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Focus and Warning Schools

Focus Schools

Ohio uses the accountability measures on the Ohio School Report Cards as gauges for continuous improvement. In alignment with federal requirements¹ and Ohio’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan, the state’s schools that struggle with large achievement gaps among student subgroups are identified as Focus schools. In Ohio, Focus schools — also known federally as Targeted Support and Improvement Schools (TSI) — will include schools that struggle with large achievement gaps in student performance and graduation rate.

¹Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA 1111(d)(2)(C-D))

Identification of Focus schools will be based on two criteria:

Schools with subgroups performing at or below the performance of Priority schools; or
Schools’ subgroups performing in the bottom 30 percent and had low performance on the Gap Closing component.

Schools will be identified using the ESSA-aligned criteria with the release of the 2018 Ohio School Report Cards, which use the performance data for schools from the 2017-2018 school year. Schools will then be identified every three years following the 2018 identification — with the next identification update being after the 2020-2021 school year.

Process for identification of Focus schools

Who is included? All Title I-eligible schools in the 2017-2018 school year (Fiscal Year 2018) are included in the initial calculation. Title I-eligible schools are identified as of Sept. 21, 2018.

How are schools ranked? Subgroup performance on the Performance Index measure and four-year graduation rate is compared to the same subgroup performance of schools identified as Priority schools. A subgroup is only evaluated and included in the calculation for the school if there are at least 10 students in the subgroup. Each of the federally required subgroups will be considered as long as there are 10 or more students in the subgroup. The performance of each subgroup for the Priority schools is determined by calculating the overall performance across all identified schools per relevant subgroup.

First: The Performance Index is calculated for each subgroup with 10 or more students for each eligible school. The graduation rate is calculated for each subgroup with 10 or more students for each eligible school.

Next: A combined Performance Index is calculated by including all tests in one Performance Index for all schools identified as Priority schools. This combined Performance Index is calculated by subgroup. A combined graduation rate is calculated by using the total subgroup cohort and the total subgroup graduates for all schools identified as Priority schools. This combined graduation rate is calculated by subgroup.

Next: A composite, or overall, score is calculated for all Priority schools by weighting the combined Performance Index at 52.5 percent and weighting the graduation rate at 47.5 percent. These percentages are based on the weight of the two components if a true overall grade was calculated for the Ohio School Report Cards based only on the availability of these two components.

Next: A composite score is calculated for each school for each applicable subgroup based on the same weighting (Performance Index at 52.5 percent and graduation rate at 47.5 percent). A composite score is calculated if a school has at least one of the two measures. For example, if a school has a subgroup with more than 10 students in its graduating cohort but fewer than 10 tested students — it has a graduation rate but not a Performance Index composite. Therefore, the graduation rate is 100 percent of the composite score calculated for that subgroup. If a school does not have at least 10 students in either its Performance Index or graduation rate, it is removed from the list prior to identification determinations.

Next: The Gap Closing component grade is pulled for the two most recent years — the 2017 and 2018 report cards. Schools with a “D” or “F” in both years or, for dropout prevention and recovery schools, a combination of a “D” or “F” and “Does Not Meet Standards” is noted for identification determinations.

Criteria 1: Identification-based performance at or below Priority school level

If one or more of a school’s subgroups performed at or below the performance composite of Priority schools for that same subgroup, the school is identified as a Focus school.

For example, the composite scores calculated for all students in the economically disadvantaged subgroup in identified Priority schools was 51.066 in 2017 and 46.021 in 2018. If the subgroup of economically disadvantaged students at Everytown Elementary had composite scores of 49.820 in 2017 and 44.837 in 2018 — it would be identified as a Focus school for performing at or below the Priority school level for both years. However, if Everytown Elementary exceeded the Priority composite score in either 2017 or 2018, it would not be identified as Focus for that subgroup under these criteria.

Criteria 2: Identification based on lowest 30 percent and performance on Gap Closing component

Those schools that, when ranked based on their composite scores for 2018, fall in the bottom 30 percent (not yet identified for that subgroup) and for the Gap Closing component have a “D” or “F” in the two most recent years; or a combination of a “D” or “F” and “Does Not Meet Standards” are identified as Focus schools. Only schools with composite scores for both 2017 and 2018 are ranked.

* Focus Resources at bottom of page

Warning Schools

Ohio uses the accountability measures on the Ohio School Report Cards as gauges for continuous improvement. In alignment with federal requirements¹ and Ohio’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan, the state’s schools that struggle with large achievement gaps amongst student subgroups are identified as Warning schools. In Ohio, Warning schools — also known federally as Additional Targeted Support and Improvement Schools (ATSI) — will include schools that struggle with large achievement gaps in student performance and graduation rate.

¹Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA 1111(d)(2)(C-D))

Identification of Warning schools will be based on a single criterion:
Schools with subgroups performing at or below the performance of Priority schools.

Process for identification of Warning schools

Who is included? All Title I-eligible schools in the 2017-2018 school year (FY2018) are included in the initial calculation. Title I-eligible schools are identified as of Sept. 21, 2018. If a school already has been identified as Priority or Focus, it will not be included in the determination for a Warning school.

How are schools ranked? Subgroup performance on the Performance Index measure and four-year graduation rate is compared to the same subgroup performance of schools identified as Priority schools. Subgroups are only calculated and included in the calculation for schools if there are 10 or more students in the subgroup. Each of the federally required subgroups will be considered as long as there are 10 or more students in the subgroup.

First: The Performance Index is calculated for each subgroup with 10 students or more for each eligible school. The graduation rate is calculated for each subgroup with 10 students or more for each eligible school. This is done using the class of 2017 data, which is reported on the 2018 Ohio School Report Cards. To meet requirements of ESSA, the calculation of the graduation rate, starting with the class of 2017, uses the graduation rate for those students meeting standard graduation requirements for use in Ohio’s Priority school identification process. This graduation rate is not currently reported on the Ohio School Report Cards but is used for identification purposes as required by ESSA.

Next: A composite score is calculated for each school for each applicable subgroup based on the same weighting (Performance Index at 52.5 percent and graduation rate at 47.5 percent). A composite score is calculated if a school has at least one of the two measures. For example, if a school has a subgroup with more than 10 students in its graduating cohort but fewer than 10 tested students — it has a graduation rate but not a Performance Index composite. Therefore, the graduation rate is 100 percent of the composite score calculated for that subgroup. If a school does not have at least 10 students in both its Performance Index and graduation rate, it is removed from the list prior to identification determinations.

Criteria 1: Identification based performance at or below Priority school level

If one or more of a school’s subgroups performed at or below the performance composite of Priority schools for that same subgroup for 2018, the school is identified as a Warning school.

Exit Criteria

Focus or Warning Status

The school or district earns an overall grade of C or better as determined by the report card grade and earns a C or better for Gap Closing; and
The school meets subgroup performance goals per state requirements. Subgroup performance goal is not performing in the bottom 30 percent and showing growth from the previous year.

Focus and warning School Resources

Last Modified: 12/8/2022 11:14:51 AM