COLUMBUS (WJER) - The school district state report cards are out, and most Tuscarawas County school districts got an overall grade of “C.” 

Indian Valley and Tusky Valley were the exceptions, earning “B’s” from the Ohio Department of Education. Superintendents in Dover and New Philadelphia were proud of the improvements their students’ showed over past performances. Dover’s Carla Birney says they’re very pleased with the “A” they received for student progress.

“One of the things that’s most important to us as a district is that progress grade because that’s showing that all of our students are making more than expected growth from one year to the next,” she says.

The superintendents say the release of the report cards is a time to highlight achievements, identify areas for improvement, and put the report card in perspective as one of many ways to measure student and district success. New Philadelphia Superintendent Dave Brand says they use the report cards to see if what they’re doing is working.

“Are we seeing growth? Are we seeing improvements? There are some internal measures as well as this outside measure and how that’s impacting either getting better or not and just to show what impact we’ve had so far, and for us, I think it shows that we’re on the right track and the initiatives that we started are being successful to reach the goals that we have,” he says.

The state report cards assess student achievement, progress, graduation rates, assistance for at-risk students, and how districts prepare students for the future.

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