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Ohio merging language tests

Published on Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009


Associated Press

The state plans to create a new type of language test by merging the writing test, dropped because of budget cuts, with the surviving reading exam. There are also plans to restore the fifth- and seventh-grade social studies test in two years.

Lawmakers cut the writing exam for fourth- and seventh-grade students and the social studies tests to save $4.4 million needed to balance the tight state budget.

Those were the logical candidates to be dropped because the federal government requires testing in reading, math and science, said Stan Heffner, an Ohio Department of Education associate superintendent.

Most educators were happy to have four fewer tests to administer, he said.

Heffner said the new reading-writing test will be dubbed an English language arts exam.

That change pleased Bruce Bradley, director of curriculum and instruction for Keystone schools in Northeast Ohio.

''That makes all the educational sense in the world,'' Bradley said. Language arts are so closely linked at Keystone that middle school teachers have started teaching them in a combined block.

Heffner also said the plan is to return the social studies test after the current budget cycle ends in June 2011.

That's good news to some educators who worried about the effect of losing that test on students.

''It's all about citizenship, and that's not a piece we should lose when this generation will be electing our future leaders,'' said Sandy Williams, an instructional consultant with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center.

Ohio teachers will likely get more guidance as the Education Department overhauls state standards as part of Gov. Ted Strickland's education plan. Those standards outline skills and content students are expected to learn in every subject in every grade.

''We're looking at removing redundancies and organizing them by themes and topics so they'll be clearer and make more intuitive sense to the teachers,'' Heffner said.


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