The Athens City School District is in the process of adopting new state education standards, which Ohio Department of Education officials argue will better prepare students for a college career path.
The department is requiring the implementation of new learning standards in core courses, such as English, language arts and math. But, officials say specifics haven’t been drawn up yet.
“The new standards will be more rigorous, allowing us to go deeper than we have ever gone before,” Director of Curriculum and Development Tom Parsons said. “We will be assessing at a higher level and demanding more curriculum knowledge.”
Acknowledging that more than 40 percent of Ohio high school graduates who enroll in college are not prepared for that level of work, according to information from the department, the state sees education reform as a top priority.
All this sounds good to top local school officials.
“We’re keeping up and implementing a lot of directives from the federal and state government,” Athens City Schools Superintendent Carl Martin said. “These directives include a third grade reading guarantee, Ohio Teacher Evaluation systems and school and district report cards.”
These new standards will be different from old because they will focus on the core importance of each subject, allowing students to better understand concepts.
“The main focus of the new standards is to go deeper into topics, allowing students to gain a better understanding of each subject,” said Heather Skinner, principal of The Plains Elementary.
Students, on the receiving end of whatever specific plans the state whips up, might have a smoother transition than the teachers, “because they have to revise old lessons to cover new core standards,” Skinner said.
One major change that’s definitely set in stone appears to be a “next generation assessment,” which will require students to take state assessment tests electronically instead of written exams.
“The next generation assessments will be delivered largely online and will be adaptive so that testing situations will not be the same for each student,” Parsons said.
If there are no delays, the next generation assessments should be implemented in time for the 2014-2015 school year.
Athens High School’s graduating class of 2016 will be the last grade required to pass the Ohio Graduation Test as a requirement to graduate. Instead, the class of 2017 and those behind them will have to take 10 end-of-course exams based on new learning standard requirements, and 10th grade students will complete a new, nationally standardized test.
“The Ohio Graduation Test only assesses student knowledge over ninth grade material,” Parsons said. “The end of course exams will be more specific, more in depth, and allow for coverage of a broader spectrum.”
Currently, the end of course exams are only in draft form.
@jweller107
jw384811@ohiou.edu
