Every year, upon the release of the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) School Report Cards, the Center generates a list of the best peforming elementary and middle schools in Greater Cleveland that takes into account student demographics. The ODE Report Card give schools grades meant to reflect their performance, but many of the indicators used to assign grades, like Performance Index (PI), are based on student standardized test scores. Student performance on achievement tests is determined by many things, most of which have nothing to do with how teachers teach or how schools are organized. At least 80% of an Ohio school’s PI score is explained by factors that are out of a school’s control, like students’ socioeconomic status and disabilities. This Center report presents a different way of thinking about school performance that focuses on the factors over which schools have some control and does not penalize them for the hardships and barriers that their students bring with them to school. Click here to read the 2019 report.