(Harrison, Oh.) - Both Southwest Local Schools and Three Rivers Local Schools have been rated “Excellent with Distinction” by the Ohio Department of Education, according to preliminary data released Wednesday.

It’s the highest designation a school district can earn on the state’s annual school performance report cards. The rating for the 2011-2012 school year is an improvement from the Southwest Local’s 2010-2011 rating of “Excellent.”

District Superintendent Chris Brown said he is extremely proud of the district being designated “Excellent” or higher six years running.

“Our administrators, teaching staff, and students worked really hard to get to this point. We had been on the verge in recent years, but last year we had above average growth,” said Brown.

On the newly released preliminary report card, the district scored a 101.1 out of a possible 120 on the ODE’s School Performance Index and 25 of 26 performance indicators were met. However, the school corporation did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

“We still have work to do. We did not meet AYP and that’s something we’ll have to work on,” the superintendent said.

Of Southwest Local’s six schools, only one was rated “Excellent with Distinction” – Harrison Elementary. Crosby Elementary, Harrison Middle, Whitewater Valley Elementary and Harrison High schools were each rated “Excellent” while Miamitown Elementary settled for “Effective.”

Four of the schools managed to meet AYP, while Miamitown Elementary and Harrison High School both fell short.

At Three Rivers Local Schools, the “Excellent With Distinction” nod for the 2011-2012 school year is also an improvement from the 2010-2011 “Excellent” designation the district received. Much like Southwest Local, Three Rivers scored a 101.4 on the School Performance Index and attained 25 of 26 state indicators, but did not meet AYP.

The report cards are being released two months later than usual, because of an investigation into alleged data fixing in some districts.

“During the last few weeks, ODE has worked diligently to upload and verify remaining data for school improvement purposes. As we wait for additional information related to the investigation from the Auditor of State, ODE remains committed to sharing existing data so that students, parents, educators and the public can be informed about the progress of our schools,” the ODE said on its website, adding that Wednesday’s data is not final.

The department will not publish PDFs of the report cards until the investigation by the Auditor of State is concluded.

LINKS:

New School Is Three Rivers Educational Campus

Committee Will Study Three Rivers School Name

SW Local Schools Super Retires, Rehired

SW Local Schools Cut $2.2M; Closing Hooven

SW Local Schools Consider Sweeping Cuts

Southwest Local, Three Rivers Schools Enjoy NCLB Ratings