Ohio State Board of Education

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The Ohio State Board of Education, which has eleven elected members and eight appointed members, oversees primary and secondary education in the State of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Education.

The state is divided into eleven districts by combining three contiguous Ohio State Senate districts, each of which elects one representative. The governor of Ohio appoints the remaining eight members. All serve four year terms. The elected members' terms are staggered so that half of the board is elected in each even-numbered year. Vacancies in the elected membership are filled by appointment by the governor. The chairman of the Ohio House of Representatives Education Committee and his or her counterpart in the Ohio State Senate are ex officio members. The board employs a Superintendent of Public Instruction, who runs the Ohio Department of Education.

The State Board of Education does not have jurisdiction over the state's public colleges and universities, which are overseen by their individual boards of trustees and the Ohio Board of Regents.

Contents

[edit] Closing Achievement Gaps in the State of Ohio

Of the 10,000 Ohio students not meeting academic standards, a disproportionate number of them are from low income neighborhoods, African American students, Hispanic students, ESL students, and students with disabilities. Failing to meet academic standards means these children leave school unprepared for the work force or further education.

These achievement gaps between these students listed above and those who are meeting standards are not ability gaps. Some schools in Ohio have much higher rates of the students above passing standards—this shows that all students can be taught to the academic standards. It is Ohio's mission to close these gaps with the following recommendations.

[edit] Strategies

  1. Focus on high achievement for all students
  2. Prepare and support educators
  3. Adapt structures to the needs of students
  4. Enhanced Cultural Competence
  5. Comprehensive Support for Students
  6. Outreach to Students’ Families
  7. Extended Learning Opportunities
  8. Classrooms that Support Learning
  9. Supportive Schools
  10. Strong District Support
  11. Access to Qualified Staff
  12. Adequate Resources and Funding

Before teachers can take any step forward in their classroom to work towards closing the achievement gap in their classroom they need to know where the gaps are occurring at with their particular students; it’s important for students to be at the same level in order to move on to succeed in school. The National Education Association suggests three things to keep in mind when approaching strategies to close the gaps: (a) which strategies are already in place; (b) what resources are needed to implement new strategies; and (c) what new actions are needed. [1] Teachers can become aware of where the achievement gaps occur by conducting regular assessments, standardized tests scores, grade point average, dropout rates, and college-enrollment and completion rates.

[edit] Anti-bullying policy OK'd after removing references to sexual orientation

On Tuesday, July 10, 2007, the Ohio State Board of Education adopted an anti-bullying policy, however they decided to remove reference to "taunts based on ethnicity, gender, religion (and) sexual orientation."[1]

One of the reasons it was removed was because board members said it was repetitive and unnecessary, however it was also discussed that it should be removed because the reference to sexual orientation could make some school officials uneasy.[citation needed]

[edit] Ohio Diagnostic Assessments

[edit] Goal of Assessments

To serve as tools to assess the strengths and weaknesses of students in order to inform instructional decisions. These tools are designed to help Ohio administrators, teachers, and students to reach 2 goals:

  • Increase student learning of the Academic Content Standards
  • Inform and strengthen classroom instruction

Resource: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/proficiency/diagnostic_achievement/Diagnostics_PDFs/Diagnostic_Guidelines_9-05.pdf

[edit] Components

  1. Short Screening Measure- 6-8 item assessment- can be used to determine whether students are on track to meet end-of-year requirements
  2. Screening Measure- Analyzes fundamental concepts and skills. Can identify students who may be at risk or need intervention to stay on grade level.
  3. Diagnostic Measure- In-depth assessment of students' strengths and weaknesses in meeting the standards.
  4. Observation Measure- Provides curriculum-embedded assessment strategies to document student progress. Involves collecting work samples as a means for monitoring a student's progress and needs.

[edit] Administration requirements

  • Kindergarten- must be administered to all transfer students. No annual requirement to use the kindergarten diagnostic assessments with all kindergarten students.
  • Grades 1 and 2- ALL students must be administered a diagnostic in reading, writing, and mathematics annually (at least)
  • Grade 3- Only schools in "school improvement" status must administer a grade 3 writing diagnostic to all 3rd grade students.

[edit] "On Track" Standards

Kindergarten:

  • name the letters of the alphabet
  • can provide most of the common sounds of letters
  • can write some of the consonant letters
  • usually can provide rhyming words
  • can provide the number of syllables in a word
  • can blend sounds into words
  • firm knowledge of print concepts
  • can typically answer literal questions about a story or retell most events in a story that is read to them

First Grade:

  • can identify the beginning and ending sounds in words
  • can typically add, delete or change letters in words to make new words
  • have a grade-level sight-word vocabulary
  • can write the letters of most of the consonants and vowels that correspond to the sounds that they hear in words
  • can identify most grade-level words with similar or opposite meanings
  • can demonstrate their comprehension of a text read to them by answering most of the questions about the ideas in the text
  • can retell most of the main events in a story that they have read
  • can orally read grade-appropriate text, using fluid and automatic decoding skills with some sense of expression
  • often apply the rules of syntax and punctuation

Second Grade:

  • can identify ending and medial sounds in words
  • can blend sounds into words
  • can segment many words into sounds
  • can identify the meanings of words that contain affixes as well as the antonyms and synonyms of grade-level words
  • can typically demonstrate their comprehension of texts they have read by answering most questions about the ideas in the texts or orally retelling the main events in a story
  • can read orally in phrases with a high degree of accuracy and with some expression
  • often apply the rules of syntax and punctuation as they read.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Anti-bullying policy OK'd. Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.