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State Representative Steve Huffman
House Bill 74:
Good Policy for Our Education System
The issues of school assessments, Common Core, and student performance
have become highly debated topics not only in our state legislature,
but across the country. As a newly-elected member of the Ohio House of
Representatives, and a standing member of the House Education
Committee, these areas of concern will continue to be discussed amongst
my colleagues and I throughout the year. I would like to discuss a
piece of good legislation, House Bill 74, which received its first
hearing in committee on February 25.
The first provisions of this bill, sponsored by Representative Andrew
Brenner, limit the duration of the administration of each high school
end-of-course examination to three hours, beginning with the 2015-2016
school year. This will keep our students from being over-tested.
It also reduces the administration of the third grade English language
arts assessment from twice annually to once annually. This will begin
with the 2015-2016 school year, and prohibits school districts from
being required to administer that assessment in the fall.
The bill also requires the State Board of Education to provide, within
30 days of the bill's effective date, an online opportunity on the
website of the Department of Education to make comments on specific
academic content standards. This will better connect Ohioan’s to the
board members who are making these decisions.
The State Board is also required to review the current academic content
standards, taking into consideration the input from the academic
standards review committees and the comments posted on the Department's
website. They will then adopt revised academic content standards for
each of grades K-12 in English language arts, mathematics, science and
social studies.
Lastly, HB 74 prohibits the Department of Education from requiring
school districts, other public schools, and chartered nonpublic schools
to administer any state achievement assessment in an online format
through the 2015-2016 school year.
As your state representative, I’m curious to hear your opinions on this
and any other state government related issues. While this gives a brief
overview of the bill, you can find the full text of House Bill 74 and
the bill analysis at
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-documents?id=GA131-HB-74.
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