In Search of a City: Schools That Rock
Once again, the Columbus City School District has more schools rated effective, excellent or excellent with distinction than any other district in central Ohio. Columbus City Schools excel because of generous tax levy support, high-quality staffing, top-rate facilities, and the leadership of Superintendent Gene Harris.
The state grade for the District as a whole, based on standardized tests, is “continuous improvement.” This grade is an average for all schools and reveals nothing about individual schools. Columbus is a huge district with 127 rated schools and a disproportionate number of students who speak limited English, are poor, or have learning disabilities. Schools with concentrations of poverty or high enrollments of students with language or learning barriers tend to struggle to meet testing standards despite excellent instruction.
Columbus also has many schools that are economically and culturally integrated. These schools tend to perform as well or better than their suburban counterparts as shown by standardized test scores.
Given the failure rate of suburban school levies, perhaps more middle-class parents will discover what city parents already know. Families who choose to live in a city neighborhood have great educational options for their children.
Tags: Columbus Public Schools
September 1st, 2009 at 8:18 am
If Columbus Public Schools is a huge system now (”…Columbus is a huge district with 127 rated schools and a disproportionate number of students who speak limited English, are poor, or have learning disabilities”), I’d love to know what word you would use to describe it in 1980, when the district had 100,000 students, or, twice as many students as today.
The sad thing is, the system has shrunk 50% in the last 30 years, and graduation rates have fallen below 70%. Suburbabn schools far outpace this rate. CPS has gotten better, but a significant cost increase. Soon they will also face the same funding problems surburban schools face, so I wouldn’t gloat too much. People can only pay so much in taxes. Soon, Columbus residents will feel the pain as well.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:31 am
Hi Cleve. It’s nice to see an image of our beautiful historic West High School, which is at the eastern boundary of Westgate neighborhood. I am happy that we continue to be served by the historic neighborhood school instead of seeing our students bussed out to new “campuses” at the fringe.
September 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Don’t forget that in 1980 there weren’t charter schools full of former city school students. These schools were formed after NCLB came to be and parents started pulling kids out of public schools due to the labels. Just because a school may be “failing” doesn’t mean it isn’t making progress.
Also, the graduation rate is around 74%-the highest it’s been.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 am
“Families who choose to live in a city neighborhood have great educational options for their children.”
Okay, would you care to list some of those options, or at least provide a link to the rankings?
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:26 am
John: Dispatch.com has the proficiency test results for individual schools at the following link: This text is clickable
September 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Hey Cleve: thanks for the positive statement!! You are right, some of our schools are fantastic and are getting better all of the time. Thanks again, most of the time we just don’t get anyone who understands all of the variables behind the test scores. Our students can be amazing despite many obstacles that most people will never face.