The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce gave Cincinnati Public Schools a 3-star rating on this year's school report card, marking the first time the district has met state standards since the department began using the star rating system several years ago.
The annual report card grades public school districts on a scale from one to five stars based on each district's performance on state tests, early literacy scores, student progress, graduation rates, and workforce readiness. This latest report uses data from the 2025-2026 school year.
Cincinnati Public received its highest rating for student progress, which measures how much student scores improved on state tests over the past three years. In just one year, the district's rating in this category jumped from two stars to four stars.
The student progress metric is heavily weighted, accounting for 25% of Cincinnati Public's overall rating. This allowed the district to earn a higher overall rating despite scores in other categories remaining the same and its graduation rate dropping from two stars in 2024-2025 to one star for the 2025-2026 school year.
Superintendent Shauna Murphy said Tuesday afternoon that the district still has work to do to improve scores at some of its underperforming schools, but for now she's celebrating the strides the school system has collectively made in recent years.
"To be able to make such jumps is not a small thing, and it's not something that goes without very specific and targeted interventions, enrichment, and strategies," Murphy said.
Overall, many local school districts saw their scores improve from the previous year.
Nine Cincinnati-area public school districts earned the highest possible rating of five stars, including Forest Hills, Goshen, Indian Hill, Madeira, Mariemont, Mason, Sycamore, Williamsburg, and Wyoming.
Six area districts fell short of meeting Ohio's standards, earning fewer than three stars overall. Those include Clermont Northeastern, Finneytown, Lockland, Middletown, Mt. Healthy, and North College Hill.
You can see how other districts performed by visiting the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's School Report Cards portal.
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