American Education

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American Education

Today’s schools have standardized promotion requirements in the hopes that all students will be promoted in fairness. Like most states, Ohio’s criteria for promotion in grade school include a passing grade in English composition, mathematics, science and reading. There are state-mandated benchmarks that must be met in all of these areas. The four levels of grading are: Advanced - student performs at a superior level; Proficient - student has a solid performance; Deficient - student’s performance is lacking; Failing - student’s performance is unsatisfactory. A student must be proficient or better in all areas to qualify for promotion. Also, if a student is not performing in the C-range or better in a majority of areas for the final four weeks of school, the school has the option of retaining that student. This sounds like a good plan, but how effective is it?

Alarmingly, forty percent of Ohio students in K – 12 do not qualify for promotion. These are shocking numbers, yet proponents of the existing system consider this as evidence that this type of traditional evaluation is necessary to ensure the quality of our children’s education. But, we must also consider that this same program has been used to evaluate students for decades. It was found that each year between 30-50% of students in elementary and middle schools would not have qualified for promotion (Ohio Fourth 81); however, the failure rate fell to 5% by the time these same students were ready for graduation (Ohio Twelfth 154). This drop in failure rates indicates the tests were not a reliable or valid representation of a student’s ability to do well in school or of their right to be promoted. In addition, consider that many of the students ...

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...es in changing the existing system to Mixed Age Education; nevertheless, I feel that the benefits for the children far outweigh these difficulties. There are costs, but what price can we put on a well-educated, self-confident individual?

Works Cited

Ohio Fourth Grade Proficiency Test Results. (1998, July 13). [Ohio Department of Education

Report]. Available: www:http://ode000.state.oh.us/www/ims/proficiency/4th_prof_mar98.txt.

(Sept. 9, 1999).

Ohio Twelfth Grade Proficiency Test Results. (1998, July 13). [Ohio Department of Education

Report]. Available:

www:http://ode000.state.oh.us/www/ims/proficiency/12th_prof_mar98.txt. (Sept. 9, 1999).

1998-99 Annual Report/Testing: Ohio Proficiency Tests. [Akron Public Schools]. Available:

www:http://www.akronschools.com/schools…ols/winter00/report/testing/opt.htm. (Sept. 9,

1999).

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