What they are saying:
“It’s funny, because we thought last year was the year of change, and here we are again. The only constant anymore is change.”
Northmont assistant superintendent Tony Thomas
“I firmly believe that our teachers and kids will rise to occasion, and in a few years, we’ll be in good shape. It won’t happen overnight.”
Ohio Board of Education member Tom Gunlock
“Most teachers are being forced to play this year by ear. There’s going to be a lot of improvisation because we have never done this before.”
Springboro school teacher Matt Blair
“We embrace the Common Core. We just didn’t want to see it implemented overnight and then held accountable for immediate results.”
Springfield City Schools Superintendent David Estrop
Additional reading:
The Ohio Department of Education has a wealth of information about new state standards and testing on their web site. Visit www.education.ohio.gov, and look under “teacher resources” and “parent resources.” Or for sample test questions, visit the PARCC group that created the tests, at www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes.
The 2014-15 school year, which begins this week for thousands of local students, will feature more change than at any other time in Ohio history, according to several local and state education officials.
More will be expected of students, who must master new Common Core-tied learning standards, and pass a more rigorous set of state tests, many of them taken online for the first time.
More will be expected of educators, who must guide students through that process while changing some lessons to align with the standards and dealing with their own “tests” in the form of a more formal teacher evaluation system.
And more will be expected of administrators, who must align class offerings with new state graduation requirements, adjust staffing to meet legal requirements of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, and make sure their districts meet the new minimum hours of instruction — a change that could signal the end of makeup days due to snow.
“It’s funny, because we thought last year was the year of change, and here we are again, said Northmont assistant superintendent Tony Thomas. “The only constant anymore is change.”
But some local educators say the pace of change is out of control.
“We’ve never had a year with this much change,” said 38-year education veteran Christy Donnelly, who served as Kettering’s interim superintendent this summer. “It has got to slow down.”
It may not seem like it, but this year’s avalanche of changes already has been scaled back from previous plans. Springfield City Schools Superintendent David Estrop was one of several educators who pleaded with state officials over the past year to slow things down, calling the initial plan “a train wreck.”
State officials eventually delayed a piece of the teacher evaluation system that will tie student performance to teacher discipline. They also gave schools another year before the state report card will issue them an overall grade, as schools adjust to new testing.
New standards
Ohio’s new math and English standards are tied to the nationwide Common Core movement, while the science and social studies standards are Ohio’s alone. Ohio Department of Education officials say the new standards are more challenging, requiring students to do more writing, analysis and application of knowledge, and less memorizing of facts.
Forty-four states initially adopted the Common Core standards, but three states have backed out in the past year, and some Ohio House Republicans have announced a plan to repeal the standards after the November election. Rep. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, introduced the repeal bill, arguing that it would, “get the federal government out of the business of education in Ohio.”
But Gov. John Kasich and the Republican chairs of Ohio’s House and Senate education committees support the standards. Many educators have asked why, after four years of preparation and gradual implementation, a repeal effort would come in the middle of the official roll out year.
Tom Gunlock, a state school board member from Centerville said the repeal push is more about politics than what’s right for educating Ohio students.
“I’m a very conservative individual if you look at my politics, and I think (Common Core) is the greatest thing since peanut butter,” Gunlock said. “I ask people, tell me one of the standards you don’t approve of, and I can’t get anybody to say they don’t like that particular standard or this one.”
Gunlock also emphasized that Ohio’s new standards are “the floor and not the ceiling,” saying nothing precludes a teacher or school district from going above and beyond once students master the standards.
ODE spokesman John Charlton said the public is misinformed about Common Core, and he encouraged parents to review Ohio’s standards, either on the ODE web site or by talking to teachers and principals.
Oakwood parent Scott Peake expressed doubts about the effectiveness of uniform nationwide standards, but he added that he doesn’t have a full understanding of the issue. His wife, Rana Peake, said there needs to be a simpler effort to educate average Ohioans because few people are going to delve into ODE’s 85-page document on new math standards.
“I think it’s imperative that educators get out into the community and talk with families about what’s going on,” she said.
Teaching and testing
This year’s freshmen and all subsequent classes will no longer take the Ohio Graduation Test. They will take more rigorous end-of-course exams in English I and II, Algebra I, Geometry, Physical Science, American History and American Government — tests that will measure whether students have mastered the new standards.
Elementary students also will take new exams in place of the old Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAAs). All of the new tests will have two sessions — one in late winter where students have to show/explain their work in detail, and a multiple choice test in April or May. Many districts will administer these state tests online for the first time.
