State releases OGT test results

By Mike Ford, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, June 30, 2007 (1 year, 2 months ago)
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K of C’s donation St. John’s Schools Superintendent Fr. Mel Verhoff accepts a $10,000 donation Thursday night from committee members for the annual Knights of Columbus/St. John’s Golf Outing. The event was held June 6 at the Delphos Country Club. Presenting the check were Bob Lause (left), Bob Weinandy, Tom Odenweller and Greg Feathers. The funds will go in the general fund at St. John’s Schools. Next year’s golf outing will be on June 6.Since spring 2005, all high school students must pass the Ohio Graduation Test in order to receive a diploma. Students take the exam as sophomores and have multiple opportunities to pass the test, which covers reading, math, writing, science and social studies.
Delphos City School Superintendent Bruce Sommers says the test is designed to guide curriculum and help educators gauge their performance, as well as how to make adjustments. He also says the exam is not easy for students.
“The test is very, very difficult. I sometimes share this with the public when I am out speaking and the comment I get is that people have no idea the test is so difficult,” he said.
Sommers is pleased with the district’s improvement from the second to third years of the exam.
“Overall, we improved from last year. Our percentages are up, so we’re pleased with that. We try to do our very best; I know students and staff work very hard on it every year,” he said.
The 80 sophomores who tested scored in the 80s on all subjects except for science, where the average was a mere 66.3 percent.
“I don’t think there’s anything magical that can be done other than that our staff know the content by memory. We know what kind of questions the students will be asked, so we do our best starting in elementary school, working our way into junior high and into high school, to help our students perform as best as possible,” he said.
Ottoville Superintendent Larry Moore expects the test to become increasingly difficult.
“It would not surprise me if the state raises the bar and makes the test more difficult. Nonetheless, our goal here is to exceed our performance,” he said.
Ottoville’s 56 sophomores scored in the 90s on all subjects and Moore looks to his teachers for the school’s success.
“Our teachers did a good job putting things together and the students did a very good job taking the exam. One of our goals is to continually increase the score by two points each year so we exceed our own performance,” he said.
Fort Jennings students performed in such a way as to leave little room for improvement, scoring 100 percent on reading, writing and math. The 28 students who tested scored 89.3 percent on science and 96.4 percent on social studies. Due to technical difficulties, school representatives could not be reached for comment.
While small districts’ scores are influenced by small class sizes, Elida has 205 sophomores who tested. Superintendent Don Diglia sees scores rising in the coming years.
“We are really pleased with our writing. Not only do we have 96.5 percent proficient but, I believe, 60 percent of them were a step above proficient,” he said.
Diglia says reading and writing have been emphasized at the elementary level with great results that will expand throughout the district as the younger students climb the ranks into middle and high school grades.
“We have developed “data academies” — teams of teachers who meet periodically to go over the test data, break it down and get that information back to classroom teachers so they can make adjustments to their instruction. We’re starting our third year and are making improvements, especially with economically-challenged students at the elementary level,” he said.
Spencerville’s 90 sophomores scored in the 90s on reading and writing; 86.7 percent on math; 79.1 percent on science and social studies. Superintendent Joel Hatfield sees the scores as a great tool with which to gauge his district’s performance.
“By looking at the scores, we can get an indication on where we need to put more emphasis and focus. We’ll do that as we continue to evaluate what we’re doing and to look at our curriculum,” he said.
The state posts the scores online but the numbers for Lincolnview include the scores of students at the district’s two “alternative schools,” though those scores have no connection to the district’s report card.
“We as a district get a chance to go in and make corrections. What happens is that the state just dumps the OGT scores on their web site but we can go in through the Educational Management Information System and pull out the scores of the kids affiliated with our alternative schools,” said Superintendent Doug Fries.
Approximately 86 students tested and did well on reading and writing.
“Our reading score for the 10th grade, first round, was 95.9 percent; math was 88.9 percent; writing was 95.9 percent; science was 79.2 percent; and social studies was 80.6 percent. We’re really pleased with the reading and writing,” Fries said. “ Any time you get 95.9 percent on your first round, you feel good about that. We’re also pleased that we got five indicators on the first attempt because you have to be over 75 percent and we’re pleased to have 26 students reach the advanced level in math. The science and social studies were our two lowest and we are providing intervention in those areas this summer and will allow students to take that test again in July.

