Reading, Pennsylvania

Ohio's 2025-2026 school report cards, released Tuesday by the Department of Education and Workforce, show statewide English language arts proficiency rose 1.8 points to 62.2%, while math proficiency climbed 1.1 points to 56.4%. Chronic absenteeism fell slightly to 23.9%, still well above the state's 12.8% target. The English gains follow the state's 2023 mandate requiring schools to teach phonics and "science of reading" methods, backed by roughly $200 million in training, textbooks and literacy coaching; officials, including Gov. Mike DeWine, say the approach is working but caution that dramatic results take years, citing Mississippi's decade-long turnaround. Math instruction lacks a comparably established research base, though the state rolled out a math improvement plan last year.

Locally, East Cleveland's district held its 3-star rating for a second straight year after meeting state standards, while Cleveland Metropolitan School District stayed at 2.5 stars, unchanged from last year, though its four-year graduation rate rose to 79.6%. CMSD's score could still shift pending a state investigation into test irregularities at three elementary schools.

A traveling exhibit dubbed "The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room" has opened to the public in Dallas, displaying roughly 3 million pages of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Organizers, sponsored by nonprofits Institute for Primary Facts and defiance.org, describe it as both a public education campaign and a tribute to survivors, featuring a visual timeline of Epstein's decades-long relationship with Trump before his presidency. Coordinator David Garrett said Trump is named roughly 38,000 times across the files, which is why organizers chose the name to draw attention. Epstein survivors Lara Bloom McGee and Sharlene Rochard, featured at the exhibit, said co-conspirators' names remain redacted and emphasized the issue is about abuse, not politics.

The exhibit's public opening coincided with the start of the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas and Trump's arrival in the city, timing organizers called coincidental. Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing and says he ended his association with Epstein years before Epstein's 2019 arrest and death in custody, ruled a suicide.