Ohio Graduation Test: the Stakes Certainly Are High!

Last week, the Reuters news service reported that 178 employees  of the Atlanta Schools (mainly teachers and principals) were under investigation for cheating on standardized tests, going back to 2001!  One of the things the staff did was erase answers, like Kennan mentioned in class last week.  What a difficult, pressure-filled thing this high stakes testing is!    

For our district’s OGT testing, we had three teachers per room so that there would always be at least two teachers, never any teacher alone.  The booklets are collected in a Tupperware tub and taken by administration  before students are dismissed from the room.  There would be no chance for teachers to do an erasure party.  In addition, before testing week, teachers were given  information sheets about the requirements of testing and about acting with integrity.  We had to sign and turn in papers, saying we’d read all the information.  It’s all very formal.  It’s clear that there are severe consequences for inappropriate testing behavior—perhaps even seeing one’s teaching credentials in jeopardy.

No doubt that the cheating is wrong, but what is it that could drive people to do such things?  Right now teacher pay is not based on test results, but if our governor and so many others have their way, it will be.  Think of the temptation to cheat then! Either way, it points to the pressure schools and educators feel.  The article even says, “‘A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in Atlanta Public Schools, which created a conspiracy of silence,’ the state report concluded” (qtd. in Beasley 1).  

If teachers in my district are anything like normal—and there’s no reason to think we aren’t--none of us wants to teach to the test.  We long for the olden days when we had department structure but could teach in the best, most creative ways according to our consciences. 

However now we must teach “how to take the test” because the test has quirks.  Sure, we care about our district’s results, but we also care very much about our kids being shaken by a test, for which they may have the skills or information but lack the “how to” to understand the way the questions are asked.  Does the OGT really test information by capable young citizens/ graduation skills/ survival skills? Or does it test a student’s ability to answer OGT-style questions, as well as a student’s ability to remain motivated through  almost 13 hours of standardized testing in one week?

There’s a specific format expected for the written response answers.  Like in “The Three Bears,” the short and extended response answers have to be “juuuust right.”  A disinterested kid, who gives an incomplete answer, loses points, but so does a high-achieving, go-getter kid who tries to be too thorough and writes too much!

There other quirks too, but I don’t want to be pursued by the state of Ohio for saying too much online.  There are copies of past tests available for anyone’s perusal at: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?Page=3&TopicRelationID=1070&Content=107293  .

Schools’ standardized test results are published in the newspaper and online.  In Ohio, the scoring system is complex; people outside education don’t understand it.  They just look at a number or a label and judge the district. Kids are given several opportunities for re-taking the test and are offered free tutoring, but a district’s statistics are based on the sophomores’ first try.  A number doesn’t tell how many hours were spent helping kids or how hard people tried or what was going on in the kid’s life on test day. Levies fail on the basis of the test results and jobs are lost.  Fewer teachers means larger classes, so teachers and kids both lose.    

Here’s an example of the intricacies of the scoring system in Ohio. Certain subgroups of  at-risk students are counted in Ohio’s tally, which is reasonable.  But what most people don’t realize is that one, single student who is in multiple subgroups gets counted multiple times!  If  a student is handicapped, is a minority, and is impoverished, his or her failing test score counts three times, like he or she is three people, even though it’s one student.  Our district, very near here, is integrated and includes nearly half the families living under the poverty line.  Right away, we’re at a huge statistical disadvantage compared to a district that has few minorities or has wealthier families or  both.  But nothing in the newspaper explains all this.  Your district just get labeled “Excellent,” “ Effective,” or basically You Suck—Just Try to Pass Your Next Levy. 

(And since Ohio chopped millions out of our district’s funding over just two years instead of phasing it out over more than half a decade, like they’d promised, levies are important.  Young teachers, close friends, lost their jobs last spring because Ohio put our carefully-planned budget into sudden crisis.)

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the District Attorney of Fulton County says, “‘Once the review is completed, we will make an announcement at that time,’… without elaborating on what, if any, charges might be on the table” (qtd. in Beasley 1).  Whatever happens, it’s going to be painful.  

High stakes testing?  Pain, pressure, fear, and now corruption too.

Beasley, David. "Prosecutors to Review Widespread Cheating in Atlanta Schools."
     Reuters US. Reuters, 6 July 2011. Web. 9 July 2011.  <http://www.reuters.com/

     article/2011/07/06/us-atlanta-schools-cheating-idUSTRE7657EP20110706>.