A new gauge to determine if Ohio students are college-ready

Every administration wants to put its mark on education in Ohio, and that is both a blessing and a curse.

Change is a good thing, especially when what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working too well. But change for the sake of change can lead to chaos.

So, into which category would we put a recent suggestion by Ohio Chancellor Jim Petro that the state adopt a new high-school test to assess college readiness. We think it’s a good idea, as far as it goes.

Petro, whose job is overseeing college education, not high school, is suggesting that the Ohio Graduation Test be replaced with a 10th-grade test, possibly the ACT.

Using the ACT to assess college readiness is an obviously good fit. It’s one of the factors that most colleges use in making admissions decisions.

And while students can be coached in how to do a bit better on the ACT, it’s a little difficult for teachers to teach to the test, which is one of the complaints heard against standardized testing.

Actually, every student who considers himself or herself college-bound should take an ACT readiness course. It’s pretty much a given for most middle-class students; not so much in families that don’t have a few hundred dollars to spare.

So we’re guessing that if the ACT replaces the OGT, every school district — urban, suburban and rural — will make it a point to give their students an ACT tutorial. That will help level the playing field for all students.

Working together

Petro also says that he and Stan Heffner, the state superintendent of public instruction who oversees kindergarten through 12th grade, are working on a partnership between their two agencies.

That only makes sense. As we said, Petro’s idea to assess college readiness in high school students is good, as far as it goes. But getting students ready for college has to start earlier than high school — a lot earlier.

Effectively educating a child begins at birth, and the more attention a child gets early on, the better.

Petro’s challenge is that Ohio has an unimpressive record in graduating students from college. About 47 percent of those who enter college receive a bachelor’s degree within six years. But of those who are demonstrably not ready for college — that is those who require at least one remedial class as freshmen — only 15 percent graduate in six years. Remedial is a polite word for having to repeat what should have been learned before being handed a high school diploma. And 40 percent of Ohio’s incoming freshmen need at least one remedial course. Forty percent, and that’s of the students who enroll in college.

We can understand some public school administrators being upset when the targets change with the political winds that blow through the state. But we have a feeling that the districts that are producing college-ready students today, will continue to do so regardless of the name of the test. And the districts that aren’t need some new tools. Petro wants to provide them.