Last week, Leetonia Elementary School received word that they earned an overall five star rating on their report card data for the 2024-25 school year. Standing near the front exterior door of the Leetonia Elementary School are building principal Jackie Dunnigan (center), who is flanked by fourth-grade teacher Kayla Klacik and fifth-grade math and writing teacher Casey Harris. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

LEETONIA — Elementary administrator Jackie Dunnigan already knew that her school family is already pretty special; however, last week, the Ohio Department of Education gave Leetonia Elementary School their stamp of approval.

In recently released 2024-25 Ohio State report cards, Leetonia earned the highest score possible: five stars.

Dunnigan credits her hard working students and staff plus some improved math and reading on last year’s state test scores.

The Ohio Department of Education annually issues school cards based on each district and school’s performance data, including categories like achievement (based on how students perform on state tests), progress (past vs. current performance), gap closing (reduction in educational gap among student groups), graduation, early literacy (reading proficiency for K-3) and career readiness.

This past year, Leetonia Elementary School, which also had counted in their sixth-grade students, not only finished in the top 30 percent of state schools but also exceeded the state average in the math and language arts/reading categories, ranking in the top 10 percent of the state.

Kayla Klacik, fourth-grade classroom teacher, explained that several years ago, Dunnigan had asked her faculty to examine a few curricula recommendation shared by the state in the areas of math and language arts/reading.

Leetonia’s pick was Bridges, which puts an emphasis on conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills as well as uses hands-on activities and visual models for better student engagement.

When the data was calculated, state officials found that Leetonia Elementary School students had scores in the proficiency range of 80 to 84 percent compared to the state average for math of 54 percent.

This landed them in the top 10 percent of the state.

Their improvement in their reading and language arts category also impressed. While Leetonia students scored 65 to 69 percent across the board in proficiency, they bested their contemporaries at other Ohio schools but almost 10 percent.

Fifth-grade math and writing teacher Casey Harris explains that her classes started working on writing weekly essays through testing in her classes and utilized curricula like Savvas My View to assist with improving reading comprehension and building knowledge, vocabulary and student interest.

Collaboration among staff has definitely been the biggest key to their success, the women agreed.

The women agreed that collaboration is the key to their success.

The 270 students reflected in this past year’s report card data for Leetonia Elementary School also reflected test scores for Leetonia’s sixth-graders, which aren’t usually included in there.

Dunnigan said Monday that of course there was cake to celebrate; however, she has a surprise for everyone at a future date that she isn’t revealing at this time.