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Ohio state officials to parents: Ignore school test results
RELATED: Valley school districts' report cards reveal ups and downs
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
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A state lawmaker and a member of the state school board are urging parents to ignore new school report cards released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Education.
Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, and Democratic board member A.J. Wagner say issues with assessment tests — namely the now-discontinued Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, tests, used last year — should have prompted a different approach to assessing schools and districts.
“My colleague and I are here to denounce the Ohio school report cards ...,” Wagner said during a news conference at the Statehouse. “These report cards are not just inaccurate, they are harmful to our children, our schools and our communities.”
Kim Norris, a spokeswoman for the state education department, defended the release report cards, however.
“... Families should know how their students are performing,” she said in a statement. “Student participation in testing was good with approximately 99 percent taking the state tests. ODE is required to report on accountability measures. The Legislature enacted ‘safe harbor,’ which provides an opportunity to use report information to reset expectations on how to improve student achievement.”
Thursday marked the release of the second set of report cards compiled by the state. The results “show how our schools are doing and where they can improve,” Lonny Rivera, interim state superintendent, said in a statement.
Last month, the state released preliminary report cards, covering three of 10 measures considered by the state in assessing performance. The cards released Thursday include all 10 measures.
State officials warned that some districts would see lower grades in some of those areas compared to previous years, due, in part, to new state assessments.
“We’ve long expected that grades might decline as we began to raise the bar for our students and schools,” Rivera said. “We believe both teachers and students will take steps to adjust to the new standards and tests.”
Under “safe harbor” provisions passed by lawmakers, districts will not use student progress measured by the report cards as part of their teacher evaluations or to hold students back, except in cases involving graduation and third grade reading guarantee requirements.
A state teachers union urged caution in interpreting the results.
“The drop in test scores was anticipated as local schools and students were adjusting to the substantial changes made to Ohio’s testing system,” Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association, said in a statement. “Among these changes was the use of the more rigorous and controversial PARRC tests that have since been replaced. Without more time and support for teachers and students to adjust to the implementation of a new testing system, it was always likely that Ohio and other states would see a drop in scores.”
Wagner said that PARCC tests used to develop the report cards were “hastily designed and put into use without sufficient validation.”
Lawmakers last year opted to end PARCC test use in the state, after complaints by parents and teachers.
“These tests, and therefore the grades on the report cards, violate standards of fairness,” Wagner said. “They include an unacceptable bias, a lack of equitable treatment in the testing process, inequality in outcomes of testing and a loss of opportunity to learn. These grades were intended to be a simple measure of a complex system. In their simplicity, however, they explain nothing.”
Fedor said the results will create confusion for parents and others.
“Disproportionate and misleading scores create the perception that does not reflect the reality of our education system in Ohio,” she said. “Ohio communities will be harmed by the perception of the scores that are created here. It’s time to hit the pause button the use of misleading and inaccurate testing results in Ohio education.”