Performance grades for Ohio career-tech schools uncertain

Some students were mistakenly excluded from calculations.

Career-technical schools might be performing better or worse than the grades the state issued for them in mid-September.

Students were accidentally excluded from some calculations that made up the state report card, the Ohio Department of Education informed the schools in late September.

The impact should be minimal on most schools, said spokeswoman Brittany Halpin in an emailed statement. She said a “systemic data compilation error” led to a small number of students not being figured into the schools’ figures for graduation rates, nontraditional participation and “prepared for success,” a measure of how well students will do after college by looking at how many students earn honors diplomas, industry credentials or high scores on college entrance exams.

Officials at local careertech schools all confirmed that the state had notified them about the error, but none have learned yet whether or how the corrected data will affect them.

Of the report-card measures released in September that are getting a second look, the grades for graduation rates were high around the state, with 84 out of 91 career-technical schools getting an A or a B. But that “prepared for success” grade tripped up the majority of schools: 77 earned a D or an F.

In the Columbus area, earning D’s in “prepared for success” were the Career and Technology Centers of Licking County (C-TEC), the Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center, Columbus City Schools (which has its own vocational school) and Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools.

Tolles Career & Technical Center in Plain City, the Delaware Area Career Center and South-Western City Schools earned C’s in “prepared for success.”

For their graduation rates, Pickaway-Ross earned a B, Columbus a C and all the rest earned A’s.

Now those grades are up in the air.

The Education Department plans to reissue corrected report cards later this month, but in the meantime, the scores online will get a watermark to show that the numbers might change.