Over the next month, Lawrence County schools and other programs will be offering chances for students to get ahead – whether it be on the Ninth Grade Proficiency Test or the subjects they will encounter next year.

Friday, July 07, 2000

Over the next month, Lawrence County schools and other programs will be offering chances for students to get ahead – whether it be on the Ninth Grade Proficiency Test or the subjects they will encounter next year.

And, judging by the results of test-taking of the majority of students across the state this year, that extra work just might pay off.

No matter how your children did on the proficiency tests they took this year, now is the time to get them ready for their second – or in some cases, third – chance at the state-required measurements.

Like it or not, those tests will be the measure by which Ohio children are – and will be – judged for the foreseeable future. Good grades are important, too, but low scores on those proficiency tests could keep a student from advancing to the next grade or from graduating.

A little extra work over the summer – and a few choice words from mom and dad about how important school and the tests are to a student’s future – might be just what these young people need to get passing grades on the exams.

Summer is traditionally the time when students take it easy. In this new, competitive world, those extra days of laziness could spell trouble down the road. There is still a little more than a month before school starts; now is the time to get ahead on schoolwork and a successful life.