MAHONING VALLEY SCHOOLS 52% pass proficiency test on 1st try

By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
More than half of Mahoning Valley eighth-graders passed the state proficiency test the first time they took it in March.
Of the 5,903 eighth-graders in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, 3,053, or 52 percent, passed all five sections.
The state education department released the results Thursday. They are available at www.ode.state.oh.us.
Ohio began administering the state ninth-grade proficiency test in 1990. Students must pass exams in reading, writing, math, citizenship and science to get a high school diploma. They have 10 chances to take the exams, beginning in the eighth grade.
Statewide, 48 percent of eighth-graders passed all five sections in March.
Highest, lowest
In the Mahoning Valley, Boardman and Crestview school districts posted the highest passage rates at 77 percent, followed by Canfield at 76 percent and Poland at 73 percent.
On the other hand, 15 percent of Warren schools' eighth-graders passed all five sections, the lowest rate in the tri-county area. In the Youngstown schools, 18 percent passed. By comparison, 12 percent of Cleveland eighth-graders passed.
Among eighth-graders in Catholic Diocese of Youngstown schools, 65 percent passed all sections.
This year's eighth-graders, who will graduate in 2006, are the last class required to pass the ninth-grade tests to graduate.
The ninth-grade exams will be replaced by the new 10th-grade Ohio Graduation Tests. Pupils in the class of 2007 (this year's seventh-graders) will be the first required to pass the new tests to earn a high school diploma.
The new test will include the same five parts of the old exam and students will begin taking them in the 10th grade.
The state also gives proficiency tests in the fourth and sixth grades. Results of those tests were released last week and also are on the education department's Web site.