Big city districts and other unique districts have fewer peers because they can only be compared to other like districts. Issues Developing similar district comparison groupings is a process that facilitates comparative analysis tailored to each of Ohio s school districts. Despite the benefits to this approach, there are some potential concerns with the methodology. These concerns are outlined below, including any attempts to rectify them within the context of the method. The method does not include a geographical dimension .
Many districts tend to compare themselves with surrounding districts.
The similar district method does not necessarily include geographically close districts in the given district's comparison grouping because neighboring districts might not truly be the most similar districts in the state. The method assumes that each district is unique and that there is a certain set of other districts that are similar enough for comparison. Districts Similar to few . In a few cases, however, a district is so unique that there is great distance between that district and its most similar districts. In most cases, districts in this category are big cities.