Saturday, March 25, 2000
Taft affirms support for reading test
Panel will look at all aspects
BY JAMES PILCHER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PLEASANT PLAIN — Gov. Bob Taft on Friday reasserted his commitment to a fourth-grade reading guarantee, but said he was willing to examine how Ohio Proficiency Tests are given and graded.
“We will be looking at the whole system of accountability and testing to make it very clear exactly what the kids need to know to be successful,” Mr. Taft said after addressing a group of farmers and students at a dairy farm just outside this small Warren County community.
“But we are not going to let children fall through the cracks. ... There are no unskilled jobs out there anymore, and there's nothing crueller than pushing kids through the system that are not prepared for society.”
Mr. Taft, who made the appearance in conjunction with Ohio Agriculture Day, said he hopes to name the members of his Commission on Student Success next month.
During his State of the State Address this year, the governor said the commission would examine the entire accountability system, including
the tests.
Beginning the 2001-2002 school year, fourth-grade students must pass the reading portion of the Ohio Proficiency Test to advance to the next grade level.
The state Department of Education is studying the validity of the tests, interviewing fourth- and fifth-grade teachers to see if this year's incoming fifth-graders were prepared for fifth-grade work.
Education department spokeswoman Patti Grey said the study probably won't be released until this summer, after the teachers are reinterviewed at the end of the school year.
The study was ordered once the fourth-grade guarantee changed the mission of the tests from monitoring progress to determining whether kids were ready for the next level, Ms. Grey said.
Possible recommendations could include lowering the passing grade on the reading test, but Ms. Grey said it was premature to say what the study would find.
“This is a sensitive issue, so we want to make sure we do a thorough job and make sure that our research isn't second-guessed along with the tests,” Ms. Grey said.
Last year, 59.2 percent of fourth-graders statewide passed the reading test, up from 47.1 percent in 1998. This year's version of the test was administered to fourth-graders this week.
When the guarantee is implemented, students will be allowed to attend summer school and retake the test in order to reach the next grade. Principals and teachers also will be allowed to make exceptions and promote students who failed the test but met other academic requirements.
High school students throughout the state already must pass the ninth-grade Ohio Proficiency Tests before they can receive their diplomas. They have as many as 13 chances to take it before graduation.
The low number of students who passed the fourth-grade reading test last year and other possible problems such as potential racial bias have brought calls for the tests to be suspended and examined.
Earlier this week, the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP spoke out against the test, joining three state legislators and several parent groups who oppose the exams.
Kim Miller, an eighth-grade teacher at Harrison Junior High School, thinks it's too tough for many students to pass the test.
“I've heard that the passing rate correlates to a "B' student, and that seems unfair,” said Mrs. Miller, who accompanied a group of her students on the hourlong drive north to meet the governor. “At that rate, we've got a lot of kids who will never pass the test.”
One of Mrs. Miller's students, 14-year-old Aimee Rourke, said she thought the fourth-grade guarantee was a good idea.
“It gives the teachers a good idea of what they need to teach and tells the kids what they need to know,” Aimee said.
Cincinnati Public Schools is already implementing its own reading guarantee.
Beginning this year, CPS third-graders who don't pass a reading proficiency test created by the same company that makes the Ohio Proficiency Tests must attend 12 weeks of summer school.
Those students will then be retested. Those who fail will be given intensive literacy training at the beginning of next school year.
They are given another chance at the test in October, and if they don't pass that one, they will have to repeat third grade.
Last year, 69 percent of third-graders passed, meaning as many as 1,500 students would have been required to attend summer school and retake the test.
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