ohio Department of Education released grades for K-3 literacy and on-time graduation.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District received "F's" in both categories.
CEO Eric Gordon says he is pleased with the progress. He says the district's K-3 literacy rate, which measures how well schools are helping students who are reading below grade level, grew by 4.2 %. But new scoring changes means CMSD still ended up with an F grade. Gordon says the district's emphasis on preschool education and kindergarten-readiness is helping move the score in the right direction.
"If they don't come to kindergarten ready we struggle to keep them on track," Gordon said. "So first we invested in early childhood. And we have rapidly expanded 800 new early childhood seats in high quality settings. "
He also says those students who are behind in reading receive individualized plans that could include tutoring or small group instructions.
"Two years ago, we started running a summer school for our K-3 literacy students," Gordon said. "So any student who is not on track for literacy, they get to go to free summer school. And we have had really strong participation and good results."
While there is progress Gordon says there is still a lot of work to get the students up to speed.
The Ohio of Department of Education also released the grades for on-time graduation rates. CMSD received a failing grade although the rates have grown by nearly 14-percent over four years.
The State will release the second phase of the report card on February 25th.
