This analysis provides one method of predicting how a district would have scored when accounting for poverty and other income measures.
To produce this analysis, The Enquirer gathered data from the Ohio Department of Education's Education Information Management Services for the 1995-96 school year on each public school district and median family income figures in 1995 from the Ohio Department of Taxation.
Information from the 1995-96 school year was used because comparable information in all categories was available.
The analysis focused on student test scores, demographic data and other measures, including student-teacher ratios and per-pupil expenditures.
The newspaper considered passage rates on the math, reading, science, writing and citizenship proficiency exams given to fourth-, sixth-, ninth- and twelfth-graders in early 1996. For ninth-graders, who begin taking that test as earlier as eighth grade, cumulative passage data was used.
By comparing the number passing each test with the total number who took each exam, The Enquirer calculated an overall percentage passing the tests for each district.
Four districts were omitted from the analysis -- Middle Bass and North Bass in Ottawa County, Kelleys Island in Erie County and College Corner in Preble County -- because those districts did not give an exam at all four grade levels.
Using statistical analysis, the newspaper then used a multiple regression to examine the relationship between test scores and three economic factors: median family income of all taxpayers living within the district, the percentage of students from families on welfare and the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-priced lunch. In some instances, districts had no students participating in the meal program, which gave them a zero in that category. This did not significantly alter their score, because of the weight given the other factors.
In each case, the economic factors alone help explain more than half the test scores. Taken together, they showed a strong relationship between economic factors and how students perform on the proficiency exams.
