Superintendent’s Report February 2015 submitted by Brenda Boeke Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Richard Ross, shared his recommendations to reduce the amount of time students spend on testing, with the Governor and members of the 131 st General Assembly. His recommendations include: 

Limiting the amount of time a student takes state and district tests to two percent of the school year and limiting the time spent practicing for tests to one percent of the year.

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Eliminating the fall third grade reading test but providing a summer administration of the test for students who need it.

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Eliminating the state’s requirement that districts give math and writing diagnostic tests to students in first through third grade.

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Eliminating the use of student learning objectives as part of the teacher evaluation system for teachers in grades Pre-K through 3 and for teachers teaching in non-core subject areas in grades 4 through 12. Other actions the Ohio Department of Education will take include:

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Working with the federal government to advocate for flexibility for Ohio’s testing system.

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Monitoring the first year administration of Ohio’s state assessments including PARCC (English and math) and AIR (science and social studies) tests to determine if any changes should be made to ensure that Ohio’s testing system provides accurate data on student performance in a reasonable way.

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Increasing the efficiency of local testing by finding ways that schools may use a single test for multiple purposes. Exploring whether new state tests can be used for gifted identification.

Legislative action continues to focus heavily on the area of assessment as both the Senat and House Education Committees are holding hearings with panels of Superintendents to share their thoughts and recommendations. As a school district our teachers have met to discuss the implications of the testing and we agree there is too much time spent on testing. After we experience this year’s test, PARRC in Language Arts and Math and Ohio’s AIR in Social Studies and Science we will have better information from which we can make informed decisions. New bills The following is a list of new bills introduced this session that impact education: • HB 2, sponsored by Dovilla and Roegner, deals with sponsorship and management of community schools. • HB 7, sponsored by Buchy, would prohibit individual student scores from tests administered in the 2014-15 school year from being used to determine promotion or retention or to grant course credit, and to make changes regarding the administration of the high school end-of-course examinations. • Senate Bill (SB) 3, sponsored by Cliff Hite (R-Findlay) and Keith Faber (R-Celina), would exempt high performing school districts from certain laws; revise the law regarding the administration of state assessments; permit school districts to contract with hospitals, healthcare professionals and educational service centers for school health services; revise the competitive bidding threshold for school building and repair contracts; and require the Ohio School Facilities Commission to develop a legislative proposal assisting high-performing school districts in purchasing technology, building expansion and physical alterations to improve school safety or security.