Here's the problem or loophole as some see it: Ohio law allows school districts to ignore the test scores of some underperforming students when reporting results for statewide proficiency and graduation tests.
An analysis of test scores by the Cleveland Plain Dealer indicates that over the last school year, the test scores of more than 2,000 Cleveland students were dropped from yearly progress and graduation results.
But as Ohio Department of Education spokeswoman Karla Warren told WCPN, they're not breaking the law.
WARREN: "The idea is to make sure that districts are accountable only for students they are continuously educating."
Ohio's "Continuously Enrolled" rule permits districts to drop a student's scores if he or she is absent for more than 10 days in a row. Sometimes the kids are just truant but often they don't come back to class because they have changed residences. Some do that multiple times within a school year.
Cleveland school officials say they are not trying to hide anything or stack the deck so that Cleveland's schools appear better than they are.
The city's chief academic officer, Eric Gordon, says the number of students dropped from the test results reported to the state translates to 4 percent of the district's total enrollment.
GORDON: "I think that's a pretty good handle on things …"And I think our report card this year shows we're willing to be accountable and responsible. We didn't get it done this year and we haven't done anything but be transparent about it. We didn't explain it away; we haven't tried to find ways to hide behind it."
Cleveland is not alone in the practice of dropping test scores of some students. School systems across the state do it.
A study conducted by Ohio's former deputy schools superintendent shows more than six percent of all students who took graduation and proficiency tests in 2007 weren't counted in district results.
Graduation rates and proficiency levels are in flux across the country. All states have to figure out a way to attain proficiency in reading, math and language arts by 2014 to comply with the federal law No Child Left Behind -- but there's no standard method for calculating progress.
So says Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy research institute
JENNINGS: "What we're learning is that things are worse than we feared. There are many kids, who are being neglected. They're dropping out and they're disappearing. The new numbers are much more sobering. Sometimes a 50 percent graduation rate."
However, Jennings says, Cleveland and other large urban cities are doing some things right. There is a trend toward district wide curriculum to help students who move from one school to another keep up. And, he agrees that the so-called loophole in reporting test results is defensible.
JENNINGS: "The school shouldn't necessarily be accountable for someone they educate in one month in the same way that they're accountable for somebody they educate for nine months...
The important thing, according to Jennings and other educators, is that students who move around a lot or miss a lot of school for other reasons still need to be educated. Schools are finding that a pretty big challenge."
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3