Heuer: Excellent Rating Within Reach for CH-UH in 2012

Superintendent Douglas Heuer has made it no secret that he wants the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District to be rated “Excellent” on the .

But Wednesday night when he delivered the , he shared when he believed that could happen.

“We are on the brink of receiving not just an ‘Effective,’ but an ‘Excellent’ state report card for this year, 2012. Yes, this is very possible,” he told the audience of administrators, teachers, parents, school board members and others in the Social Room.

on the 2011 report cards, released by the Ohio Department of Education in August, varied greatly depending on the school. Elementary School earned the highest ranking, “Excellent With Distinction," while fell into the lowest, “Academic Watch,” joining . Cleveland Heights High School moved up a category to "Effective."

The state put the district overall in the “Continuous Improvement” category, but Heuer believes the district can jump into the "Excellent" range by advancing in two areas.

First, the district must improve its performance index, which measures student achievement based on how well each grade does on all test subjects in third through eighth grades, and on the 10th-grade standardized graduation tests.

“Each year we administer over 8,000 tests as part of the state evaluation system. If fewer than 5 percent of those tests improve from basic to the proficient level, the district’s test performance index will exceed 90,” explained Heuer, adding that it would move CH-UH Schools to the “Effective” category. This year, the district received 87.3 points, which was slightly higher than the previous year when CH-UH got 86.9 points.

And if enough students in fourth through eighth grades progress in reading and mathematics over a one-year period, what’s called the “value-added” measure, the district automatically moves up a designation because they also improved in that category last year.

“We are that close,” Heuer said.

The superintendent also spoke more about the district's plan to by 2016 to be associated with one of three "" — society, discovery and creativity. And he spoke about the need to , as the buildings are outdated and can't accommodate a 21st century education. 

Look for more from Heuer's speech soon, which will include parents' reactions. Below are individual school report cards and rankings for 2011: 

• Cleveland Heights High School - Effective
• Monticello Middle School - Academic Watch
• Roxboro Middle School - Continuous Improvement
• Wiley Middle School - Effective
• Boulevard Elementary School - Continuous Improvement
• Canterbury Elementary School - Academic Watch 
• Fairfax Elementary School - Continuous Improvement
• Gearity Professional Development School - Continuous Improvement
• Noble Elementary School - Effective
• Oxford Elementary School - Continuous Improvement
• Roxboro Elementary School  - Excellent With Distinction 
• Bellfaire School - Not rated