New testing mandate frustrates school officials

CELINA - Local school officials say preparing for new standardized tests has generated little financial cost but has led to much frustration and anxiety among teachers, administration and students.

"The (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing requirements placed on us create anxiety with the students, teachers, administrators and even parents," Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Rich Seas said. "It has been extremely time-consuming for everyone in preparation and learning how to use the technology that we need. The big question is 'how will all this data from the test results be used?' "

Celina superintendent Jesse Steiner said he is most frustrated that the guidelines "change all the time."

"That's hard for us to keep up with," Steiner said. "Our staff works really hard to make these tests happen and then the state makes changes that take all that hard work and throws it out the window."

Teachers and students for the past three years have been preparing for the testing, which was created to align with Common Core's new style of teaching. The focus of the tests has moved from memorization to understanding the theory behind the data for critical thinking, officials said.

Third- to eighth-grades will take English/language arts and math tests. The tests last a total of about two hours for each student, officials said.

This is the first year for freshman to take tests along with the other three levels of high school students. They will be tested in English, Algebra I and Algebra II. Those tests last a total of about three hours for each student.

Seas said teachers needed to adjust their teaching methods and the content of their lessons. That meant adding a block of classes for one week to meet the PARCC test requirements.

"The rationale is to avoid as many classroom disruptions as possible but it requires more work on the front end," said Coldwater High School Principal Jason Hemmelgarn said.

Officials hope preparation and an understanding of what districts and students are being asked to do will result in the students doing "their best on tests," Seas said. "We'll see what happens."

St. Henry schools technology coordinator Tom Marchal said officials tested the computer infrastructure Jan. 29 at the middle school and Feb. 6 at the elementary school to ensure the system was ready for the on-line tests.

"Things went pretty well," he told school board members at the Feb. 9 meeting.

Superintendent Julie Garke said while technology has been added to the classrooms, the biggest concern is the amount of time lost to testing.

"Expectations have always been set high and will continue to be set high," Garke said.

Parkway schools superintendent Greg Puthoff said state tests have always been a "headache" as teachers deal with large- and small-group testing.

"We also have to make sure there is a qualified staff member in every room we use during the tests," Puthoff added. The only money Parkway spent specifically on the testing was $997 for 100 new computer mice to make it easier for students to maneuver through the online tests.

Under the state Safe Harbor law passed last year, test results cannot be used to influence teacher evaluations, Minster school superintendent Brenda Boeke said.

State House Bill 7, sponsored by Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, would prohibit schools from using the test scores to determine a student's advancement to the next grade level or earning course credit. The bill also states schools are not permitted to share individual student test scores with outside sources without consent from either students or their parents.

Federal funding covered much of the additional costs local districts faced due to the testing.

U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top grants, although not Common Core specific, included a one-time grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ohio was awarded $400 million in 2010 with some of that going to five area schools - Celina, Coldwater, Marion Local, Fort Recovery and New Bremen. Celina received $200,000 while the others received a little more than $100,000 each.

Steiner said the district's only cost was the purchase of Common Core-aligned textbooks.

Boeke said once the tests have been administrated and graded, district officials will know more about the exams' impact and how well the district prepared. Minster is using the paper and pencil version of the tests this year for English, language arts and math in grades 3-8 but will take the on-line tests for grades 4-8 in science and social studies and for the high school end-of-course exams.

"I think after that, after a year's worth of analyzed testing data, we may determine if changes are needed in the future," Boeke said.