Columbus City Schools expects preliminary 2.5-star state rating for 2025-26
Columbus City Schools says preliminary Ohio data point to a 2.5-star overall rating for the 2025-26 school year, up from the district’s previous two-star rating.
The district announced the projected half-star increase on September 11, 2026. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s status page lists the district local report card and district four-year graduation report as ready through 2026, but the accessible state record reviewed for this story did not clearly display matching final 2025-26 overall and component ratings. Families, staff and taxpayers should therefore treat the 2.5-star result as preliminary until the state report card confirms it.
What Columbus City Schools reported
Columbus City Schools attributed the projected increase to academic growth, graduation results and postsecondary-readiness measures across the district. The district said 77 schools met the state standard for student growth and that 45 schools met or exceeded state standards overall.
The district reported these preliminary component ratings:
- Achievement: 2 stars
- Progress: 3 stars
- Gap Closing: 2 stars
- Early Literacy: 1 star
- Graduation: 1 star
- College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness: 3 stars
- Career and Technical Education: 4.5 stars
The figures show why an increase in the overall rating does not mean every area improved. Columbus City Schools reported stronger results in progress, readiness and career-technical education, while Early Literacy and Graduation remained at one star in the preliminary figures.
Graduation figures involve different measures
Columbus City Schools said the class of 2026 had an 84.6% four-year graduation rate, which the district described as the highest in its history. That is a separate, more recent result from the graduation component used in the preliminary 2025-26 report-card calculation.
For that preliminary report-card component, the district reported an 81.5% four-year rate and an 86.0% five-year rate. The district said Ohio’s weighting produced an 83.3% combined result, earning one star. The four-year rate accounts for 60% of that calculation and the five-year rate for 40%, according to the district’s announcement.
How Ohio’s report card works
Ohio rates schools and districts from one to five stars, using half-star increments. The overall rating is based on six components: Achievement, Progress, Gap Closing, Early Literacy, Graduation, and College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness. Career and Technical Education receives a separate rating.
The state says the report card is intended to show collective performance across those components. It is one measure of district performance, not a complete account of every student, school or program.
What remains to be confirmed
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s report-status page, last updated September 4, 2026, lists the District Local Report Card as ready with data from 2022 through 2026. It also lists the district four-year graduation rate and college, career, workforce and military readiness reports as ready. The page includes notices about final correction opportunities issued September 4 and September 11.
Even so, the district’s September 11 announcement labels the 2.5-star result preliminary, and the accessible Columbus district record did not clearly show matching final 2025-26 overall and component ratings during this review. That means the practical verification point for Columbus readers is the final state report-card record, along with any updates made during the state’s correction process.
For families comparing schools, students tracking graduation progress, employees evaluating district performance and taxpayers monitoring results, the preliminary announcement signals reported progress but does not settle the final state rating. The Ohio report card will determine whether the 2.5-star overall result and the listed component ratings stand.
Sources
Look for updates to this story
Discover more from Interactive News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.