Ohio needs to combine and shorten its new tests and give three-year "safe harbor," state testing committee decides

Ohio needs to shorten its new state tests and give students, teachers and schools a three year "safe harbor" on any negative consequences from bad scores, the state Senate Advisory Committee on Testing decided last night.

State Sen. Peggy Lehner, who created the committee, said the group of teachers, superintendents and legislators unanimously made several recommendations Wednesday.

Among them:

- Cut the new tests from one round (in February and March) and a second round (in April and May) to just one round in May.

- Make them shorter.

- Wait three years until people are comfortable with the new state and Common Core standards and tests before holding students, schools or teachers accountable for poor scores.

- Let the Ohio Department of Education decide which vendor should provide the tests.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Ohio's standardized test-makers preparing revisions

As state leaders consider changing or dumping new student assessments, the consortium of states that developed some of the exams is planning to streamline them.

The governing board of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) will consider recommendations in the coming weeks to shorten the time students spend taking standardized tests. A final decision is expected by mid- to late summer.

“We have heard what you all are saying,” Jeff Nellhaus, chief of assessments for PARCC, told members of a Senate advisory committee on student testing last week.

“We’re definitely addressing the testing-time issue.”

The PARCC governing board, which includes Ohio schools Superintendent Richard A. Ross, is expected to consider a proposal to combine two blocks of testing, one in the fall and another in the spring. Individual tests also could be shortened.

The tests for English/language arts and math currently take up to 10 hours, depending on the grade level.

Whether such changes will appease state lawmakers and local educators remains to be seen.

(Read more at Dispatch)

Ohio House plan to nix PARCC tests risks loss of $750 million in fed money

Risking the loss of three-quarters of a billion dollars in federal education funding, Republican leaders in the Ohio House have placed language in the two-year budget to ban the use of new student assessments and cut off the money to pay for them.

The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) tests in English/language arts and math have been under fire for being too hard on students, taking too much time away from classroom instruction and technical glitches with the online exams.

The House version of a two-year state budget prohibits the use of state funds to purchase the PARCC exams.

It also slashes $33.6 million per year from the Department of Education’s budget for assessments and bans the reallocation of other money to pay for assessments.

The proposal does not suggest a replacement for the tests that are required under federal law — and even if it did, the money to pay for them has been eliminated. Ohio spent $45 million on PARCC, which took years to develop and align with new Common Core academic standards.

“We’re trying to send a message that is pretty clear: We need to look at different testing mechanisms for the state,” said House Finance Chairman Ryan Smith, R-Bidwell.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Ohio educators give bad marks to new PARCC Common Core exams and other state tests

Ohio educators aren't happy with the state's new tests - both the Common Core exams from PARCC or other state tests from the American Institutes of Research.

Not teachers.

Not principals.

Not superintendents.

All three groups gave both sets of tests bad reviews in a statewide survey ordered by State Sen. Peggy Lehner as her Senate Advisory Committee on Testing looks at how Ohio should handle testing in the future.

The general public - parents, students and other residents labeled as "Other" in the results - also gave the tests poor reviews.

Lenher commissioned the online poll because she wanted to be sure that the loud complaints she was hearing about the first round of tests were broad concerns, not from just a few energetic testing opponents.

"Do we have a quantifiable way to measure how much of this has been really bad, how much has been minor?" she asked the state school board last month. The survey was her attempt to answer that question.

Lehner was not immediately available for comment, but the poll gives a clear answer: There is broad dissatisfaction with the tests, with how the online tests work and with how much time they take.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Local superintendents say future unclear for art, gym class in Ohio

In many Ohio school districts, gym classes and visits to the guidance counselor could soon be a thing of the past.

This week, the Ohio State Board of Education lifted a long-standing rule setting guidelines for support staff, gym teachers and art teachers. Schools in Ohio used to have to provide have at least five student support personnel from eight categories for every 1,000 students.

Those categories are art, music and physical-education teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers.

“It gives districts an opportunity to re-evaluate what is wanting to be offered, what can be offered. Fiscally sound districts like ourselves at this point it gives us the flexibility to maintain staff and to continue with course offerings,” Canfield Superintendent Alex Geordan said.

The classes and support staff all work in subjects that are not part of state mandated testing programs.

“I think they are all important in developing the whole child and they are all important in that aspect of the curriculum, but I do like the aspect of giving local control to the school if they would have to do that. I don’t see a lot of schools cutting those services at this time unless they are in a financial crisis,” Jackson-Milton Superintendent Kirk Baker said.

(Read more at wkbn.com).

State school board votes to abolish '5 of 8' staffing rule

The Ohio Board of Education voted on Monday to eliminate school-staffing requirements that critics argue will allow districts to eliminate music and art teachers, librarians, counselors and other staff.

After 3½ hours of public testimony and debate, the board voted 11 to 7 to abolish the so-called “5 of 8” rule.

The decades-old rule requires schools, with some exceptions, to have at least five of the following eight positions for every 1,000 students: art, music and physical-education teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers.

“There was ample opportunity for discussion, ample opportunity for amendments. I think it’s time for an up or down vote. Any rule can be revisited at any time,” said Ron Rudduck, a board member from Wilmington.

“We’ve had four or five votes since last year.”

Rudduck and other supporters argued that the mandate was outdated and school administrators and superintendents who sought the change were best positioned to make staffing decisions for their districts.

(Read more at Dispatch.com)