A new way of ranking school districts places Strongsville in the top 15 percent of systems in Ohio.

Strongsville ranks 122nd out of 1,002 districts in Ohio on the Performance Index. 

The Ohio Department of Education has released a preview of the new ratings, which will be required by next September.

Superintendent Jeff Lampert said the PI is not new -- it's part of the annual state report card.

"We've already been using it to evaluate ourselves," Lampert said, adding that Strongsville's score increased from 102 to 103.6 this year. "We're moving the needle in the right direction."

Individual school buildings are also ranked by Performance Index. Strongsville High School placed 128th out of the 32,000 schools in Ohio.

Drake Elementary was ranked 391 and Whitney Elementary came in at 614.

A district’s performance index measures how students score on standardized tests. The measure includes all students — not just those who score proficient or above — by weighting the different scores.

School buildings and districts earn points based on how well each student in grades 3-8 does on Ohio's Achievement Assessments and how 10th graders do on the Ohio Graduation Test.

The department determines the percentage of students that scored at a certain level, multiplies that by the appropriate weight and adds it together. A higher performance index means more students scored well. 

"Performance index is actually one component of the state report card," said Dennis Evans, Ohio Department of Education public information officer. "There are other measures on the report card as well."

Evans stressed that the rankings released so far are preliminary. The final ranking released next year will also incorporate data on the amount of money devoted to classroom instruction and opportunities provided to gifted students.

"Going forward, the ranking will be based on other criteria as well. What we released last week is actually a preview," he said.

Lampert said he believes taking individual aspects of the state report card and creating new rankings "can get confusing," but the district is pleased with its showing.

"We'll continue to use it as a tool to help us do a better job," Lampert said.

The most recent state budget requires the Ohio Department of Education to create a new ranking system for districts and schools based on measures including the performance index, student performance growth, spending per student and opportunities provided to gifted students. 

According to the department, this final ranking system must be in place by September 2012.