Academic standards and assessments in Ohio

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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.

The State Board of Education adopts a set of academic content standards (educational goals) in reading, math, science, etc.
Each of the 600+ school districts in Ohio then modifies its local curriculum to incorporate (or align with) the State's academic standards.
Each school district purchases classroom textbooks and designs teaching aids that match its own educational goals.
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.)
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 seems very reasonable, the state specifies the instruction goals and then it uses criteria-based tests to see 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).

Practical goals mean, among other things, that there is enough time in grades K through 12 to teach the content of the State standards. In Ohio, there may not be enough classroom hours. But, no one knows for sure. The subject of enough "teaching time" was raised in my September 30, 2003 letter to the State Board of Education. An up-dated copy of the letter and key points in the response are given on page NEED FOR REALISTIC AND CLEAR ACADEMIC STANDARDS [X].

Another aspect of the State standards is that they must be well enough defined so that district-level curriculum specialists can understand them.

Step #2 -- School Districts' Curriculum
For this step in the standards/assessments loop to work, local curriculum specialists must incorporate state standards into their districts' academic goals. 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 first in the September 30, 2003 letter mentioned above. However, the issue was covered later in more detail in a September 7, 2004, letter to the Ohio State Board of Education. This letter is shown on page TEST DESIGNERS' VOCABULARY-CONTROL MANUAL [X].

Step #3 -- Classroom Textbooks
The textbook selection process remains the same as in the past. New textbooks match the local curriculum.

Step #4 -- Classroom Instruction
Again, as in the past, 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 has been defined in the State's academic content standards. However, this may not be 100% true, see page SOME DESIGN FEATURES OF OHIO'S TESTS, Test Scoring Methodology [X].

Clearly, one cannot conduct criteria-based testing without a fully defined criteria. In this instance, the defined criteria includes disclosing the range of word meanings that will be used in the questions on the tests. As noted above, the case for controlling the range of word meanings used in test questions is given on page TEST DESIGNERS' VOCABULARY-CONTROL MANUAL [X].

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. To learn more about the new third grade achievement tests:
(1) point to the "VISITOR" drop-down menu,
(2) click on "Families",
(3) point to the "Ohio Education System" drop-down menu,
(4) click on "Statewide Testing",
(5) click on "Student Test Report",
(6) click on "Third Grade Achievement Tests",
(7) click on "Reading", etc.

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

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This page last updated: January 28, 2005