Clear standards needed to gauge success of schools

In approving a new testing regimen for Ohio schools, the General Assembly dare not water down the importance of tests in determining what a student knows and whether his or her school is providing a sound education.
The Senate last week passed S.B. 1, which replaces the state's proficiency tests with a system that is said to put less emphasis on passing tests and more on helping students to master subjects.
Helping students is, of course, a school's primary responsibility. But the state has an equal responsibility to see to it that every school district -- indeed, every school building -- is rising to the challenge. And well designed tests provide the data needed to do just that.
No guarantee: S.B. 1 abandons what had come to be known as the fourth grade guarantee, and that is troublesome. A pupil who could not pass the fourth grade test would be held back that year, unless his or her teachers and principal agreed that an exception should be made.
It is worth noting that the "guarantee," which would have gone into effect in 2002, was announced before any student who would be subject to it had entered kindergarten. Every school district in the state knew in advance what was expected.
That so many school districts failed to rise to that challenge, that so many thousands of children were approaching the deadline without being able to read adequately, is a scandal and a disgrace.
If the state is unwilling to paint a bright line in the fourth grade and instruct Ohio's school boards, administrators and teachers that each child shall be taught to read by then, what will be the result?
If a child who is unable to read is passed along to the next grade and the next, the result is almost inevitable. Eventually the child will complete 12 years of education and, although still unable to pass basic skill tests, will expect a diploma.
Defining cruelty: Some of the most strident critics of Ohio's proficiency tests like to refer to them as child abuse. It is cruel, they say, to tell a 9- or 10-year-old that she is a failure. We would submit that it is child abuse to compel attendance at school for 12 years, fail to provide that child with the skills needed to survive in the real world and then to set him free. All he is free to do is fail.
The risks of failure in the real cruel world go far beyond wounded pride or diminished self esteem. The cost of failure after school is poverty, abuse of various kinds and, quite possibly, jail.
It falls to the Ohio House of Representatives to take a long, hard look at the deficiencies of S.B. 1. Representatives should consider it a test of their willingness to demand accountability in education. If they fail this test, the failure of Ohio's children won't be far behind.