Ohio Gov. John Kasich and education leaders are overhauling student guidelines, forcing schools to change the ways they do business so the state’s children will be ready for college or a career.
The current education system, instead of focusing on getting students ready for adult life, is asking them to meet ineffectual minimum standards, Ohio Schools Superintendent Stan Heffner told the
Columbus Dispatch.
To point out how the current system is failing students, Kasich and education leaders noted 44 percent of the state’s school districts were rated as “excellent” or better on state report cards in 2009, but nearly half of Ohio’s graduates attending state public universities needed remedial English or math classes.
Meanwhile, more than half the state’s eighth-grade students received a proficient or better assessment on state math tests, but only 3 percent of them were proficient when compared to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
The state Department of Education began rating schools and districts in 1999, issuing ratings from “excellent” to “academic emergency.” Under the new system — if the federal government and state legislature agree — schools and districts will be scored based on student performance on state tests, graduation rates, a school performance index, and several other factors.
“We want to convey in plain English what we mean, and we want to make sure our moms and dads know what we’re talking about,” said Dick Ross, new director of the Governor’s Office of 21st Century Education.
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