For Westlake High School principal Tim Freedman, Wednesday's news that Westlake City Schools had earned an Excellent With Distinction rating from the Ohio Department of Education was sweet.

"Our goal is educating for excellence," he said. "It's great to have that reinforced."

Freeman knew good things were happening after he saw the test scores.

"I knew our kids had performed well enough for at least an Excellent (rating)," he said.

Westlake had been rated Excellent in 2011.

He had not had a chance to review the spreadsheet, a new format as the state released preliminary data on Wednesday.

"Westlake is a perfect storm," Freeman said. "We have talented students, a good community, dedicated parents and outstanding educators. That all came together to create this result."

Superintendent Dan Keenan said Thursday that the district knew the performance index would be the highest in the district's history.

"When we say we educate for excellence, the state report card is only part of that," he said. "We're going to use the information we get here and look for ways to keep getting better."

Here are some of the results for Westlake City Schools posted on Wednesday: