More changes and more tests await Ohio students

More changes and more tests await Ohio students

BOARDMAN

Students will take more tests and it will be more difficult for school districts to earn As on state report cards under a new system proposed for Ohio.

Changes on the state report card proposed for next year will give each school and district a letter grade from A to F. Before, the elements figured into that calculation — performance indicators met, performance index, value added and meeting adequate yearly progress — were weighted differently with value-added, for example, counting for less of the overall score.

With the change, though, all of those elements will be weighted equally, said Barbara Williams, director of teaching and learning at the Mahoning County Educational Service Center.

Fewer schools will earn As.

On the most recent report card, 86 districts across the state were designated excellent with distinction, and 266 were designated excellent. Those districts would be graded A on the most recent report card. But under the new, more rigorous system, only 17 districts would earn an A — none of them in Mahoning Valley.

The changes are part of the state’s application to the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver from No Child Left Behind requirements.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com