Saturday, April 15, 2000
Seniors' test scores highest ever
44 percent pass 12th grade proficiency
BY Phillip Pina
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio seniors scored at the highest level ever on the 12th-Grade Proficiency Test taken earlier this year. And Cincinnati schools outperformed those in the state's other major cities.
Results released Friday show that 44 percent of the seniors taking the standardized exam passed all five main subjects. Those students now may be eligible for $500 scholarships from the Ohio Board of Regents. Last year, 41 percent of the seniors statewide passed all five subjects.
While below the state average, Cincinnati Public Schools outperformed those of Ohio's other big cities. Of students taking the test, 38 percent of city students passed all subjects, compared to 28 percent for the next-best performing urban district, Toledo.
“For the second straight year, we are the best performing among the group of similar districts in our state,” CPS Superintendent Steven Adamowski said.
He called the 1 percentage point improvement of 1999 scores among seniors evidence of the district's reform efforts to boost student performance.
Cincinnati scored well in writing, with 91 percent of seniors passing. The district's score exceeded the statewide average by 7 percentage points. And the district scored near the state averages in the other tested subjects: reading, math, citizenship and science.
Other districts in the Cincinnati area with notable scores are Mount Healthy, where 21 percent of seniors tested passed all five subjects. In New Miami schools in Butler County, 18 percent of seniors passed all five. Seventy-one percent of seniors in Madeira passed all five, as did 72 percent of those in Indian Hill.
In February, 99,448 public high school seniors across Ohio took the proficiency test.
Of them, 41,787 passed all five sections.
“These scores are quite impressive and show us that competency-based proficiency testing is making a differ ence in the performance of Ohio's students,” said Susan Tave Zelman, Ohio's public instruction superintendent.
The 12th-grade test, which students are not required to pass to graduate, is one of a battery of standardized exams Ohio students face in their K-12 career. Students must pass the ninth-grade test to graduate. Ohio started awarding $500 scholarships last year to get students to take the test seriously and encourage higher education.
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