Tuesday, April 13, 1999
CPS improves on 12th-grade test
Cincinnati best among urban districts
BY DANA DiFILIPPO, MIRIAM SMITH and BERNIE MIXON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools' seniors topped the state's eight biggest urban districts and inched closer to the statewide passing average on the Ohio 12th Grade Proficiency Test this year, according to results released Monday.
Thirty-seven percent of the 1,143 CPS seniors who took the test in February passed all sections, up 2 percentage points from last year. Forty-one percent of seniors statewide passed all sections, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
In southwest Ohio's other 53 districts, the percentage of students passing all sections ranged from a high of 75 percent in Madeira to a low of 19 percent in Goshen and New Miami.
CPS officials, gladdened by the gains as they gear up for a levy campaign, credited new reforms aimed at raising achievement districtwide.
“Our focus is on academics; there are no (magic) bullets,” CPS Associate Superintendent Kathleen Ware said. “We're implementing the strategic plan, which focuses on achievement, and we're starting to see results.”
Test results varied at CPS' high schools.
Walnut Hills, a college preparatory school, scored highest, with 76 percent of test-takers passing all sections.
Results elsewhere within CPS were: 48 percent at the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), 20 percent at Western Hills, 16 percent at both Hughes and Withrow, 12 percent at Aiken, 11 percent at Woodward and 10 percent at Taft.
CPS hopes to pass a tax increase in November, and officials say the improving scores should help convince voters to invest in the 47,200-student district by approving the levy.
At SCPA, Principal Jeffrey Brokamp credits efforts to balance academics and arts.
The 1,000-student school added five advanced-placement academic classes this year and increased seniors' academic requirements. In previous years, seniors could take mostly arts classes if they had satisfied graduation requirements. Now, at least half their senior workload must be academic classes.
Administrators in suburban districts attribute rising scores to new $500 tuition credits Ohio lawmakers offered to students who pass all sections of the test.
“Money is a great motivator,” said Tom Baratko, principal of Carlisle High School in Warren County.
Springboro High School Principal Jack Poore agreed: “Anybody who's interested in going on to college takes that test more seriously now.”
The state owes 118 Springboro seniors $500 vouchers for success in all five test areas, Mr. Poore said.
Lakota Schools officials hope the tuition vouchers will send scores soaring next year.
“The kids took it a little more seriously than last year, but there was still some skepticism,” said Rick Bateman, director of secondary curriculum in the Butler County district. “They'll take it more seriously next year after they see the seniors get their vouchers.”
Some districts have tried other incentives.
In Milford, seniors who pass all sections get to skip final exams.
“In February of their senior year, students' sights are set on their future,” said Beth Tope, Milford's director of curriculum and instruction. “You've got to have some incentive for the students, since they are graduating, to stop and concentrate.”
Improvement on the 12th grade tests is important because scores could alter a district's standing on state-issued local school report cards, said Mike White, Princeton's research and testing director.
State lawmakers last year created the cards, which measure 18 standards including proficiency scores, absenteeism and graduation rates, as an accountability tool. Districts that perform badly face state sanctions.
“The problem schools ran into was kids were saying, "Why bother?'” Mr. White said.
A record 99,515 Ohio high school seniors took the 12th grade tests this year. The tests measure proficiency in writing, reading, mathematics, citizenship and science.
The 12th-grade test, which students are not required to pass to graduate, is one of a battery of state proficiency tests Ohio students face in their K-12 career. Students also are tested in the fourth, sixth and ninth grades, but only passage on the ninth- grade test is required to graduate.
Students in private schools don't have to take the 12th grade test, but 3,740 such students took it this year — about 10 times as many as last year. About 55 percent passed all sections.
Sue Kiesewetter contributed to this report.
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