BELLVILLE — Clear Fork Valley Local Schools saw improvement on this year’s Ohio School Report Card.
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.
Clear Fork Valley Local Schools increased its overall rating from 3.5 to 4 stars.
Superintendent Cody Reese said district staff are proud of the growth and improvement shown in the report card.
“When you can move up a half star, it is a testament to the hard work of the students, staff, and administration,” he said. “As it is a team effort, we are elated of how well working together in the feat to serve our students in the Valley has come to fruition.”
“Moving forward, we will look to build off of the areas we have improved and to strengthen the areas that need to grow,” he said. “We will look to empower our students to learn, lead, and succeed.”
Ohio School Report Cards measure six major components: achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation, early literacy and postsecondary readiness.
Achievement and progress each make up one-fourth of a district’s overall score, while the other components each make up 12.5 percent.
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.
The school system saw a one star boost in both early literacy and postsecondary readiness. Other component scores stayed steady.
- Achievement: 4 stars
- Progress: 2 stars
- Gap Closing: 4 stars
- Graduation: 4 stars
- Early Literacy: 4 stars
- College, Career, Workforce and Military Readiness: 4 stars
At the building level, the middle school earned 3 stars and the high school earned 3.5. Bellville Elementary earned four stars while Butler Elementary earned 4.5.
School report cards also offer information on school district enrollment, teacher salaries and experience and even school finance.
Clear Fork had an enrollment of 1,446 students and a four-year graduation rate of 97.5 percent last school year. The district decreased its chronic absenteeism rate from 14.1 percent to 10.2 percent.
The average teacher at Clear Fork had 17 years of experience and earned $61,023 during the 2025-2026 school year.
