Closer look at report cards reveals long-term value

In the span of one academic year, can it be that Ohio’s 615 public school districts managed to plummet from generally superlative academic achievement to shamefully embarrassing performance levels?

If Ohioans take only a cursory glance at last week’s release of state report cards by the Ohio Department of Education, then fear, loathing and panic might readily set in. On closer inspection, reflection and analysis, however, such sentiments prove unwarranted and without merit.

To be sure, on the surface, many of the results stun the senses, particularly when attempting to make direct comparisons to previous years’ results. In Mahoning County, for example, nearly half of all districts received a superlative grade of A on meeting a high level of performance standards on the 2014-15 tests. In 2015-16, not a single school district in the Mahoning Valley and only 23 in the entire state received an A grade on the new index of overall performance indicators met.

But when scratching below the surface, valid reasons clearly explain and justify the disparate results.

First and foremost, direct comparisons between report-card grades over the past three years cannot logically be made. That’s because comparing the tests from 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 is akin to comparing apples to tomatoes to cucumbers. Differences far outweigh similarities.

In each of the past three years, three different sets of tests were used to measure academic achievement. The formats, structures and measurements differed among them.

In addition, the state set the bar of difficulty much higher in its 2015-16 batch of tests. For example, in third-grade reading, 45 percent of students statewide are now classified as below proficient. In 2014-15, that percentage stood at only 21.5 percent. In eighth-grade reading, 52 percent of students statewide now rank below proficient, up from 31.7 percent last year.

In explaining the steep drops, Kim Davis, director of teaching and learning at the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, said: “Teachers didn’t suddenly stop teaching. The teachers didn’t change. Administrators didn’t change, and the kids didn’t change. Something did change – and that was the test.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria concurs. The new tests, he said, “reflect higher achievement targets and more challenging expectations.”

HIGHER STANDARDS SHOULD BE WELCOMED

The shift toward more stringent academic standards should be applauded, not vilified. Report cards from recent years showing up to 80 percent of Ohio students academically proficient appear to have been grossly misleading.

As Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, pointed out in a study earlier this year: “The inconvenient truth, however, was that hundreds of thousands of pupils were struggling to master rigorous academic content. Alarmingly, the Ohio Board of Regents regularly reports that 30–40 percent of college freshmen need remedial coursework in English or math. Results from the ACT reveal that fewer than half of all graduates meet college-ready benchmarks. Finally, outcomes from the “nation’s report card” – the National Assessment of Educational Progress – indicate that only 2 in 5 Ohio students reach a rigorous standard for proficiency in math and reading.”

The new tests offer promise of setting a more realistic and competitive baseline upon which to compare districts with one another and Ohio educational standards with those of other states. The higher standards offer a more authentic guidepost for students entering the increasingly challenging domain of college and careers.

They also provide a more accurate barometer of accountability to parents and taxpayers that no longer risks lulling them into an inflated sense of pride in public-school performance.

But considering that the 2015-16 tests were used for the first time, they now serve merely as a baseline upon which students and districts can improve. The wider range of areas measured provides school leaders with a clearer road map to revise and enhance curriculum areas most sorely in need of improvement.

Such benefits, of course, are contingent upon the ODE pledging to maintain consistency in its testing choice for the next several years.

Then the focus on testing and grading can move away from igniting conflict and move toward sparking meaningful enhancement in academic growth for Ohio’s 1.6 million school students.