MOUNT VERNON — The Ohio Department of Education has released the results of the spring administration of the Ohio Graduation Tests and Ohio Achievement Tests.
Based on the Ohio Academic Content Standards, the tests are a snapshot of how well students have learned the material and are one of the factors taken into account on the school district’s report card. Test questions are designed to evaluate how well the students are able to think and solve problems, but also require the students to be able to justify their answers and to explain the process by which they came up with a particular answer.
School administrators and teachers analyze the test data, sometimes even breaking it down to individual test questions, in order to determine whether, or where, adjustments in instruction need to be made or where intervention efforts should be focused.
Centerburg passed 17 of the 19 tests. The middle school students, for the first time, passed all tests at all grade levels, earning an excellent status.
“The staff has been working on this for the past four years,” said Principal Mike Hebenthal, “and it finally paid off. ... The high school once again attained an “excellent” rating.
“Although the middle school and high school are both rated excellent, we don’t quit trying to improve,” Hebenthal continued. “We have instituted a first period intervention process at the middle school this year to try to help those students still struggling to meet the minimal standards. Hopefully, we will see the fruit of this effort during the 2010-11 school year. With the award to the high school and middle school of a 21st Century Grant from the federal department of education, we will be instituting new intervention services for those students who are struggling academically.”
Danville students scored proficient, or above, on 10 of the 19 tests, with math being a weak area. The state average is passage of 11 out of 19 tests.
