Proficiency testing on horizon

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 25, 2003

The students squirm in their desks. Their pencils sweat in their hands.

Some are happy that they ate breakfast that morning. Others are wishing they had not asked for a second helping of Dad's pancakes.

On March 3, proficiency testing will begin. Throughout Ohio, fourth-, sixth- and ninth-grade students will be tested on writing, reading, mathematics, citizenship and science. Students in other grades will also participate in off-grade testing.

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Tenth-grade students will participate in a trial run of the Ohio Graduation Test March 17. This will not count against the students, but this test will eventually replace the ninth-grade graduation test. Sophomores in 2005, the graduating class of 2007, will be required to pass all five areas, reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies, of the OGT to graduate. The trial run will only include reading and mathematics portions, but will provide preliminary data that the state will use to improve the tests.

Besides mailing letters to students who will participate in testing, guidance counselors at Dawson-Bryant High School are individually working with students still needing to pass the ninth-grade graduation test, Principal Brenda Haas said. The counselors are showing these students the areas in which they were weak and strong to help show them where they need to concentrate. Some of these students are very close to passing this test, she said.

Most high school students are used to testing, but this can be frightening for juniors and seniors who have still not passed the test, Haas said. School officials are also working to combat test anxiety.

"We're going to give the testing in a business manner, not a threatening manner," she said.

At Rock Hill Middle School, sixth-grade teachers and students have been giving up lunch breaks to prepare for the test, principal Wes Hairston said. The entire building, he said, is judged on the results of this testing, for which the school has been intensively preparing for since coming back from Christmas break.

Even though the students have been giving up their lunch breaks as well, they have been receptive because they know what they are doing will benefit them, Hairston said.

"The teachers have bent over backwards," he said, "They are caring and are doing everything humanly possible to have the students well-prepared."

Schools throughout Lawrence County have been preparing for the testing all year, but adequately preparing for the test has been hindered this year because of Mother Nature.

"The weather has been a real problem in getting all the kids here," Sam Hall, Chesapeake superintendent, said.

The district's teachers have been working throughout the year to help the students feel comfortable and confident when taking the proficiency tests, but school was not in session 10 days this year due to snow. Eight of those days were after the first of the year. Forecasted flooding does not make the situation look better, he said.

"After the first of the year, we were hit hard," Hall said.

Losing school days before proficiency testing will hurt students, but inconsistency will do the same, South Point Superintendent Ken Cook said. Students in his district, as well as others, have had situations in which they would not have school for a few days, come back for one day, and not have school the next day.

"This will have an effect on scores, in my opinion," he said.

Yesterday, Symmes Valley Superintendent Thomas Ben said proficiency testing in his district could be delayed for one week, and he is currently working this out with state officials.

Symmes Valley lost four consecutive days last week because of ice storms.

Hairston, whose district cancelled classes all of last week because of the weather, said moving the proficiency testing for the students would be beneficial to students in his district. He also suggested the possibility of moving the testing to April or even early May in the future to give students more preparation time.

However, the proficiency test date is still set.

No legislation would probably make it through the state legislature before March 3, State Rep. Todd Book (D-McDermott) said. However, lawmakers are discussing a proficiency test delay with the Ohio Department of Education.

"If what students are learning is not reinforced, they lose it," Book said. "Some of them have been out so long that it would be detrimental."