Category: News

Hilliard Darby High School and Washington Elementary have been recognized as a Purple Star School by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This award celebrates the school’s dedication to supporting military-connected students and their families. Congratulations on this well-deserved achievement! These two join Davidson and Bradley High Schools which have already been designated as Purple Star Schools.

To learn more about the Purple Star Award, click here!

For the past 16 years, the competition cheerleading teams from all three high schools and middle schools get together for one evening of cheer. Cheerfest started in 2008 to get all the schools together to showcase their competition routines. Former coaches and cheerleaders evaluate the performance of each school. Each coach uses the feedback to perfect their routines for the season. Hilliard Cheer is the only school district in the state with more than one high school that continually places within the top 10 at states each year. Each school has won numerous OCC, State, and even National championships. Our robust middle school programs serve as a foundation for these exceptional programs.

This year at Cheerfest, three former coaches were inducted into the first class of the Hilliard Cheer Hall of Fame, recognizing their commitment and dedication to our cheer programs’ history. Each has made a lasting impact on our programs.

Carolyn Dougherty, a retired teacher, coached middle school sports for over 30 years. She laid the foundation for all our programs.

Aimee Jordan, an intervention specialist at Brown, coached at Heritage and Darby. She moved to Bradley when it opened and earned a State Championship the first year.

Michelle Miller was a coach and teacher at Darby High School for 17 years. Her passion for teaching and coaching was well-known throughout all of our cheer programs.

For the first time this year, the cheer programs collaborated to offer a scholarship to a senior athlete who demonstrated leadership not only in their cheer team but also in the school and community. Congratulations to all of our inductees!

As you have heard, the Ohio Department of Education recently released the Ohio School Report Cards for the 2022-23 school year.  We’re thrilled to share some exciting news about one of the components of the report card:  Progress.  The Progress Component is based 100% on the district’s value-added score.

The value-added score is made up of two components:  overall growth index and effect size.  I am pleased to report that, according to the Ohio Department of Education, Hilliard City Schools was ranked #1 out of 607 public school districts on the overall growth index and #15 out of 607 districts on effect size.

Value-added looks closely at the growth all students are making based on their past state test performances.  In short, value-added measures how much our district’s teachers grow student performance, regardless of where students start, over the course of a year’s time.  It is a true representation of our commitment to every student, without exception.

The Progress Component (based 100% on value-added) measures the academic performance of students compared to expected growth on Ohio’s State Tests. This calculation uses a “value-added” model of measuring academic growth that compares the change in the achievement of a group of students to an expected amount of change in achievement that is based on the students’ prior achievement history.

I want to congratulate every employee and every student of the Hilliard City Schools for this achievement.  This is a testament to their hard work and dedication to being Ready for Tomorrow.

David Stewart – Superintendent

The Ohio Department of Education recently released the Ohio School Report Cards for the 2022-2023 school year. We are pleased to announce that Hilliard City Schools continues to make positive gains in our goal of ensuring that every student, without exception, is Ready for Tomorrow. 

One change in this year’s report card is the inclusion of an “Overall” rating.  The Overall rating is out of 5 possible stars, in increments of .5 stars.  The Ohio Department of Education has clarified that an overall rating of at least 3 stars indicates that a district or school has met state standards. We are proud to share that Hilliard City Schools has earned 4.5 out of 5 stars, affirming our commitment to academic excellence.

We are particularly delighted to have received 5 stars in Progress and Gap Closing. Progress measures the growth made by all our students based on their past performance, reflecting our dedication to continuous improvement. The Gap Closing component evaluates our efforts in reducing educational disparities among student subgroups, emphasizing our commitment to equity and inclusivity.

In the category of Achievement, Hilliard City Schools received four stars. This component assesses student performance on state tests.  Within this component, we are also excited to share that our Performance Index Score, which is a measure of all tests taken by all students, continues to increase as well.

Hilliard City Schools received three stars in both Graduation and Early Literacy, which indicates that the district is meeting state standards. Graduation evaluates the percentage of students who graduate with a regular or honors diploma, while the Early Literacy component assesses reading improvement and proficiency levels in grades K-3. These areas will be a focal point for our continued improvement efforts.  Specific to the Early Literacy component, this year, we launched new K-12 English Language Arts Curriculums. The Wit and Wisdom program is the new resource that our professionals chose to support this new curriculum.  It is designed for our younger learners and will empower students to read challenging texts, write effectively, and speak clearly and logically. We believe these initiatives will lead to even greater gains across our district.

At Hilliard City Schools, our vision is to Embrace, Empower, and Inspire students, families, and the community through an active partnership.  While we will never be defined solely by state test scores or local report card results, we are pleased to celebrate the success of our teachers and students.  While we recognize that there is always more work to be done, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of our parents, students, staff, and community members for their unwavering support and the work that went into this success. Together, we will continue to raise the bar for educational excellence in Hilliard for every student, without exception.

Superintendent David Stewart