The Ohio Department of Education released its "Academic Report Cards" yesterday for the 2006/2007 school year -- its scores on how the state's schools are performing. Cleveland schools improved from "Academic Watch" to "Continuous Improvement," a good sign for Cleveland Municipal School District SEO, Eugene Sanders' new concentration on academic excellence.

Forty area school districts received the highest, "Excellent" rating. Among these are Bay Village, Beachwood, Brecksville, Cuyahoga Heights, Hudson, Independence, Mentor, Rocky River, Solon, Twinsburg, and Westlake School Districts.

Schools are graded on 30 standards, including attendance rate, graduation rate, and performance on the state's 28 proficiency tests. The full report can be viewed on the ODE Web site.

^{(photo of John Hay HS © Stu Spivack/cc license)}