MANSFIELD — Four of the six Mansfield City Schools met or exceeded state standards last year, as measured by the latest round of Ohio School Report Cards.
Every year, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce releases its school report cards, which rate public schools and districts on a one-to-five star scale.
Three stars means a district has met expectations. Five stars means a district has significantly exceeded expectations.
Mansfield City Schools maintained its overall rating of three stars.
“Obviously there are areas that we know we have to work on, but at the end of the day, we have met the state standards for the last four years,” Supt. Stan Jefferson said.
“The kind of progress our district is making doesn’t happen by accident. We are grateful to our staff, students and families as we all collectively, as a district and a school community, work for every star rating.”
- Achievement: 2 stars
- Progress: 2 stars
- Gap Closing: 3 stars
- Graduation: 4 stars
- Early Literacy: 1 star
- College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness: 4 stars
At the building level, Mansfield Spanish Immersion earned the highest rating with 4.5 stars. Mansfield Senior High School earned 3.5 stars. Malabar Intermediate and Sherman Elementary earned 3 stars.
Springmill STEM earned 2.5 stars; Mansfield Middle School earned 2 stars.
What do school report card components mean?
Achievement is a measure of how well students in grades 3 through 12 performed on state tests.
Progress measures how much growth students are making, based on state test results from prior years. For the 2025-2026 report cards, ratings are based on three consecutive years of data.
Gap Closing measures how well schools close achievement gaps for students of different races, students with disabilities and students from economically disadvantaged families. The gap closing metric is also impacted by chronic absenteeism rates and how well the district serves gifted students.
Graduation is determined by a high school’s four-year graduation rate (60 percent of the score) and its five-year graduation rate (40 percent of the score).
Early Literacy is a measure of reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness is a measure of how prepared Ohio’s students are for future opportunities, including entering the workforce, enlisting in the military or pursuing additional education. Districts get points for students who do things like pass the ACT or SAT, earn an honors diploma, complete college courses or earn industry recognized credentials.
Stephen Rizzo, the district’s assistant superintendent and chief academic officer, said the district will continue its work to strengthen early literacy instruction.
“We are seeing gains in literacy. Not every gain can be measured on the report card,” he said, noting that changes in the way report cards are scored may have contributed to Mansfield’s one-star rating.
Holly Christie, director of student support programs, said teachers have learned a lot in a short time as the state has rolled out new literacy curriculum requirements in recent years.
“I can tell you how hard our teachers are working to grow professionally,” she said. “It’s disheartening when they don’t see it on a grade card, but they see it in their students every day.”
Mansfield Career Technical Planning District exceeds state standards with 4.5 stars
The district’s career technical program, which is housed inside the middle and high school building, surpassed state standards for the second consecutive year with a 4.5 rating.
Nikia Fletcher, the district’s director of college and career readiness, said the career tech program missed out on 5 stars by a tenth of a point.
“If we had gotten one more student (to report their post-graduation outcome), we’d have gotten that tenth of a point, so that’s a little bit heartbreaking,” she said.
“But what you see is our program competes. We’re doing the same awesome things and we’re doing them well.”
Fletcher said the CTPD score and regular report card show students are graduating with the skills they need to succeed.
“I think the biggest thing I want the community to know is we are working hard to make the gains that will make Mansfield City Schools strong again. We are getting strong again,” she said.
“You can trust us with your students because we’re doing great things with them.”
What are Ohio school report cards?
Report cards measure six major components: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation, early literacy and post-secondary readiness.
Achievement and progress each make up 25 percent of a district’s overall score, while the other components each make up 12.5 percent.
School report cards also offer information on school district enrollment, teacher salaries and experience and even school finance.
Mansfield City Schools had an enrollment of 2,790 students and a four-year graduation rate of 93.7 percent last school year, according to the report.
The district’s chronic absenteeism rate dropped from 28.2 percent to 25.6 percent.
The district’s teachers had an average of 15 years’ experience and earned an average salary of $58,232.
