[X] HOME PAGE - Social Topics
. [X] EDUCATION -- MENU
. . [X] OHIO EDUCATION -- MENU


BASICS OF OHIO'S ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENTS PROGRAM

CONTENTS
[...] Academic Standards and Assessments (Introduction)
[X] Step #1 -- State Academic Standards
[X] Step #2 -- School Districts' Curriculum
[X] Step #3 -- Classroom Textbooks
[X] Step #4 -- Classroom Instruction
[X] Step #5 -- Ohio Achievement Tests


On this page, the basics of Ohio's academic standards and student assessments process is described. In addition, some of the possible problem areas are discussed.

Academic Standards and Assessments
The structure of education standards and student assessments in Ohio forms a five-step loop starting and ending at the state level.

  1. The State Board of Education adopts a set of academic content standards (educational goals) in reading, math, science, etc.

  2. Each of the 600+ school districts in Ohio then modifies its local curriculum to incorporate (or align with) the State's academic standards.

  3. Each school district purchases classroom textbooks and designs teaching aids that match its own educational goals.

  4. Classroom teachers teach the local curriculum using approved textbooks and fill in the gaps not covered by the textbooks. (In the Ohio education standards and assessment model, teachers don't "teach to the test". They teach their own school board's approved curriculum, which includes the State's academic content standards.)

  5. Finally, the standards-assessments loop is completed when student progress is measured with criteria-based achievement tests with Ohio's academic content standards defining the criteria. In theory, all students, who learn the local curriculum, should receive a "proficient" rating on each State-wide test.

At the conceptual level, the Ohio standards/assessments model is very logical, the state specifies the instruction goals and then it uses criteria-based tests to determine if students have learned the material. However, for the model to work well, the loop's five steps must fit together. Each of these five steps are discussed below. Before continuing, some readers may wish to review the page NORM-REFERENCED AND CRITERIA-BASED TESTS [X].

Step #1 -- State Academic Standards
An essential feature of this beginning step in the standards/assessments loop is to insure that the educational goals are academically sound, practical, and well defined. Academically sound means the goals are properly sequenced (teach addition before teaching division) and are age appropriate (teach the concept in the Bill of Rights when students are old enough to understand the concepts).

State standards must be well enough defined in order to be used by district-level curriculum specialists. Also, there must be enough time in grades K through 12 to teach the content of the State standards. In Ohio, there have been few time-to-teach evaluations.

Step #2 -- School Districts' Curriculum
For this step in the standards/assessments loop to work, local curriculum specialists need to aline their districts' academic goals with the state standards. In addition, school districts, with children from "low-print households", will need to add vocabulary instruction in order to help those students understand the questions on the state-wide tests. This classroom instruction issue was raised with the State Board of Education by this taxpayer in 2003. To date, Ohio's test designers do not use a open-to-the-public vocabulary control manual.

Step #3 -- Classroom Textbooks
New textbooks are selected to match the local curriculum.

Step #4 -- Classroom Instruction
Classroom teachers focus on the local curriculum by using district approved textbooks and teacher-aid tools.

Step #5 -- Ohio Achievement Tests
In theory, the Ohio achievement tests (criteria-based tests) are limited to material that is defined in the State's academic content standards. Logically, one cannot conduct criteria-based testing without a fully defined criteria. However, in Ohio, the currently defined criteria does not include the range of word meanings that may be used in the questions on the tests.

The Ohio Department of Education web site: www.ode.state.oh.us [X] offers extensive information on the State's academic content standards and its associated student-achievement testing program.

[X] HOME PAGE - Social Topics
. [X] EDUCATION -- MENU
. . [X] OHIO EDUCATION -- MENU

Address:
Bill Buckel
1641 Hess Blvd.
Columbus, OH 43212
...Ph. 614--488-8963

Notice: This web site does not have an e-mail return address.
URL = http://www.billbuckel.com
This page last updated: February 10, 2012