YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Youngstown City School District leaders say they are making progress under a state-required Academic Improvement Plan (AIP), but acknowledge it remains unclear if the district will meet the benchmarks needed to move fully out of academic oversight.

The plan, created under House Bill 110 after the district came out of academic distress, requires Youngstown to meet 51 percent of 24 benchmarks. Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said the district has seen encouraging results, including double-digit gains in many areas.

“We’ve been pretty transparent that we’re not done… we saw double-digit gains in many areas, but we don’t know if we’ll hit that 51 percent threshold,” Batchelor said.

Final results will not be available until after Sept. 15, when the state report cards are released. The district must then submit its annual report to the Department of Education and Workforce by Dec. 1.

“To fully exit the designation, we have to demonstrate that progress in the data,” Batchelor said. “The state can always give us recommendations, and we welcome those, but we’re focused on doing the work.”

As part of that effort, the district is expanding its partnership with Youngstown State University. Graduate assistants will be placed in math classrooms to support students who struggle and eventually allow the district to offer more advanced coursework.

“Yes, it should be helping some of our struggling students,” Batchelor said. “But then also some of our higher learning students might be able to have some more advanced math classes eventually.”

Batchelor said the collaboration is designed to fill gaps where highly qualified math teachers are difficult to find, while also creating long-term opportunities for students to pursue higher-level courses such as statistics and calculus.

While the district continues to monitor progress on the AIP, Batchelor said the ultimate decision rests with the state. “We’re doing all the right things to be the district this community wants us to be,” he said. “Now we just want the chance to move forward.”