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CH-UH Announces Report Card Gains For 2025-2026

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CH-UH Announces Report Card Gains For 2025-2026
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District is exceeding state standards in secondary school performance, in addition to celebrating four-star ratings for its high school and both middle schools and an overall score of 3.5 on the 2025-2026 Ohio state report card.
 
The state report card includes performance information provided by schools and districts, including academic, financial, and student opportunities. Some of this data is then combined into six components that receive star ratings from 1-5. Information on the star descriptors can be found here.
 
Key takeaways for the 2025-2026 CH-UH Schools state report card:
  • 80% of CH-UH Schools are either meeting or exceeding state standards. All CH-UH secondary (middle and high) schools are exceeding state standards.
  • The District either met, exceeded, or significantly exceeded state standards in each report card component.
  • The District maintained its component scores (separate from star ratings) in two report card components and increased its scores in four report card components: Achievement, Gap Closing, Graduation Rate and Progress.
  • The District continues its graduation rate increase, with a weighted rate of 93.0%.

 

Graduation Rate

The Graduation Component is a measure of the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate and the five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.
 

District star rating: 3 (maintained from 2024-2025)

  • The District has a weighted graduation rate of 93.0%, which is an increase from last year’s 92.4%. This is the highest weighted rate for graduation that the District has earned since the state report card was implemented in its current star-rating format.
  • The District currently has a four-year graduation rate of 92.1% for students who entered the 9th grade in the 2021-2022 school year and graduated in 2025. This is an increase from last year’s 90.2%. 
  • The District currently has a five-year graduation rate of 94.3%. The five-year graduation rate applies to students in the class of 2024 who graduated within five years. This is a decrease from last year’s 95.7%.
“Our staff at all grade levels should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. The hard work and commitment to student success is evident. We remain focused on our students’ post-secondary outcomes and will build upon the success of the Heights High School Class of 2026, which earned a collective $15.2 million in college scholarships,” said CH-UH Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby.

Gap Closing

The Gap Closing Component shows how well schools and districts are meeting the performance expectations for students in English language arts, math, and graduation. It also measures how well schools and districts are reducing chronic absenteeism, supporting English learners to increase language proficiency, identifying gifted students, and providing gifted services to those gifted students.
 

District star rating: 5 (increased one star from 2024-2025) 

In 2016, CH-UH implemented an Educational Equity Policy, the first of its kind in Cuyahoga County. Educational equity addresses the policies, practices, programs, personnel and resources required to ensure access to educational opportunity and achievement for all students. A 5-star rating indicates that the District is significantly exceeding state standards.
 
Included in the Gap Closing component is the Gifted Performance Indicator, which measures the opportunities provided to and performance of gifted students. The District scored significantly well in two of the three elements.
 
“The Gifted Education team in CH-UH has been working incredibly hard to ensure students are identified, receive appropriate services, and are successful in the classroom,” said Kirby.
“The data also show that the achievement gap between white students and black students is closing, while student achievement for both groups continues to increase,” said Kirby. “This is a reflection of our commitment to equitable educational practices in our school district.”
Additionally, English Learners showed great improvement from 24-25 to 25-26, evident in the District’s perfect score in that measure.
 

Early Literacy

The Early Literacy Component is a measure of reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
 

District star rating: 3 (maintained from 2024-2025)

By the end of the 2025-2026 school year, 68.9% of third graders were reading at or above grade level, up from 64% in 2024-2025. This is the District’s highest proficiency percentage since the pandemic.
“I want to thank our teachers for their diligent work with our youngest learners to set them up for academic success beyond third grade,” said Kirby.
Ensuring success in early literacy begins before a child comes to kindergarten. All three of the District’s preschool programs boast Gold ratings, the highest possible, from Ohio’s Department of Children & Youth.
 

Achievement  

The Achievement Component measures students' academic achievement using each level of performance on Ohio's State Tests.
 

District star rating: 3 (increased one star from 2024-2025)

The calculation includes performance on the following assessments: English language arts (grades 3-8), Math (grades 3-8), Science (grades 5, 8), English language arts II, Integrated Math I and II, Geometry, Algebra I, Biology, American History, American Government, and approved substitutes using performance on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate assessments.
 
“Our high school students improved in all but one tested subject area this year compared to last year,” noted Kirby. “Additionally, elementary and middle school students improved in 12 out of the 14 tested subject areas across grade levels.”
“This is a testament to their hard work, as well as their teachers’ strategic and collaborative efforts to support student growth.”
Within the Achievement component is the Performance Index, which measures the test results of every student, not just those who score proficient or higher. The District’s PI score for 2025-2026 was 79, an increase from the previous year’s 74.6 and the highest PI in six years.
 

