BOARD OF EDUCATION Graduation test receives new scoring categories

The new standards are appropriate, a spokesman says.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Three times a year, when Canton City Schools offer a new chance for students to pass the ninth-grade proficiency tests required for an Ohio high school diploma, a handful of former students in their 20s show up for one more try.
"We have kids who are 25, 26 years old coming back to take the math test because they have never been able to graduate from high school," said George Burwell, assistant to the superintendent.
Canton and other districts will have to wait to determine if the new Ohio Graduation Test replacing the ninth-grade tests will be an improvement, he said.
Seeking approval
The Ohio Board of Education planned to approve scoring categories, including passing scores, for the science and math portions of the test today. Starting next spring, sophomores will be tested in those subjects plus writing, science and social studies. The board will set pass-fail scores for the last three tests next June.
State Superintendent Susan Tave Zellman believes what the board is set to adopt is fair, but she remains concerned about the low score recommended for passing and an "unacceptable" gap in scores on this year's sample tests between white students and some minorities, said J.C. Benton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education.
The state teachers union also will be watching closely, an official said.
The union is glad that the new tests for the first time are modeled closely on what the state recommends students should know at each grade level, but still worried about the power of one single test, said Karen Fulton, director of education policy for the Ohio Education Association.
"On the basis of a test score, there will be a high-stakes decision made about whether they graduate," she said. "There ought to be multiple assessments and multiple ways progress is measured."
Under state law, the tests are set for a 10th-grade level, two grade levels higher than the former exit exams. Students will have several chances to pass to graduate on time in 2007.
The board vote will set the number of correct answers needed for a student's performance to be considered limited, basic, proficient, accelerated or advanced. The board also is to vote on its intent to adopt alternative standards for disabled students, then open the standards for public input.
Passing the test
A student must achieve "proficient" to pass. The board said it would set that cutoff at 20 questions out of 48 for reading, or 42 percent, and 19 of 46, or 41 percent, for math.
If graded on that system, 22 percent of about 75,000 sophomores who took sample tests in spring failed in reading and 32 percent failed in math.
When broken down by race, the differences were stark: 18 percent of whites and 16 percent of Asians and Pacific islanders failed, compared with 38 percent of American Indians, 40 percent of Hispanics and 42 percent of blacks.
The disparity in urban Canton has been more economic than ethnic, Burwell said.
"Our kids who are on free and reduced lunch have a tendency to perform at lower rates," he said. "It's definitely an issue of needing to help more of our families improve their economic situation ... especially in Canton. The economy's a mess."
Timken Co. is closing three plants that employ 1,300 people in the city, and last week Maytag Corp. announced it will cut 1,100 salaried jobs by moving its Hoover Co. headquarters from nearby North Canton.
"It just seems to be getting worse by the week," Burwell said. "There's no question in my mind that has an impact on student performance."
Despite the hard time students have with the old tests, the standards for passing the new one seem too low, Burwell said.
XOn the Net: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/proficiency/