August 8, 2006
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OH – After several years of continuous academic growth and a driving focus on student achievement, the Cleveland Heights – University Heights City School District has attained the ‘Effective’ designation by the Ohio Department of Education, moving up from ‘Continuous Improvement’ the previous school year.

“This District has made great strides in recent years, and this ‘Effective’ ranking is real vindication for the hard work and dedicated effort put forth by our students, staff, and families,” Superintendent Deborah S. Delisle said. “The vision of this District continues to be realized as more and more students meet the challenge before them. We will continue to build on this exciting progress and appreciate the continued support from our community, as this accomplishment could not have been met alone. We will celebrate this achievement but not lose sight of the goal before us; the students and staff of this District have the ability and drive to build on this and achieve an ‘Excellent’ ranking. We won’t rest until we do just that.”

In addition to the District’s ‘Effective’ designation, five schools are individually ranked ‘Effective,’ one more school than the previous year. Noble, Oxford, and Roxboro Elementary Schools maintained their ‘Effective’ designation, along with Cleveland Heights High School. Coventry Elementary moved up one category from ‘Continuous Improvement’ to ‘Effective.’ The remaining schools continued to show progress and maintained their designation in the ‘Continuous Improvement’ category.

The following are highlights from the 2005-2006 ODE Local Report Card:The fourth grade writing tests show continued growth. Current results show that 86.8% of fourth grade students were at or above proficient on the writing achievement test, compared to 78.2% the previous year. All elementary schools met and exceeded the 75% indicator with no school scoring below 81%.

79.3% of students were at or above proficient on the fourth grade reading test compared to 69.9% last year. No elementary schools scored below 70%.

Seventh and eighth grade students saw growth on the math achievement tests. 55.6% of seventh grade students passed (compared to 39.8% last year) and 56% of eighth graders passed (compared to 47.1% last year).

Several schools also saw significant gains.

Boulevard third and fourth grade students improved on their math, writing, and reading tests. 81.8% of third grade students passed the math achievement test, compared to 53.3% the previous year. Fourth graders improved on their writing test, with 93.3% passing (improving from 67.4%). Fourth grade reading scores at Boulevard rose from 60.9% to 75.6%.

Fourth grade reading scores at Fairfax Elementary rose to 80% (from 60.3%). Fourth grade writing scores rose to 83.3% (from 74%).

Oxford improved to 79.3% passing in third grade math (up from 61.6%). Fourth grade students scored 90% on writing (up from 82.5%), 81.7% on reading (up from 70%), and 80% on math.

Fifth grade reading tests at Roxboro Elementary improved to 86% (from 58.5%).

89.9% of Wiley sixth grade students passed the reading achievement test.

Cleveland Heights High School Grade 10 Ohio Graduation Test Highlights: Writing: 86.4%
Reading: 87.5%

Cleveland Heights High School Grade 11 Ohio Graduation Test Highlights: Writing: 91.6%
Reading: 92.5%
Math: 87%