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Kent City Schools reports preliminary OST gains and a drop in chronic absenteeism
Summary
District staff presented preliminary 2026 OST test results showing gains across grades and subjects and reported chronic absenteeism declined from 27% to 24%; the board heard plans to continue MTSS-based interventions and will receive a fuller progress update in July.
Kent City Schools officials told the board on June 16 that preliminary 2026 Ohio State Test (OST) results show year-over-year gains across several grade levels and subject areas, and that the district’s chronic absenteeism rate has fallen from 27% to 24%.
“Those seven state qualifiers and the growth we saw in algebra I and geometry were just pretty phenomenal,” Director of Data Analysis Linda Pollus said as she reviewed preliminary ELA, math, science and social-studies results. Pollus said the district’s scores were above the state average in most tested grades; fourth grade was a notable exception in ELA and several elementary grades showed mixed results in math.
Pollus told the board the district met state chronic-absence reporting thresholds in two ways this year — reducing the rate by more than the 1.1 percentage-point comparator and by the state’s 3% comparative metric — citing an overall drop from 27% to 24%. She credited district initiatives and partners: social-media outreach by Jenny Morganti, a collaboration with Kent State, and building-level incentive programs for improved attendance.
Superintendent Tom Lin said the district will bring a portion of its three-year strategic-plan progress monitoring to the July meeting focused on pillar two (climate, culture and safety) and attendance strategies. Pollus added that gap-closing measures already earned the district the top rating in that domain, while final progress scores are expected in September when the full report card is released.
Board members pressed for grade-band detail; staff said chronic-absence is concentrated in early grades (preschool, kindergarten) and again at ninth grade and among seniors. The board discussed continued use of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), District Leadership Team (DLT) and Building Leadership Team (BLT) reviews to dissect subgroup performance and inform targeted interventions.
The board did not take formal action on test results at the meeting; staff will return with additional progress-monitoring materials in July.
