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State report reveals high school grads needing help

Following is a breakdown of how each local school district fared in terms of graduates taking remedial classes as college freshman. In parenthesis is the number of graduates who went to college. Listed respectively is each district, percentage math or English, percentage both.

Beaver Local (41), 29 percent, 17 percent

BOSS (19), 47 percent, 16 percent

Columbiana (35), 26 percent, 17 percent

Crestview (34), 38 percent, 12 percent

East Liverpool (26), 77 percent, 31 percent

East Palestine (29), 48 percent, 28 percent

Leetonia (14), 57 percent, 29 percent

Lisbon (14), 64 percent, 36 percent

Salem (58), 66 percent, 24 percent

Southern Local (21), 76 percent, 29 percent

United Local (27), 26 percent, 7 percent

Wellsville (22), 91 percent, 45 percent

South Range (61), 33 percent, 13 percent

West Branch (58), 48 percent, 26 percent

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LISBON — Eleven of the 14 local school districts surveyed exceeded the statewide average for high school graduates needing immediate academic help their freshman year of college, according to the latest state report.

The only districts not to surpass the statewide average were Beaver Local, Columbiana and United Local, according to the Ohio Board of Regents, which issues an annual report focusing on what percentage of recent high school graduates who enrolled in a public university or community college needed to take remedial math or English classes their freshman year.

The latest report, issued in January for 2015 graduates, showed that 32 percent of all Ohio graduates who went on to college needed to take remedial math and English classes. For Columbiana County schools, the average was 54 percent.

As mentioned above, three local districts did not exceed the statewide average, with Columbiana and United Local tying for the best mark, at 26 percent. Beaver Local graduates also came in below the statewide average, at 29 percent.

The worst-performing school district was Wellsville, where 91 percent of its graduates needed to take remedial math or English classes, followed by East Liverpool, at 77 percent, and Southern Local, at 76 percent.

The report also lists school districts according to how many graduates needed to take both remedial math and English classes as college freshman. United Local came in first among local schools, with only 7 percent of its college-bound graduates needing to take both remedial classes. Wellsville came in last, at 45 percent.

The report noted the statewide figure for graduates needing to take remedial math or English classes had declined from 37 percent in 2014 and 41 percent as recently as 2010.

“The continued reduction in these numbers shows that our schools are having success in preparing students for the next steps on their career paths,” said Ohio Department of Education Chancellor John Carey.

This sentiment was echoed by Dr. Lonny Rivera, interim superintendent of public instruction at the state education department. “It is encouraging that more Ohio students are leaving high schools ready for their postsecondary education … Our efforts in recent years have done just that,” he said in a news release.

A state law that went into effect in 2013-14 asked Ohio’s public colleges to establish uniform statewide standards in math, science, reading and writing that every student must meet to be considered ready for college-level work.

American Spirit Academy in East Liverpool and Heartland Christian were excluded from the report because fewer than six of their graduates went on to college, which is the threshold needed to qualify for inclusion in the report.

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