Cleveland Metropolitan School District

Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Location
1111 Superior Avenue E. Cleveland, Ohio 44114 United States
District information
Type	Public
Grades	PreK - 12
Established	1836[1]
Superintendent	Eric Gordon
Accreditation	AdvancED, Ohio Department of Education
Budget	$724.7 million (2015-16 school year)[2]
Students and staff
Students	38,700 (November 2015)[3]
Teachers	2,079 (2015-16 school year)[4]
Staff	645 (2015–16)[4]
Athletic conference	Senate Athletic League
Other information
Website	clevelandmetroschools.org

Cleveland Metropolitan School District, formerly the Cleveland Municipal School District, is a public school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves almost all of the city of Cleveland.^[5]

CMSD is the only district in Ohio that is under direct control of the mayor, who appoints a school board. The Cleveland district is the second largest PreK-12 district in the state, with a 2015-2016 enrollment of about 38,700 students.^[3] The mayor was given control of the city schools after a series of elected school boards were deemed ineffective by city voters. The school board appoints a chief executive officer, the equivalent of a district superintendent, who is responsible for district management.

The city's school district has a graduation rate over 50 percent, reporting a graduation rate of 56.1 percent in 2011.^[6] That same year, 2011, CMSD had a 5-year graduation rate of 63.3 percent.^[7] This five-year graduation rate increased to 66.1 percent in the subsequent 2011-2012 school year. In 2009 Cleveland Schools had the nation's third highest high school dropout rate and graduation rate following Detroit with the number one spot.

In response to declining enrollment over more than a decade and the corresponding growth in charter schools in the city, the District took several steps to improve academic performance and increase graduation rates. In the 2007–08 school year, the District changed its name to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to attract students throughout the region.^[8]

The system passed a $1.2 billion school building construction/replacement bond issue, but repeatedly failed to pass an operating levy for 16 years until 2012. In 2005 and in years following, the system faced large budget shortfalls and repeated possibility of slipping back into "academic emergency" as rated by the Ohio Department of Education. CMSD's test scores showed modest improvement in writing and math scores and little or no improvement in reading scores. The district continued to improve its graduation rate over several years, increasing it from 39.5% in 2002 to over 50% of students graduating in 2004.and over 60% in 2012.

The former chairman of the Board of Education, Robert M. Heard Sr., was appointed July 1, 2007 by Mayor Frank G. Jackson, and CEO's appointed included Barbara Byrd Bennett and Eugene Sanders. Current Board of Education Chair Denise Link, led the board in its current transformation efforts, including the appointment of Eric S. Gordon as chief executive officer in 2011. Under their leadership, CMSD successfully worked for passage of House Bill 525, otherwise known as "The Cleveland Plan", to remove legislative barriers to school reform in Cleveland and to implement a portfolio strategy to: Grow the number of high-performing CMSD and charter schools in Cleveland and close and replace failing schools; Focus CMSD's central office on key support and governance roles and transfer authority and resources to schools; Invest and phase in high-leverage system reforms across all schools from preschool to college and career; and Create the Cleveland Transformation Alliance to ensure accountability for all public schools in the city.

Working closely with Mayor Frank G. Jackson and a coalition of concerned citizens throughout the city, Link and Gordon additionally led the district to passage of CMSD's first operating levy in 16 years in November, 2012. Major changes in the District's contract with the Cleveland Teachers Union, together with passage of HB 525 and Issue 107, paved the way in 2012-2013 for the district's most aggressive reform strategies in its history. The District moved its central office in 2013 to its current location at 1111 Superior Ave. E, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.

In 2013, Board Chair Denise L. Link won the Green-Garner "Top Urban Educator" Award, the highest honor given by the Council of the Great City Schools for significant contributions to urban schools and students. CEO Eric Gordon was a national finalist for the same award in 2012.

Demographic history of CMSD

Cleveland was hit hard in the 1960s and early 1970s by white flight and suburbanization, exacerbating a long-term decline in population that began in 1950. While the city's total population declined, Cleveland Public Schools' enrollment had increased: 99,686 in 1950, and 134,765 in 1960, and 148,793 in 1963.^[9] Cleveland Public Schools financially struggled with a growing student population, and a declining tax base due to regional industrial decline and depopulation of the metropolitan and urban areas in favor of the suburbs.^[9]

After World War II, middle-class jobs and families migrated to the suburbs leaving behind predominantly low-income student enrollment in the Cleveland Public School system.^[9]

On December 12, 1973, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Cleveland Chapter filed suit, Reed vs. Rhodes,^[10][11] against the Cleveland Board of Education in Cleveland's United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to racially integrate Cleveland Public Schools,^[12] claiming that the public schools were at least partly at fault for Cleveland's housing segregation into ethnic neighborhoods. Between August 31, 1976^[11] and 1984, Chief United States District Judge Frank J. Battisti issued over 4,000 court orders including implementation of forced-busing of Cleveland Public Schools,^[9] the case was appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which by 23 Aug. 1979 upheld Battisti's earlier orders,^[10] and was later upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mandatory busing was one of several factors which sped up the migration from out of Cleveland by those who could afford to. The administrative and operational expense of complying with mandatory busing and other federal court orders caused a dramatic increase in overhead expenditures per student, while declining tax revenues resulted in lower expenditures on actually educating public school students.^[9]

The combination of many factors resulted in declining enrollments.^[9] Before mandatory busing, in 1976, minority enrollment in Cleveland Public Schools was 58%, by 1994 it was 71%. By 1996, Cleveland Public Schools total enrollment was half of what it was pre-mandatory busing.^[13] In 1991, Ohio had a new proficiency test for 9th grade students, which the majority of Cleveland Public Schools students did not pass.^[9] By 1994, almost 50% of the system's students were failing to graduate from high school.^[9] Meanwhile, many graduates did not qualify for entry-level jobs,^[9] with many employers increasingly requiring secondary or post-secondary degrees ^[9] due to more information technology-related jobs and other changes in the overall economy.

