|ClassConnections Start||Commentary on Proficiency Testing||Proficiency Start Page|
|Enquirer Article||Graphs of the Data I||Graphs of Data II||Graphs of Data III|

Examination and Critique of Ohio Proficiency Testing and Data

Legislative mandating of proficiency testing in Ohio has proceeded with no condsideration for the realities of such testing. Recently the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper conducted a statistical examination of Ohio's test results across significant income variables to determine what effect poverty has on the scores. The results of the Enquirer's study confirmed again what many of us have been arguing for years: Proficiency test scores are a function of social-economic class levels, not a function of intelligence or learning.

In an effort to share the data and results of the Enquirer's study as well as to bring a sense of reflective critique to the subject of proficiency testing, I have put together this set of pages as a section of myClassConnections WWW site.
This site is divided into the following sections:
1. Collection of data and results taken from the Enquirer and collated for local school districts in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties: Here

2. My own analysis of the data with 3 pages of graphic representations and comments on what the findings may suggest: Here

3. My own brief op ed commentary on proficiency testing: Here

4. Links to FairTest, a national organization dedicated to fairness and truth in testing: Here

5. Access to the Cincinnati Enquirer WWW site convering the study: Below

ENQUIRER
ANALYSIS
  • Best and worst
  • Highlights:
         Ohio's Top 10
         Ohio's Bottom 10
  • Search all Results
  • Reseach Methods
  • The Data
    		•  
    The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) is an "advocacy organization working to end the abuses, misuses and flaws of standardized testing and ensure that evaluation of students and workers is fair, open, and educationally sound." Their site is extremely valuable for all reflective teachers and elemental to supplementing the principles of curriculum development examined in Sec Ed 1036.
    Home Page of FairTest
    This article is a straightforward examination of the accountability problems associated with standardized testing. It is a must read for reflective teachers who recognize the serious lack of validity of standardized tests and who understand that such tests serve to arbitrarily disadvantage large numbers of innocent students.
    New Thinking on Accountability
    This site is a table of contents for articles on the problems of standarized testing all all levels of schooling and articles produced by the public organization called Fair Test. I have placed it here to help you locate sources of knowledge about the issues and problems associated with testing.
    Table of Contents for Articles on Testing Issues
    "NEW STATE-BY-STATE SURVEY CONCLUDES MOST ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS NEED MAJOR CHANGES; STATES JUST 'TINKERING AT THE EDGES OF REFORM'"

    This is the overview, the state-by-state report,the Ohio scorecard (note the refusal of the Voinovich administration to cooperate with the study), and the findings/recommendations of the latest (10-1997) critique of standardized testing done by FairTest. "FairTest based its evaluation of state assessment programs on the Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems. The Principles were developed by the National Forum on Assessment to help guide assessment reform and have been signed by over 80 education and civil rights groups."
    Overview of FairTest State-by-State Study of Assessment System
    Testing Our Children: A Report Card on State Assessment Systems
    The Ohio Report Card
    The Major Findings of Testing Our Children: A Report Card on State Assessment