Nearly 72 percent of last year’s third-graders in Toledo Public Schools passed a 2014-15 state reading test while many surrounding suburban schools scored above 90 percent, according to long-delayed data released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Education.

Statewide, 94.1 percent of eligible third-graders met or exceeded the score needed for promotion to the fourth grade. That’s down from 95.8 percent in 2013-14, though the department noted the score needed to pass in 2014-15 was higher than the year before.

The measure, called the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, is intended to determine which students must repeat third grade.

At TPS, 71.9 percent of students met the “promotion threshold” score, but that didn’t factor in exempted students, such as those in special education or learning English. In actuality, the district estimated just shy of 95 percent of last year’s third-graders were promoted, while roughly 40 students are repeating third grade this year.

Even though the state didn’t publicly release data until Thursday, officials from local districts said they had the scores and information needed to make determinations about which of last year’s third-graders would be held back.

“We’ve been looking at the data year to year and knowing the number that passed the threshold,” said Jim Gault, chief academic officer at TPS.

The full 2014-15 school report card has been delayed for months because of the state’s transition to new tests, though these particular reading tests were not new that year.

The state has trickled bits and pieces of report card data over the past several months. In January, it provided figures such as graduation rates. In February, it released scores for a variety of other measures, including how students performed in multiple grades and subjects.

ODE spokesman Brittany Halpin said the Third Grade Reading Guarantee scores for the current class will be released this fall.

Students have up to six opportunities to meet the promotion score needed to advance to the next grade, she said. The state requires third-graders to take a test in the fall and spring, and additional tests can be taken during the school year and in the summer.

Many surrounding suburban districts scored well in the 2014-15 third-grade reading measure. In Lucas and Wood counties, Ottawa Hills, Elmwood, and Lake schools posted a 100 percent passage rate among eligible students, according to the state’s report.

Ottawa Hills Superintendent Kevin Miller said that while the scores aren’t timely, they validate the district’s work. He also noted the district’s kindergarteners first attend preschool, are read to at home, and “exposed to literacy.”

“But that doesn’t mean that they are all great readers automatically,” he said. “We just surround them with incredible intervention services.”

More than 99 percent of eligible Perrysburg and Sylvania students met the reading test threshold for the 2014-15 year, according to state data. Perrysburg runs a summer reading camp to improve students’ skills, said Kadee Anstadt, the district’s executive director of teaching and learning.

She and other local school officials currently are focused on this year’s crop of third graders.

Toledo, which also offers an intensive summer program, is preparing for reading tests in April and early May, and this year the state has moved to a new test.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published March 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.