Students in traditional public schools across the Miami Valley outperformed their counterparts across the state in both performance index and ratings, according to a newspaper analysis of 2011-12 preliminary report card data.

A list of each county's report card can be found at the bottom of this story or you can view an interactive map of listings.

The average performance index for Ohio’s 3,070 traditional public schools was 96.6 out of a possible 120, based on Ohio Department of Education data. The 378 eligible schools in the nine-county Miami Valley area averaged 97.1.

The performance index reflects the achievement of every student enrolled for the academic year, and applies to schools serving third through eighth grade or 10th through 12th grade.

Warren County schools were tops in the area, with an average PI of 104.7. Mason (110.8), Kings (107.1) and Springboro (107.1) schools led the way.

The local county whose schools earned the lowest average PI was Montgomery, at 92.4. Clark County earned a 93.4. These counties also had the most schools characterized as having a “high” poverty rate, as determined by the percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch, by the ODE.

In the ratings, regional schools also beat out the state. Locally, 16 percent of these schools earned “Excellent with Distinction” ratings as compared to 15 percent in Ohio; and 45 percent of area schools were deemed “Excellent,” while 43 percent earned that distinction statewide.

SCHOOLS’ RATINGS IMPROVE

This month, the state approved the phasing in of A-plus to F letter grades for Ohio schools and school districts. The 2011-12 report card ratings reflected the six-point scale of “Excellent with Distinction” to “Academic Emergency.”

These ratings were based on how students performed on state tests, their performance index scores and the amount of academic growth students demonstrated.

Xenia Community City Schools was among the 74 local districts whose individual schools saw significant improvement. Four Xenia schools improved their ratings, with McKinley Elementary and Spring Hill Elementary jumping two grades from “Continuous Improvement” to “Excellent.” Cox Elementary and Warner Middle schools each advanced from “Continuous Improvement” to “Effective.”

Mark Manley, Xenia spokesman, said these elementary schools benefited from School Improvement Grant funding and educators’ professional development.

“The SIG fund ends at the conclusion of the 2012-13 school year,” Manley said. “At least 13 teaching positions will be eliminated. We are very concerned that some programs will not continue in the exact same manner for our students.”

Kettering and Springboro schools also excelled in 2011-12. In Kettering, six of its 11 schools moved up a grade: Beavertown, J.F. Kennedy, Oakview and Prass elementary; and Kettering and Van Buren middle.

Only Southdale Elementary, which absorbed roughly 150 students from Moraine Meadows Elementary when it closed in 2010, went down a grade: from “Excellent with Distinction” to “Excellent.”

Springboro had five of its seven eligible schools improve: Dennis Elementary East, Dennis Elementary West, Five Points Elementary East, Springboro Intermediate and Springboro Junior High schools all moved from “Excellent” to “Excellent with Distinction.”

Five Points Elementary School West declined, from “Excellent with Distinction” to “Excellent.”

TAKING STEPS BACK

In the Dayton Public School District, only one of the 27 schools saw a positive bump in the ratings: Belmont High School rose from “Academic Watch” to “Continuous Improvement.”

Fourteen schools maintained the same ratings, while 12 others slipped. Four schools slid two levels, including Valerie PreK-8 School, which last year was the district’s only “Excellent” school. It is now “Continuous Improvement.”

The Dayton Boys Preparatory School, Kemp PreK-8 School and Wogaman PreK-8 School slipped from “Continuous Improvement” to “Academic Emergency.”

About half of the district’s schools (13) are rated “Academic Emergency,” eight are “Academic Watch” and six are “Continuous Improvement.” The district’s top performing school, Stivers School for the Arts, is rated “Effective,” which is the equivalent of a B.

“We are working extremely hard to ensure that we minimize the number of schools that are in ‘Academic Emergency’ and ‘Watch,’ and continue to push them up,” Superintendent Lori Ward said.

While Ward makes no excuses, she does point to some of the challenges facing the large urban district with about 15,000 students. Every school, except for Stivers, has a high poverty rate.

The district has used about $5.5 million in SIG funding to help improve seven poorly performing schools and six of those schools have new principals. Ward believes this will be key to turning around a school’s performance.

Middletown City Schools, which had 70 percent of its schools categorized as having a high poverty rate for 2011-12, also had four schools slip a grade, and saw two improve.

POVERTY LEVEL

Area districts whose schools had the lowest average PI scores were each the urban centers of those counties: Dayton Public, whose schools averaged 72.4; and Springfield City Schools, at 80.6.

Springfield’s 15 school ratings span the six-tier rating system. Snowhill Elementary, on the city’s north side near Wittenberg University, has attained the A-plus rating. Across town Lincoln Elementary, where 99 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, has received a failing grade.

Superintendent David Estrop points to two key factors that pull Lincoln down: poverty and mobility rates.

“The children come with a complexity of issues as a result,” he said. “Their family situations are not always stable and their housing situations are not stable.”

Only one school out of the 378 in this study earned an “Excellent with Distinction” rating and had a “high” poverty rating: Forest Elementary School in Troy.

Forest Principal Alan Zunke said about 75 percent of the 298 students at the K-5 school are on free and reduced lunch.

“I think two things contribute to our success: We have a phenomenal staff and we have very high expectations for our students,” he said. “When you put those things together, good things can happen.”

Estrop said Springfield is starting to see some positive signs from initiatives at Lincoln and in the surrounding neighborhood that they hope will eventually lead to a better report card. Parent participation at school conferences has risen from 10 percent to 50 percent, behavioral issues at school have dropped and the district saw gains in state assessment tests this fall.

“With these kinds of signals, we think this year or next we’re going to begin to see some of the payoffs of that in terms of academic improvement,” he said.

SCHOOL REPORT CARDS BY COUNTY

• Warren

• Preble

• Montgomery

• Miami

• Greene

• Darke

• Clark

• Champaign

• Butler