The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill Feb. 11 that would allow students to advance to the next grade level regardless of their results on Common Core tests this year. While the legislation passed the House easily, it looks to be a mostly symbolic victory.
The bill sponsored by State Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, would keep first-year test results from counting against students academically. It would also prohibit schools from releasing or sharing those test scores except with parents.
Students across the state began taking the new tests for the first time Feb. 17.
House Bill 7, which passed the House by a 96-0 vote, is a more or less symbolic gesture against Common Core, since schools are already forbidden from sharing test results and there are currently no plans to hold students accountable for low test scores.
The tests in question do not affect students’ ability to move on to the next grade level or graduate.
Ohio Senate Education Committee Chair Peggy Lehner, a Democrat, has expressed confusion about the bill’s practical purpose.
“There are no consequences whatsoever for a kid who takes [the tests],” Lehner noted during a Feb. 10 meeting on the bill.
Buchy’s bill doesn’t cover other tests that affect student promotion or graduation, such as the state’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee.
Buchy has cited HB 487, a law passed last summer by the legislature that exempts teachers and school districts from being held accountable for the new test results in their inaugural year; he said he’s simply trying to provide the same assurance for students.
“The most important product of education is children,” Buchy said last week. “I wanted to make sure they were on the same playing field as the teachers.”
The bill is one of many attempts by mostly conservative lawmakers to chip away at the new federal standards for education.
Some critics of the Common Core standards say they’re an intrusion by the federal government on states’ abilities to set their own educational agenda.
Other, usually liberal, critics decry the increased difficulty level and volume of tests used to measure whether students have learned the new standards.
Some parents have begun pulling their students out of school while testing occurs, “opting out” of the Common Core exams in protest of either increased testing or the new federal standards.
A high school teacher in Elyria, Ohio named Stacy Starr made local headlines last week when she resigned from her job over the increasing frequency of testing in schools and the new standards.
“I don’t think anyone understands that in this environment if your child cannot quickly grasp material, study like a robot and pass all of these tests, they will not survive,” she said during an education forum in Elyria last week during which she announced her departure.
Supporters of the standards say they are a means of ensuring that all students get an education that will allow them to be competitive in the global workplace.
House Bill 7 supporters, including Buchy, say it’s just the first in a series of efforts to change or reverse the standards. The legislation faces a long road.
Next, the bill will go to the Ohio Senate, where some members are dubious. If the bill passes there, it would still need to be signed by Gov. John Kasich, who supports Common Core.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2015.