Traditional school districts like Mansfield City, Lucas and Ontario City Schools aren’t the only ones that get a grade card from the state’s education department.
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.
Public charter schools, also known as community schools, are evaluated by the same criteria as traditional public schools.
Richland County’s public charter schools include Foundation Academy, Richland School of Academic Arts and Legacy Academy of Excellence.
While each school provides an educational alternative for families, none of the schools managed to meet or exceed state standards, per school report card data.
The Richland School of Academic Arts earned an overall rating of two stars. Foundation Academy earned an overall rating of 2.5 stars. Legacy Academy of Excellence earned an overall rating of 1.5 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.
Early Literacy is a measure of reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade.
“We’re not satisfied with where we’re at”
The Richland School of Academic Arts (1456 Park Avenue West, Mansfield) earned two stars in achievement and progress and one star each in gap closing and early literacy.
The school had 350 students enrolled last year in kindergarten through 8th grade.
“We’re not satisfied with where we’re at. We’re looking at the areas where we need to improve,” Head of School Scott Will said.
He said three specific areas of focus for the school this year are early literacy, chronic absenteeism and mathematics achievement.
“One of the things we’re doing with math is we’ve reached out to our curriculum provider and we’re doing onsite professional development this year,” Will said. “They’re coming in and observing how the curriculums being implemented in the classroom.”
The school also added a Title 1 Math teacher, who works with small groups of students throughout the day to provide extra math support.
The district is also using AttendanceK12, a software program developed by a former Ontario Schools administrator, to help track absences so school staff can spend more time reaching out to families.
The school had a chronic absenteeism rate of 31.2 percent, up from 28.1 percent in the previous year.
Will said the school also switched its state benchmarking software from iReady to NWEA in hopes that the custom intervention programs it offers will be a better fit for students.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce requires all public schools to do regular computerized assessments, using a pre-approved provider. Both iReady and NWEA are on the list.
Will said the state’s school report cards provide a high level view, but don’t tell the whole story of what happens in the building.
“Your district report card is going to show your overall growth and achievement. It doesn’t necessarily show the individual growth that students make,” Will said. “We continue to see a lot of growth in our students that are behind when they come to us.”
In addition to traditional academics, RSAA offers more intensive arts programming than most traditional schools, with course offerings in dance, music, art and culinary skills.
Foundation Academy
Foundation Academy (1050 Wyandotte Avenue, Mansfield) earned an overall rating of 2.5 stars, down from 3 stars in the previous school year.
The school earned three stars in progress, two in achievement and gap closing and one in early literacy.
The school had an enrollment of 362 students.
The school’s chronic absenteeism rate was 24.5 percent, down from 35.6 percent the previous year.
Richland Source contacted Foundation Academy multiple times for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Legacy Academy of Excellence
Legacy Academy of Excellence in Mansfield (215 N. Trimble Road) earned an overall rating of 1.5 stars, with one star in achievement and early literacy. The school met state standards in gap closing.
The school had an enrollment of 96 students in grades kindergarten through 8th grade.
Its chronic absenteeism rate dropped from 40.5 percent in its opening year to 6.7 percent last year.
Richland Source left multiple messages for Legacy Academy of Excellence seeking comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
