Ohio's 2025-2026 school report cards go live online Tuesday, and a quiet change to how the state counts third-grade reading promotions is expected to knock Early Literacy ratings down in districts across the state. The shift stems from a recalculation of who actually counts as promoted to fourth grade based on reading proficiency, rather than parent-approved exemptions that have pushed promotion rates close to 100 percent in recent years.
The report cards, issued by the state each September, rate traditional public and charter districts and schools on a scale of up to five stars in half-star increments, as reported by Cleveland.com. A rating of three stars or above signals a school or district is meeting or exceeding state standards, and the cards primarily reflect student performance on Ohio state tests taken last spring, alongside absenteeism and graduation rates. Under the state's weighting formula, Achievement and Progress each count for 25 percent of a district's overall star rating, while Early Literacy, Gap Closing, Graduation, and College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness each make up 12.5 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
A Recalculated Promotion Metric
The Early Literacy component evaluates reading in kindergarten through third grade and has historically measured three things: K-3 improvement using two consecutive years of data, the percentage of students promoted to fourth grade under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, and third-grade reading proficiency itself, per the same Cleveland.com account. For 2025-2026, Ohio is keeping the first two of those measures but changing how it calculates the promotion figure, now counting only students who are actually eligible for fourth-grade promotion based on their reading scores rather than those who advanced despite falling short of proficiency.
That distinction matters because of what happened after 2012, when the Third Grade Reading Guarantee was enacted under then-Governor John Kasich, requiring students who weren't proficient readers by the end of third grade to be held back. Ohio lawmakers expanded exemptions to that retention requirement in 2023, allowing parents to veto the requirement that their child repeat third grade in consultation with a principal and teacher, according to Ohio Revised Code changes tied to House Bill 33. Retention exemptions had previously covered special education and English language learner students, but the broadened rule meant nearly all Ohio students have been promoted since exemptions expanded, and many schools saw promotion rates at or near 100 percent, per Cleveland.com. Students who qualify for retention exemptions will now be excluded from the new promotion-rate calculation, a shift the outlet reports is expected to lower early literacy scores for many districts.
What Educators Are Bracing For
Jeff Wensing, president of the Ohio Education Association, told the outlet that school districts overall will probably take a small hit in the Early Literacy component. Aaron Churchill, Ohio policy director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said schools and districts historically have not performed well in early literacy, with some schools receiving only one or two early literacy stars — ratings he said indicate more children need to reach reading proficiency. Churchill added that lower early literacy ratings show an urgent need to improve students' reading proficiency, per the same report.
Wensing offered a caution alongside that assessment, saying lower early literacy scores do not necessarily mean lower-performing students are being left behind. Ohio has made other early literacy scoring adjustments that may soften the impact of the changes to fourth-grade promotion scores, and students who don't meet the fourth-grade promotion score are still slated to receive targeted intervention and support through Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plans, known as RIMPs, with that support continuing until students are proven proficient, the outlet reports.
Local Districts Show Divergent Paths
The statewide shift is already playing out unevenly at the district level. Akron Public Schools expects a half-star decrease in its overall score, according to Cleveland.com, and Signal Akron reported the district's overall rating is projected to fall from 3.5 stars to 3 stars for 2025-2026, driven partly by the early literacy recalculation while fewer than half of its third graders currently test proficient in reading. Columbus City Schools, by contrast, announced that preliminary state data indicates its overall rating will improve from 2 stars to 2.5 stars, even though the district is set to receive just 1 star in Early Literacy, according to a Columbus City Schools announcement.
State Investment Meets Statewide Absenteeism
The recalibrated report cards arrive alongside a broader state push on reading instruction. Ohio has mandated that students learn to read through phonics and other science of reading methods, and House Bill 33 required all K-5 teachers and 6-12 ELA educators to complete state-approved Science of Reading professional development by June 30, 2025, with K-5 teachers eligible for a $1,200 completion stipend, according to STRS Ohio. The state's two-year operating budget also set aside $64 million to help districts buy instructional materials aligned with the science of reading while banning core curricula built around the three-cueing approach starting in the 2024-2025 school year, per the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
Attendance remains a separate but related challenge shadowing the report cards. More than 25 percent of Ohio public school students were chronically absent during the 2024-2025 school year, missing at least 10 percent, or about 18 days, of school, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Governor Mike DeWine and state education officials pledged in October 2024 to cut statewide chronic absenteeism by half over five years, though Cleveland.com reports the rate has remained stubbornly high since the pandemic.
Failing to meet state standards can carry consequences beyond a single year's rating. Schools and districts that fall short face the stigma of being labeled low-performing, and prolonged report-card underperformance can trigger extra state assistance and monitoring for a school building, per Cleveland.com's reporting. Ohio requires low-performing students to receive extra help to catch up, a mandate that underpins the RIMP process now tied to the recalculated Early Literacy scores landing statewide on Tuesday.
