The state school board will likely ease an impending collapse in high school graduations by reducing the number of test score “points” students need to earn, and increasing the graduation requirements over time.
This year’s 11th graders are the first class subject to new state graduation requirements the board passed in 2014. Most of this class will need to earn 18 “points” from their scores on seven end-of-course exams to graduate.
The points system requires students to score as at least “proficient” on some of the tests, but allows them to score below that level on others.
Schools are so worried that many of their students will not reach that mark that a few hundred superintendents and school officials rallied today on the steps of the Statehouse while the board met.
Rally organizers, including Olmsted Falls Superintendent Jim Lloyd, had estimated that graduation rates could fall by 30 percent statewide with the new standards.
Ohio Department of Education data released early today shows that 29 percent of 11th graders are off-track toward earning enough “points” to graduate, confirming Lloyd’s estimate.
“The class of 2018 will experience roadblock,” Lloyd said at the rally.
State Sen. Peggy Lehner of Dayton told the school board that she was hearing from people across the state that something needs to be done. She said that if schools have failed students so much that they cannot score high enough, it is unfair to penalize them now.
The board was unable to reach consensus today on how much they would lower the point requirement for the classes of 2018 and 2019, but the main proposal the board is considering would reduce that number to 15.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online News