Progress

The Progress Component measures the amount of growth made by groups of students compared to students like them across the state. The overall value-added composite combines growth across all subjects and grades at the school or district for the past three years.
 

District star rating: 4 (increased one star from 2024-2025)

Academic growth is measured by looking at the current achievement compared to prior achievement results on Ohio’s State Tests. The District’s 2025-2026 scores indicate that CH-UH students are growing more than their counterparts in the state of Ohio in all subject areas. Teachers and building leadership teams monitor student progress over the course of the year, making needed adjustments to support student learning and growth.  These consistent structures ensure that each student gets the support that they need to succeed. 
 
In the 2025-2026 school year, the District continued in its implementation of a new K-12 math curriculum, ensuring there are high-quality instructional materials in every classroom. In addition, teachers deepened their focus on writing as they engaged in the third year of implementation of the ELA curriculum.
 
“Educators have been able to participate and lead meaningful professional development to support student learning and success. I am especially excited about the Clarity for Learning professional learning that teachers committed to over the past three years, thanks in large part to the leadership of our Curriculum & Instruction Team,” said Kirby.
“Our educators’ hard work in the classroom is evident, and we will be seeking out models of success at all levels that we can use in our continued professional learning,” said Kirby.

College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness

The College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness Component measures how well-prepared Ohio's students are for all future opportunities.
 

District star rating: 3 (maintained from 2024-2025)

Measures in this component include industry-recognized credentials, honors diplomas, AP exam scores, dual enrollment credit, technical assessment, and more. The District is proud to offer credentialed programming through Heights Career Tech, as well as opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school. Heights Career Tech earned 5 stars this year in the state report card.
“This measure represents the collective effort of all CH-UH staff members to ensure that students have a concrete plan and the tools to execute that plan as they graduate from our schools. We will continue to strengthen those pathways and opportunities for students, increasing our career and college awareness and readiness from grades PreK through 12,” said Kirby.

Overall Rating 

District star rating: 3.5 (maintained from 2024-2025)

“I am incredibly proud of our students, staff, families, and community for what we have achieved. We are on an upward trajectory and I am excited to see our students continue to grow and thrive under the support and direction of our teachers,” said Kirby.
 
“Along with our performance improvements on the Ohio School Report Card, last spring we received national recognition for our academic achievement in reading from the Education Scorecard, a tool developed by Harvard and Stanford researchers that measures academic performance in districts across the country. We are one of 108 districts across the country recognized as a District on the Rise in 24-25,” added Kirby.  
 
“We remain resolute and focused on our 3-year One Plan and Measures That Matter that are outlined in it,” said Kirby.
 
The District has a set of Measures that Matter which go beyond test scores; activities such as community service, participation in the arts, music, and sports, and an ongoing quest for learning come to mind when we imagine a Heights graduate who is ready to become a responsible, caring and successful citizen.
“We will continue forward, focused on our CH-UH mission: to provide a challenging and engaging education to prepare all our students to become responsible citizens and succeed in college and career,” said Kirby.
Building Scores on the 25-26 Report Card
 
Gap Closing
  • Earning 5 stars, significantly exceeding state standards:
    • Baumgardner, Heights High, Roxboro Elementary, Roxboro Middle
  • Earning 4 stars, exceeding state standards:
    • Boulevard, Canterbury, Fairfax, Noble
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards:
    • Gearity
Progress
  • Earning 5 stars, significantly exceeding state standards:
    • Heights High
  • Earning 4 stars, exceeding state standards: 
    • Baumgardner, Roxboro Middle
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards: 
    • Boulevard, Fairfax, Gearity
Achievement
  • Earning 4 stars, exceeding state standards:
    • Canterbury, Roxboro Elementary
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards: 
    • Boulevard, Fairfax, Heights High, Noble, Roxboro Middle
Early Literacy
  • Earning 4 stars, exceeding state standards:
    • Fairfax, Oxford, Roxboro Elementary
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards: 
    • Canterbury
Graduation
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards: 
    • Heights High
College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness
  • Earning 3 stars, meeting state standards: 
    • Heights High
 
Overall building star ratings
  • Baumgardner Middle School: 4
  • Boulevard Elementary School: 3.5
  • Canterbury Elementary School: 3.5
  • Cleveland Heights High School: 4
  • Fairfax Elementary School: 4
  • Gearity Professional Development School: 3
  • Noble Elementary School: 2.5
  • Oxford Elementary School: 2.5
  • Roxboro Elementary School: 4
  • Roxboro Middle School: 4
 

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