Youngstown City Schools Sees Improvement in District Performance: Early College High School and K-3 Literacy scores see upward trends

Youngstown Early College (YEC), a Youngstown City School District high school on Youngstown State University’s campus that allows students to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and college credit, boasts a 100% high-school graduation rate, compared to the state’s average graduation rate of 82%. Students enrolled at YEC complete their high-school graduation requirements in two years instead of four, and spend their junior and senior years working toward a two-year associate’s degree from Youngstown State University or Eastern Gateway Community College (up to 60 college semester hours).

This year, 60% of YEC’s graduating class received an associate degree while simultaneously receiving a high-school diploma; this is a 53% increase from 2015. Currently, 56.4% of graduates go onto to receive their four-year degrees; 89% of graduates continue on with their higher education effort after their first year of college.

For the much-watched K-3 literacy measure, Youngstown City schools improved from a previous score of 47.8% to 64.2%, narrowly missing a B rating by 0.7%. All elementary schools improved at least one grade level or sustained their performance of a B or C rating. Paul C. Bunn Elementary earned an A on the K-3 literacy measure, one of only three schools to do so in the Mahoning Valley. Choffin Career & Technical Center earned an A in Technical Skill Attainment Measures.

Youngstown City Schools still has their work cut out for them but these data prove that they are well on their way to even more positive outcomes with this positive upward trajectory.

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) continues to work with Youngstown City School District and all of the districts in The Ohio 8 Coalition to advocate for collaborative solutions to improve academic performance, increase graduation rates, and close the achievement gap for urban children throughout Ohio.

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