In March 1994, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Cleveland Chapter, Reed vs. Rhodes plaintiff, challenged the fairness of the Ohio 9th. grade proficiency test as an Ohio secondary school graduation requirement for African-American students;^[14] the subsequent federal court settlement agreement(s) left the 9th grade secondary school graduation requirement intact and unchanged in 1994 and subsequently.^[14] Prior to mandatory busing, Cleveland Public Schools graduation rate was 75 percent, by 1996 it had dropped to 26.6 percent.^[13] Although mandatory busing ended in the 1990s, Cleveland continued to slide into poverty, reaching a nadir in 2004 when it was named the poorest major city in the United States.^[15] Cleveland was again rated the poorest major city in the U.S. in 2006, with a poverty rate of 32.4%.^[16]

Schools

Elementary & K-8 schools

High Schools

"Growth schools," the highest-rated group, will stay as is while gaining some extra freedom in management. "Refocus schools," are improving and will get added attention—for example, leadership training—to help continue their progress. "Repurpose schools," which face staff changes or conversion to charters to give them a jolt. The remaining schools will close, with students transferred to neighboring facilities unless they take advantage of citywide open enrollment. "Monitor closely schools," are those schools that will not be placed in a group until the 2011-2012 school year.^[17]

Prior to 1998 the school board was elected. Since that time the board has been appointed by the Mayor.

Gifted, honors and advanced placement schools

History of the Gifted and Talented (Major Work) Program In October 1921, the Cleveland Public School System began its first program for gifted children at Denison Elementary School where gifted children in grades four, five, and six participated. This program was supported by the Women’s City Club of Cleveland. From 1921 to 1927, fourteen elementary and two junior high schools were established as centers for gifted children. In the decades of the 1940s and 1950s, the Cleveland Public Schools developed and articulated a program for gifted pupils from the primary grades through high school. Thus, from a modest beginning, the program, which at one time was called the “greatest experiment in education,” has grown and developed into a program that currently provides enriching educational experiences for over 2,500 children with high intellectual and/or academic ability.

Funding

Total district revenues for the 2011-2012 school year amounted to $630,981,000, with 27% of revenues coming from local funding, 58% from state funding, and 15% derived from federal funding.^[18] This total revenue amounted to $15,464 per pupil. The Ohio Department of Education reports the average teacher salary for the 2012-2013 school year was $69,314, with a median teacher salary of $72,940.^[19]

Gifted education

The Gifted Education Program in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District consists of the ‘Major Work’ Program, currently in grades 2-8, and the Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) Programs in grades 9-12. There are seven PreK-8 Schools, one Grades 2-12 School, and five Grades 9-12 Schools that service gifted identified children. The AP courses vary amongst high schools.

Entrance into the ‘Major Work’ Program is based upon a 95 percentile score in the National Range in a major subject area on the Stanford 10 Group Test or the Woodcock-Johnson-III Individual Test. A Full Scale IQ score of 125 or above on the Otis-Lennon Group Test or the WISC-IV Individual Test also qualifies a child for the program.^[20]

Grades 2-6 Gifted Courses, Grades 7-8 Honors Courses

• Benjamin Franklin—2-8
• Garfield—2-8
• O. H. Perry—2-8
• Riverside—2-8
• Wade Park—2-8
• Whitney Young—2-8

Grades 9-12 courses

Gifted coded students feed into these high schools unless they apply to another special program or thematic school:

• Collinwood
• East Tech
• Glenville
• James F. Rhodes
• John Marshall
• Whitney Young

Advanced Placement program

Courses vary from school to school:

• Carl Shuler
• Cleveland School of Arts
• Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, John Hay Campus
• Collinwood
• Early College, John Hay Campus
• East Tech
• Garrett Morgan School of Science
• Ginn Academy
• Glenville
• James F. Rhodes
• John Marshall
• Lincoln West
• South
• Whitney Young
  • Note Whitney Young has grades 2-12

School uniforms

The district requires all kindergarten through 8th grade student to wear school uniforms; this rule began in 2008. High schoolers are required to adhere to a strict dress code.^[21] In February 2009 the school board voted in favor of a rule stating that high schoolers need to wear uniforms.^[22]

Graduation requirements

In early 2009, Ohio Department of Education announced its new high school graduation requirements that would take effect starting with students entering ninth grade in 2010 (Class of 2014). Under these requirements, students to must take an additional year of mathematics, more business/ career tech class and fewer electives.

New report cards

In the 2009-2010 school CMSD introduced its new report card and progress report system. The new report cards were reduced from four pages to one page in high schools, and from four to six - eight pages for students in grades 1-8, but offered less information about students progress. Teachers, Principal, and Teacher Union Officials complained about the new system arguing teachers had to wake up at 3AM to enter grade because the system was kicking them and not allowing them to enter grades at reasonable times. Principals had problems printing report cards and saving grades. Parent and students felt the report cards showed very little information compared to the older versions. The new system was said to be sponsored by Sungard.

See also

• List of school districts in Ohio

References

External links

• Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD)
• Early History of the Cleveland Public Schools - Digitized book. From description at the site: "Published by order of the Board of Education in 1876. The author established the first free high school in Ohio in 1846, which became Central High School. This work is a continuous narrative without chapter divisions. It includes information on individual schools and a list of school board members from 1836-1866."