Friday, April 16, 1999
Seniors who passed Ohio test can expect $500 voucher soon
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP — Derek Swanson's decision to take the Ohio 12th Grade Proficiency Exam seriously means he won't sweat paying for college books next fall.
“I felt real good because that $500, to me, it was like free books for my freshman year,” said Mr. Swanson, 18, a senior at Kings High School in Warren County.
More than 40,000 of Ohio's high school seniors will join Mr. Swanson this fall in receiving a new $500 college scholarship as incentive for passing all areas of the test. Unlike Ohio's Ninth Grade Proficiency Test, it is not required for graduation.
The scholarships were intended to get students to take the test seriously and encourage higher education. The test is given in February when many seniors already have been accepted to colleges.
Under the new scholarship program — administered by the Ohio Board of Regents — seniors who pass all test sec tions and graduate from a chartered Ohio high school can use the voucher to meet any educational expense in an Ohio post-secondary school.
The 12th-grade test scores released Monday show Ohio's seniors did as well or better in all areas — except citizenship — of any class since the test began in 1994.
Most school districts should receive vouchers for qualified students by Monday, said Tom Rudd, director of the state grants and scholarships department with the Ohio Board of Regents.
The vouchers will then be forwarded to high school guidance counselors, who will distribute them. Students then must submit them to the college of their choice.
While state and local educators praise how the vouchers add an incentive for students to perform well, some question the use of a financial bonus to inspire learning.
Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing in Cambridge, Mass., a national testing watchdog, said a financial incentive “shows you how useless the test is if you have to (have) it to get them to take it seriously.
“The primary purpose of assessment ought to be to improve student learning,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “What is the evidence that this does it, either with or without the bounty for taking the test?”
Forty-one percent of the record 99,515 students in Ohio who took the test received proficient scores in writing, reading, mathematics, citizenship and science.
Some suburban districts — including Indian Hill, Marie mont, Madeira, Lakota and Springboro — had high numbers of students passing all sections of the tests — with rates in the 60s and 70s.
In Springboro, 118 of 182 seniors who took the test passed all five sections. If every one of those 118 goes to an Ohio post-secondary school, the state will have to pay $59,000, said Principal Jack Poore.
Gov. Bob Taft's proposed state budget for the next two years includes $36 million to fund the awards.
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Seniors who passed Ohio test can expect $500 voucher soon
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