Students can score one of five ways on the Ohio state tests: “limited,” meaning the student needs significant improvement to meet standards; “basic,” “proficient,” which indicates the standards have been met; “accomplished,” which indicates a student is on-track for college; and “advanced.”
Brenner said more than 366,000 students in Ohio scored “limited” on their tests in at least one state assessment.
“Clearly, a disturbing number of Ohio children are in need of significant and prolonged academic intervention before it is too late to address their desperately-needed learning deficiency,” Brenner said in introducing the bill.
The bill would also, beginning next school year:
- Require schools to create an intervention plan for students who qualify for math intervention services;
- Require the school to create a mathematics improvement plan if 51% or more of the students in the school did not meet “proficient” levels on the state tests;
- Require the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to randomly pick 5% of Ohio’s schools and review their academic intervention services.
The bill has received little opposition so far. The Ohio Federation of Teachers, one of the two teachers’ unions in the state, testified last December when Brenner introduced the previous version of the bill, Senate Bill 162.
Melissa Cropper, the president of OFT, said in testimony that neither opposed nor supported the bill that the union would prefer to see these academic interventions created in-house. The bill allows school districts to create the academic interventions in-house or hire outside services for improvement.
Cropper said teachers had already made progress towards implementing the academic interventions described in the bill.
Similarly, the fiscal analysis done by the Ohio Legislative Commission, a government body that analyzes bills, found the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, which represents superintendents, already provided these services to many of their students.
In testimony, Cropper also asked for alternative ways to show children had met achievement than just standardized tests.
Chad Aldis, vice president of Ohio policy at the Fordham Institute, which focuses on education policy and is interested in school choice, supports SB 19. He said the bill could go further, though. He called for the state to mandate an Ohio Department of Education and Workforce review of math curricula, include if the curricula used in the school is “high-quality” on the state’s report card, and automatically enroll students who demonstrate readiness in Algebra I in eighth grade, among other policies.
“We urge you to not only pass Senate Bill 19 but also to consider incorporating the additional numeracy reforms outlined above,” Aldis said. “The future of Ohio’s students—and our state’s economy—depends on it.”