Essay --

As we ended the year, the State Board of Education had approved a plan to replace the OGT with eight to ten end-of-course exams and had proposed that students earn points toward graduation. The State Board’s plan met challenges as the Ohio House committee passed HB 193 on December 18, 2013. HB 193 differed from the board’s plan by reducing the number and types of state tests that students will need to graduate. It also delays the timeline one year for implementation of the new assessments citing technology readiness issues from school districts. The State Board of Education was not included in the drafting of HB 193 but did provide written testimony on a number of issues it had with the bill early on in the process. HB 193 is expected to receive a House floor vote in early 2014, and then head to the Senate for consideration. I will continue to monitor HB 193 as this makes its way through the legislative process. In the meantime, a technology study conducted by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) shows difficulties in schools’ capacity to administer the new assessments online. T...