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Cleveland Plain Dealer
High school graduation would require fewer state tests under Senate plan
By Patrick O’Donnell
Jun 20, 2019
Graduating from high school will no longer require students to earn
good scores on numerous state tests under a plan the Ohio Senate passed
today.
Students will still need strong scores on two tests to show competency
in English and math under the new plan. But they will no longer have to
do well on six other state tests, as the state requires now.
They also will have to earn at least two of 12 diploma “seals” the
state would offer, each designed to show more advanced skills in areas
students choose, like the arts, technology, citizenship or college- or
career-readiness.
These state requirements, like the test score hurdles they replace, are
in addition to the traditional diploma requirements of earning credits
by passing classes in multiple subjects. The state has added extra
requirements in recent years, in hopes of making diplomas mean more to
employers and to prove readiness for college.
But some students have struggled to earn required scores, leading
superintendents to protest. Complicated “alternate pathways” were added
to avoid a predicted graduation “apocalypse” or “train wreck.”
The new plan, added to House Bill 166, the state budget bill, wipes out
most of the test requirements, as well as the constantly-changing
“alternate pathways.”
“They [new requirements] give a long-term answer to our districts as to
what our students need,” said State Sen. Peggy Lehner, the Kettering
Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee.
It’s a plan based on a proposal from Ohio Excels, a new statewide
business group that includes the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the
right-leaning Fordham Institute and the Alliance for High Quality
Education, a network of 73 mostly-suburban school districts led by
former West Geauga Superintendent Tony Podojil.
It’s also backed by the Ohio 8, the coalition of the state’s major urban districts.
“There’s a lot more clarity and definition,” said Cleveland schools CEO
Eric Gordon. “It sets academically high expectations for kids.”
Here are the highlights:
Students must show competence in math and English skills. The
governor’s executive workforce board will set score targets on the
state’s Algebra I and English Language Arts II exams that students must
meet. There are also allowances for students to instead earn college
credit in English and math, meet military entrance requirements or meet
work-training goals, like doing 250 hours of job training or completing
a pre-apprenticeship.
State Sen. Lou Terhar, who chaired the subcommittee handling the
education budget, told the Senate today that he believes those are
adequate alternate pathways.
Students must then show more advanced skills in a choice of areas. The
law sets criteria for 12 “seals” students can earn that prove skills or
work. These are:
* The state biliteracy seal
* The OhioMeansJobs-readiness seal
* An industry recognized credential seal
* A college-ready seal
* A military enlistment seal
* A citizenship seal
* A science seal
* An honors diploma seal
* A technology seal
* A community service seal
* A fine and performing arts seal
* A student engagement seal.
House leadership has not responded to Plain Dealer questions about
whether they will support the plan, or if it will have to be adjusted
in the joint House and Senate conference committee that reconciles
differences between versions of the bill. The House had no graduation
proposal in its budget bill.
In picking this plan, Senate leaders rejected a separate plan that was
passed by the state school board late last year that also reduced the
need to pass state tests. Ohio Excels and others raised objections that
a pathway in the state board’s plan – proving competence through a
“culminating experience” or capstone project – was too subjective to
guarantee students meet any standard.
The Senate rejected using that experience as an alternate to tests,
even after the board voted again this month to ask that it be included
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