State test assessment method to be changed; results of little value
By JOEL E. MAST and REUBEN MEES
Examiner Staff Writers
[email protected]; [email protected]
The recently released state report card provides little useful information to educators as it used a one-time assessment method that will not be repeated in the future.
The report card, issued by the Ohio Department of Education, leaves local administrators frustrated, wondering if the school districts and their residents should stand up to state lawmakers who continually change the evaluation bar.
 |
“It was a one-day look at our district,” said Ridgemont Local School District Superintendent Emmy Beeson, “that may or may not represent what we think we should teach our students.
“We have to ask, ‘Does one size fit all?’ We don’t think it’s telling our story.”
Ridgemont graduates 94.9 percent of its students in four years and it is home to a nationally recognized FFA program.
It also has a kindergarten through third grade program where students learn how to tell the story of the math and science behind composting and high school students who use computer links to help peers in Tanzania develop gardens and agricultural programs.
“These are programs I can’t measure with a multiple choice quiz,” Ms. Beeson said.
She is focusing on developing local standards with community residents and using that to measure the district’s performance.
There were numerous other problems with the standardized test Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and that will be replaced with the American Institutes for Research test in the coming year, other local superintendents said.
Bellefontaine City School’s Superintendent Brad Hall said in a statement to his board, “The data released by the Ohio Department of Education is one snapshot in time, using an assessment that had never been used before, and will not be repeated in the future.
“To compare it to previously released district report cards would not provide an accurate analysis of our growth.
“We know there are areas on the report card that are not accurate. The district has worked with the Ohio Department of Education to correct information and/or include language on our report cards that acknowledge errors in data reporting.”
At Indian Lake, the administration has prepared its own report to parents and residents.
Superintendent Pat O’Donnell said the PARCC test was flawed and the data from the state report card is only marginally valid.
“The Indian Lake School District believes the state report card should be used as a guide to increase the quality of services to our students,” the superintendent wrote in a statement. “However, a large portion of the results compiled in the recent report card released by the State of Ohio for the 2014-15 school year should be considered invalid.
“Due to PARCC’s technical inefficiencies, our students experienced dozens of disruptive irregularities while testing. As such, the State of Ohio has discontinued using PARCC tests after only one year. Still, approximately two-thirds of our district evaluation is based on results from these unreliable exams.
“That being said, we have studied relevant data collected from the AIR tests, the Ohio Graduation Tests and the Ohio Achievement Assessment. We have created our own report that examines areas where we need improvement and highlights our successes. This report can be viewed on our website at ils-k12.org.”
Read complete story in Friday’s Examiner.
CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
WEB EDITION STARTING AT $9.50 FOR 5 WEEKS!
Full results for each school district are available at the Ohio Department of Education website: education.ohio.gov.