A Hamilton JournalNews analysis of the incomplete 2011-12 state report cards released Wednesday shows some Butler County school districts may receive new ratings based on the crucial value-added measure.

Fairfield City Schools could be elevated back to “Excellent” status. Talawanda City Schools did not meet the value-added benchmark, so it is unclear if it will retain its “Excellent With Distinction” rank.

Hamilton City Schools could remain at “Continuous Improvement” by not meeting the measure. Meanwhile, Ross and Lakota schools — all rated “Excellent With Distinction” last year — may retain that top tier title because they exceeded value-added.

“In grades three through eight, we had historic highs for the district in six test areas,” Ross Local Schools Superintendent Greg Young said.

Having met the benchmarks for Adequate Yearly Progress and value-added, Young said he expects another “Excellent with Distinction” rating for Ross when those are released.

“Out of the 14 tests, our scores were the best in Butler County except for two,” Young said. “Obviously, we’re really pleased. Our graduation rate (97.7 percent) is also the highest it’s ever been.”

The Ohio Department of Education released a slimmed-down version of the annual report cards because of the ongoing statewide investigation into whether some school districts manipulated attendance data to improve their ratings.

The preliminary data spreadsheet does not include attendance rates, Performance Index score or overall district ratings from “Excellent with Distinction” to “Academic Emergency,” the equivalent of an A-plus to F letter grade.

Final report cards containing that information won’t be released until the state auditor’s office investigation is complete.

The preliminary report cards included 25 state indicators showing the results of how students performed on the OAAs and OGTs, the graduation rate, value-added and AYP.

Value-added shows whether fourth- through eighth-grade students have made a year’s worth of progress. Although the ODE noted that it is just one factor in a district’s rating, last year none of Butler County’s districts earned the state’s top rating without exceeding that measure.

Hamilton City Schools is pleased with its “strong academic progress in meeting 19 out of 24 academic areas,” said Superintendent Janet Baker. “Particularly noteworthy is the increase of two indicators from last year’s report card.”

The district did not meet the benchmarks for AYP and value-added growth, so it is uncertain whether it will get a different rating than last year’s “Continuous Improvement.”

Dave Gibson, superintendent of New Miami Local Schools, said the district seems to be holding steady in its progress. Last year, New Miami earned an “Excellent” designation.

Because of the district’s failure to meet AYP and value-added growth, Gibson predicts an “Effective” rating when the final calculations are made.

“I think our OGT scores for the 10th and 11th graders have been very consistent for us,” he said. “We’ve struggled for many years, but there are many positive things here.”

Edgewood City Schools Superintendent Doug Lantz was out of the district for a conference Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Edgewood was rated “Excellent” in 2011, but did not meet the AYP and value-added growth measures for 2012.

The Lakota Local School District met all 24 state indicators and made improvements in more than half of the areas. For four consecutive years, Lakota has received a rating of “Excellent with Distinction.”

The district recorded improved scores over the previous year in 15 areas, including increased mathematics scores in six grade levels and increased reading skills in three grade levels.

Shelley Hilderbrand, chief academic administrator of data, assessment and core instruction, said it’s too early to comment on the possibility of a fifth year of “Excellent with Distinction.” Lakota met the benchmark for AYP and exceeded the value-added growth measure.

Today’s released data represented an upswing for Fairfield City Schools, which saw its report card rating drop last year to “Effective” from “Excellent With Distinction” for the 2009-10 school year.

Fairfield met all 26 indicators this year; last year it fell short in three areas. It met the value-added growth measure, bit not AYP.

Superintendent Paul Otten said he was very pleased with the results, but expressed frustration that the districts don’t have all the data yet.

“I’m very pleased that we’re meeting all the benchmarks, but it’s frustrating because people want to know what the overall rating is. The Average Yearly Progress is a concern for us, because we spend a lot of time working on that piece,” Otten said.

The superintendent preferred not to speculate what Fairfield’s rating would ultimately be.

The Talawanda School School District met 23 out of 24 state indicators, but did not meet the value-added component.

“I’m pleased that we hit the benchmark in all areas except fifth-grade math,” Talawanda Superintendent Kelly Spivey said.

As far as not meeting the AYP component, she said “that’s an area we’re constantly working on, and we’ll continue to work on that. We have what is called our Response to Intervention team with representatives from K-12 and administrators, and we meet every month and study this.”

Staff writers Hannah Poturalski, Eric Robinette and Pete Conrad and Margo Rutledge Kissell contributed to this report.