7 Reader Responses to “State releases OGT test results”

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  1. #1 — Added 1 year, 1 month ago

    I am a student who has had to pass these test. I feel like it is unfair,this is screwing with my life. I got to get out of school early because i had earned all my credits. I passed all but one, which would be the math. Now this summer i had to go to classes for this test and if i dont pass it this time then i have one more time after that and then i wont recieve my diploma. Ive worked hard to get through school and i was happy to be where i was until this test affected me.Now im having problems finding an ok paying job because this is holding me back even though i already graduated. I dont understand how you guys are praising this test, you never had to take it and its so hard to get a good job with out a diploma. There really should be an alternitive because if i dont pass it next time around i have to go get my ged even though i never dropped out and i finished school.

    Posted on July 24, 2007 at 6:25 pm by Amanda Adams

  2. #2 — Added 3 months, 3 weeks ago

    I PASSED ALL FIVE PARTS!!!!
    YAY ME!!!!!!!!!!
    IM BRAGGING
    CAUSE I PASSED
    AND
    GUESS WHAT?!?!?!
    I ROCK!!!!!
    HOW DO I FIND OUT MY ACTUAL SCORE PERCENTAGE?!?!?!?!
    HELP PLEASE?!?!?!

    Posted on May 8, 2008 at 2:19 pm by Alex Pettis

  3. #3 — Added 3 months, 3 weeks ago

    HORIZON SCIENCE ACADEMY HAS THE HIGHEST OGT SCORE RESULTS!!!!!!

    Posted on May 8, 2008 at 2:20 pm by Alex Pettis

  4. #4 — Added 3 months, 2 weeks ago

    I would really like to get my results back. I’ve been waiting since March of 2008 and it has been a while. There are so many things that I have to know, and I can’t keep them straight because the board expects so much from each of us. I bet that, if each teacher, adult, or even you took the ogt, you all wouldn’t pass it. Why make us have to pass all 5. You should only have to pass 3 out of 5 of the tests. That would be much easier for you ladies and gentlemen to grade. Thank you for your time, I hope to see my results asap.

    Posted on May 13, 2008 at 1:39 pm by Brittney

  5. #5 — Added 3 months, 2 weeks ago

    I am an adult with a niece in a cleveland ohio school district and I think that since this test is to gauge the performance of the educators maybe they themselves should take the test to see if they can pass all of it…after all should you not set the example and take the first bite of what has become poison to many of the students whom my niece just told me today has failed this test only 70 of the 200 students will graduate from her class..if they got this far…that is to grade 12 then cannot pass this test at this percentage…I think someone should start looking for real teachers not” people just collecting a paycheck” …being a “teacher” does not come from wearing the title.

    Posted on May 15, 2008 at 3:59 am by outspoken

  6. #6 — Added 3 months, 1 week ago

    i am a student that yet has to pass this stupid ogt test. i have taken this test like 7times and i still haven’t passed it. this is the most stupidest test i have ever taken!! i dont understand how one test should determine if we get our diploma or not. i think this test is just messing everyone up.you guys said it your self that this test is really difficult then why should we has students have to take it?? i think that it should just be dropped. the test is stupid ad just stresses all of us out!! and what ever happen to the no child left behind thing? well what the heck do you think your doing by not letting us graduate because of some stupid test. their has to be some reason that some of us cant pass it! maybe its because we aren’t good test takers. man i am so mad right now. thanks to this stupid test im not able to graduate even tho im just a few points from passing!! thanks a lot for ruining my future.

    Posted on May 21, 2008 at 10:40 pm by anna denisevich

  7. #7 — Added 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    My daughter has a 3.6 bpa. This test has really ruin her career object. She is having such a bad time trying to pass the math and the science, At this time she cannot get into college, get a job, I don’t know to do. She has had tutor which helped very little. She was to suppose to have received her diploma in 2007, You guys really don’t know what you have done to our lower class black children who tries so hard to complete 12 years of school to have to endure this kind of harsh testing, I wish you can let me know the percentage of teacher in the lower class state pass this. I observe the practice test myself. This is not fair.

    I can say this my child has not given up she is still trying to complete this test.

    Posted on July 16, 2008 at 12:54 pm by Rosemary Algee