Ohio’s new test score requirements to graduate from high school could be eased again, under plans gaining traction in the state school board.
Statewide requirements that students score well on state tests in order to earn a diploma took effect with the class of 2018, this year’s senior class. But worries about a graduation “apocalypse” or “trainwreck” because of low scores led the board and state legislature to ease the requirements earlier this year, just for the senior class.
Board members, however, still had concerns about denying diplomas to future classes because of low test scores.
After debate the last few months, board members now want to extend the same exemptions for the classes of 2019 and 2020 that were added for the class of 2018.
Those include graduating, even if state test scores are poor, by reaching some career training goals, having strong attendance or classroom grades as seniors, doing a senior capstone project or working at a job or on community service.
Since that will require a change in state law, the board is looking at voting next month to ask the legislature for the change.
Board member Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings, who chairs the board committee looking at the requirements, said the board will continue looking at adjustments for the class of 2021 and beyond.
The board and legislature added new test score requirements several years ago to make sure students are better prepared for college or jobs when they graduate.
But in recent months, board members have had a far more skeptical view of test scores than previous board members. Just last year, former board President Tom Gunlock and former board member Todd Jones fought to maintain test requirements, calling them the only way to insure that high school diplomas prove that students have real knowledge and skills.
Gunlock had worried that easing requirements would not guarantee employers that graduates had met any standards and Jones complained that any ease amounted to a “trophies for all” approach.
But current board members noted that only 15 states, including Ohio, require students to reach certain scores on state tests to graduate, as research by the Ohio Department of Education shows.
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