Overview:
Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) are outpacing other urban districts in academic recovery after the pandemic, with positive growth in math and reading. The district aims to surpass pre-pandemic scores and reduce achievement gaps.
Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) are on a positive path toward achievement growth, outpacing other urban districts across the country.
The Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, issued a report on the first year of academic recovery for school districts.
While the pandemic caused significant drops in achievement across all grade bands for K-12 public schools across the country, CPS focused on safely educating students and simultaneously planning and implementing aggressive recovery initiatives for students to stop grade-level learning loss.
Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent and CEO Iranetta Rayborn Wright said, “To get back to 2019 achievement scores, our Board of Education also began a strong effort to develop a student outcome governance model with metric-driven goals and guardrails. Over the past two years, our teams have been deep in the instructional work each day, seeing and experiencing progress.
“Our internal data indicates it is working, but it is evident we need to see how we compare with other districts to share and leverage best practices.”
The Education Recovery Scorecard indicates positive growth for CPS in math and reading, with even more impressive results when comparing the district’s achievement growth against the decline and recovery over similar time periods and urban districts across the nation.
Superintendent Wright added, “The CPS math score, relative to the 2019 average, was on steady decline for over three years. In one year, the CPS’ average math score has moved halfway to pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating key tactics, programs and the commitment by our teachers are working.
“Our reading score also demonstrated positive growth. Out of 44 Council of the Great City School members, CPS ranks second in math improvement and 15th in reading.”
In a recent NPR “All Things Considered” article and interview with Stanford professor Sean Reardon about the recovery data, and in particular math results, Reardon said, “You have to realize the losses from 2019 to 2022 were historically large. Students fell by more than a half-grade level behind in math, for example, nationally. That’s a giant decline by historical standards. And the increase in math is also a very huge increase by historical standards. In a typical year, maybe 2% or 3% of school districts in the country would see that kind of a gain, so to see it on average across 8,000 school districts is quite remarkable.”
Wright echoed Reardon’s comments saying, “CPS is among a select group of school districts that experienced significant recovery gains in math beginning in 2022. This data translates to nearly two years’ worth of recovery for our students in a single year.”
Among the Ohio eight largest school districts, Cincinnati Public Schools ranks first in math and fifth in reading.
The data highlights the district’s intentional work to enhance professional development and instructional reviews to leverage curriculum, the investment in i-Ready assessments to monitor student progress in real time and a commitment to community engagement to improve student performance.
“We still have much work to do, and in partnership with our board, community and staff, we will remain aggressive toward our goals of surpassing pre-pandemic scores in core subjects, graduation rates and reducing racial disparity achievement gaps,” Wright said.
Key Documents & Links
To view and listen to the NPR Article, please visit: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1228214205/u-s-students-are-starting-to-catch-up-in-school-unless-theyre-from-a-poor-area
To view key scorecard data, please visit the following links: Education Recovery Scorecard: https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/
The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University: https://edopportunity.org/recovery/
Press release: https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ERS-National-Press-Release-2024013001.pdf
NAEP & The Nation’s Report Card: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile?chort=1&sub=RED&sj=&sfj=NP&st=MN&year=2022R3
For additional Information about the Council of Great City Schools, visit: https://www.cgcs.org/cgcs
View and download Superintendent Wright’s letter: Superintendent Wright Letter –CPS Outpaces Other Urban Districts in Post-Pandemic Growth – Feb. 2, 2024