After many years of stagnation and decline, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is again moving forward.

That was the upbeat message delivered last week by Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon at his 2019 State of the School address at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.

The district is now one of the fastest improving school districts in Ohio on K-3 literacy, performance index (standard test scores), and graduation rates, Gordon said. “We are moving upward. We know we have a long way to go. We have not yet arrived, but we are certainly on our way.”

The district’s progress is the result of The Cleveland Plan, a comprehensive school improvement program that the district and the city initiated in 2011, said Gordon. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the Cleveland Board of Education, and the numerous community partners that have stepped up to support the district have played key roles. But equally important have been the efforts of Cleveland students who each day demonstrate an unflagging enthusiasm for learning and the district’s dedicated and tireless educators and staff.

“And we all owe a debt of gratitude to the people of the Cleveland School District, whose support of Issue 107, Issue 4 and Issue 108 enabled us to not only implement and sustain reforms outlined in The Cleveland Plan, but also to modernize and revitalize schools across the city,” said Gordon.

While the district ranking remains perilously low – 601st of 608 Ohio districts on Ohio’s latest performance index ranking – students across the district are succeeding every day on complex academic tasks not easily measured by test scores, said Gordon. He cited more than a half dozen examples, including a student-created app that improved the Bar Association’s website, a student-run café, a student project that created a working prosthetic hand for a classmate, a student project that developed synthetic gasoline that powered their teacher’s automobile, and a student project to repair a Cleveland Police car that had been nearly destroyed by celebrants after the Cavalier’s 2016 championship.

In 2011 the district was ranked dead last among all Ohio school districts and was “financially bankrupt and had lost all public trust,” said Gordon. Today, the district is one of the 25 fastest improving districts in Ohio, he noted. In the latest state rankings, the district earned a D, one step up from the F’s that the district had received in previous years.

“I want to make clear that we are not celebrating that we earned a D,” said Gordon. “What moving from F to D tells us is that we continue to move upward and there is a lot more yet to achieve.”

But huge challenges remain. It is no coincidence that the district’s performance ranking – based on student scores on standardized tests – is nearly identical to the district’s rank when districts are listed by household median income. Cleveland’s median household income ranks 604th, while the district’s performance index rank is 601.

The link between poverty and school performance is well-understood.  Intractable poverty affects students’ readiness to learn in countless ways.

Even as the district gains positive momentum, said Gordon, “it is important to recognize that we cannot rest.  We must maintain and build on our momentum. But at the same time, pay attention to every force that threatens to slow or even stop our progress.”

One of those forces is public perception. Near the end of his presentation, Gordon was asked by a Cleveland student, “If you could change one thing, what would it be?” Without hesitation Gordon replied, “Get rid of the Cleveland Schools stink.”

Despite the massive investment city residents have made in the district, despite the hard work of educators and staff, despite the many community organizations that support the district, and despite the extraordinary efforts of thousands of starkly disadvantaged students, the district’s reputation remains abysmal.

“When people think of the Cleveland Schools, they assume that nothing good is happening there,” said Gordon. “They don’t know about the amazing things that are happening in our classrooms. Because it is Cleveland, they assume that good things are not happening like they are in suburban districts.” Looking at some of the dozens of CMSD students in the audience, Gordon said, “They don’t know you.”

September 28, 2019

Photo: Cleveland Metropolitan School District