Gunlock and Charlton said while the standards are uniform statewide, the curriculum used to teach those standards and prepare students for the tests is up to each school board.
Susan Gunnell, superintendent of Huber Heights City Schools, said the schools have trained their staffs for the changes, so “hopefully, the transition appears seamless.”
But local teachers’ opinions on school readiness varies. Matt Blair, a teacher and union vice president in Springboro schools, said he thinks many districts have not given teachers enough training.
“Most teachers are being forced to play this year by ear,” Blair said. “There’s going to be a lot of improvisation because we have never done this before.”
Marty Hammonds, a Beavercreek biology teacher and union president, said his districtset up training so teachers would be prepared for a biology end-of-course exam, but then the state eliminated that test.
Hammonds said teachers have had to tweak or replace more lesson plans than usual to make sure their classes are on point with the new state standards. Both Hammonds and Blair criticized what they called an increasing focus on testing, with rapid changes and less focus on the learning process.
Despite the changes, Gunnell said school success will still rely on good teachers.
“The greatest impact in the classroom is the classroom teacher, providing positive student relationships and making sure they’re teaching the right thing,” she said. “… Someone who communicates and is capable and competent. The teacher is the key to all of these (changes).”
Rapid pace of change
David Jackson, superintendent of Northridge schools, summed up this year’s rapid pace of change, saying students will be taught new standards, measured by new tests that are tied into new graduation requirements, and teachers’ performance will be measured by new evaluations.
In other words, what isn’t changing might form a shorter list. Here is some of what is in store during the 2014-15 year of change:
- Graduation requirements: Most students will need to achieve a certain point total on the seven end-of-course exams (and take a minimum number of credits) in order to graduate. Gunlock said the state school board is expected to establish that pass/fail point total at its September meeting. But there are two new paths to graduation available as well: students can earn a "remediation-free" score on a college admission test, or they can earn a job credential and pass a job-skills test.
- Third-grade reading guarantee: Charlton said this policy is one of the biggest issues of the year. While much focus has been on students repeating third grade, Charlton pointed to the law's requirement that schools diagnose struggling readers from kindergarten on, and provide immediate intervention to help them. That policy, and the resulting shifting of staff, has been a challenge for some districts. Charlton applauded many Ohio schools for getting on board with the program, and said others need to join them. "The bottom line is this is not about what the obstacles are," Charlton said. "It's about getting the kids appropriate instruction and help without stigmatizing them. It may be a little harder. They may have to spend more money. But we want to make sure the student is successful, and that's where the focus needs to be."
- Report cards: Schools will receive one new grade on their state report card this fall — a kindergarten-to-third grade literacy mark measuring how well schools help struggling young readers.
- School calendar: Schools no longer have to be in session for 178 or 180 days. The new rule calls for at least 910 hours of instruction for all-day kindergarten through sixth grade, and 1,001 hours for grades 7-12. Even with lunch excluded, the current state average for those higher grades is 1,126 hours, meaning most districts have enough cushion that they could cancel school for multiple snow days without having to make them up.
- Teacher evaluations: House Bill 362 allows schools to evaluate accomplished teachers less frequently, lessening the burden on administrative staff. Schools can also choose whether they want student test performance to make up 35 percent or 50 percent of a teacher's grade. Charlton said the law also pushes back for one year any disciplinary consequences for the lowest-rated teachers — a delay that Estrop said will avoid the high failure rates that other states have seen after switching to the harder tests. "We embrace the Common Core," Estrop said. "We just didn't want to see it implemented overnight and then held accountable for immediate results."
- Kindergarten readiness: Students who start behind academically often stay behind, according to several studies. So Ohio is changing its kindergarten assessment, going beyond just literacy to include age-appropriate knowledge in math, science and social skills as well.
‘It won’t happen overnight’
With educators called on to do so much, some trial and error is anticipated. Charlton acknowledged some changes could be a bit messy.
“I think there’s been so much change, that it has left the general population overwhelmed,” said Thomas, the Northmont administrator. “There is an attempt to get a better understanding of how the legislative changes have affected ‘my local school.’ But how do we communicate with parents, when we don’t even have all the answers yet?”
Gunlock said the changes, while presenting challenges, are necessary .
“Yes, it’s much more difficult,” he said. “I firmly believe that our teachers and kids will rise to occasion, and in a few years, we’ll be in good shape.” But, he added, “It won’t happen overnight.”
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