Ohio’s Class of 2018 should get fair chance to graduate

Ohio’s school super- intendents, board of education members, teachers, students and parents cannot all be wrong about their concerted displeasure with the state’s tough new testing requirements for high school graduation.

Last week in Columbus, for example, several hundred school leaders demonstrated in opposition to the rigid standards, calling for revisions to the testing regimen. If no changes are instituted relatively soon, some predict up to 40 percent of the Class of 2018 will fail the tests and forfeit their diplomas. And that alarming percentage looms even higher for students in struggling urban districts, such as those in Youngstown and Warren.

We therefore add our voice to the increasingly loud chorus of advocates for students in urging State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria, the Ohio Department of Education and members of the General Assembly, if necessary, to put the brakes on this runaway test train barreling toward massive failure.

The new requirements were adopted by the Department of Education and General Assembly in 2014, when lawmakers brainstormed ways to devise a better system than the much maligned Ohio Graduation Test to gauge acceptable student academic performance. The former system, in which 40 percent of high school graduates required high school remedial courses in college, clearly failed to get desired results.

The new program requires students to collect points through tests in English, math, science and social studies. The exams reflect higher standards and expectations. Out of 35 possible points on the tests, they need to accumulate only 18 points to graduate.

Unfortunately, many Ohio students cannot reach even that relatively low bar, which serves as an indicator that perhaps the standards were raised too high and too fast.

DO NOT DUMB DOWN

Of course, we and others encourage higher standards and discourage any dumbing down of curriculum and testing that evaluates student mastery over it. But the exponential growth in failures with the new tests indicate something is awry and needs to be fixed – and soon.

Toledo Public Schools curriculum specialist Jim Gault told The Columbus Dispatch recently, “Educators really underestimated just how rigorous” the new exams are.

In response, all players appear to need a little more time to acclimate themselves to them. As Dante Capers, principal at Warren G. Harding High School, put it, ‘‘There are pretty high-stakes consequences with something so new. I think it’s kind of a disservice to students without having a period of adjustment without phasing in [the tests] or working up to those points.”

Timothy Filipovich, executive director of teaching and Learning in Youngstown City Schools, agreed, arguing state board members “have not necessarily given us enough time to put certain processes in place.”

Therein lies the rationale for reforms proposed by a variety of groups. Fortunately, it looks as if a majority of the state board of education is open to tweaking the exams at their next meeting in December.

A proposal by board Vice President Tess Elshoff would require the classes of 2018 and 2019 to earn only 15 points on end-of-course exams. The total required for graduation would then increase by 1 point until it hits the desired 18 for 2022 and beyond.

That or other workable proposals would buy time for students and educators to better prepare for the tests and ensure all appropriate content included on tests also is part of curricula before the exams.

It could buy time as well for schools to set up valuable tutoring sessions and for the state to make widely accessible full sample exams to better familiarize students with exactly what’s expected of them.

In no way, however, should the state retreat in its drive toward excellence. Some fear just that. C. Todd Jones, a state board member, called the rally by superintendents a “march for mediocrity” to “make sure that we’re not pushing too hard and not holding too high of standards.”

We hope that nothing is further from the truth. Students must be pushed to excel and bear much of the responsibility themselves toward that desired end.

But when a group of students arbitrarily gets targeted as guinea pigs for new and even promising educational reforms, they deserve some understanding as the unforeseen rough spots in the process work themselves out. Toward those ends, state leaders should listen seriously to the concerns of students and their advocates and act expeditiously to ensure rigid – yet fair – testing without denying diplomas to nearly half of the Class of 2018.