Why Measure?
Do you feel satisfied with Ohio's state report cards?
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Chances are you said "what?", "no!", or "needs improvement". You've come to the right place. We'll go through the entire report card here, step by step, and make it better.
First, why have testing at all? The goal of testing is to provide a basis and mechanism for improving the educational process.
Assessment should ensure accountability and provide insight. No tests at all might seem nice, but having no accountability opens the door to people that take our tax money and shortchange our kids. Assessment without insight is a missed opportunity for finding and motivating progress.
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A good assessment system produces clear and actionable results. We'll see that we can have an excellent assessment system measuring the same concepts and using the same data by introducing a few technical improvements.
To achieve these goals, our assessment system should be:
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Fair: Each child has a chance to demonstrate competence.
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Informative: The results are useful for planning improvements in the areas of curriculum, student
readiness, and classroom management.
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Reliable: The tests and metrics accurately reflect student achievement.
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We'll examine if these are true, explain the current assessment process, show weaknesses and propose recommendations for improvement. Did I mention nice graphs and references? It's all here!
Who tests the testers? Ultimately, it's up to all of us to keep an eye on our government officials and to speak up about our concerns. The Ohio Department of Education requested $75.2 million for assessments and data management, including $7 million for local report cards in fiscal year 2018-2019. Let's make every dollar count.
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If you like what you see, tell your representatives that you'd like Ohio to Measure Up. Thanks!