Ohio lawmakers recently passed a new provision in House Bill 487 that will ease the restrictions of the Common Core education standards in Ohio Schools. The change in the law was good news to Springfield City Schools.
The Common Core is a set of standards that recommends when students should be successfully passing certain math and reading skills. Superintendent Dr. David Estrop believes that Common Core isn't a bad idea, but its implementation was moving too fast.
"At the state level, we are saying to the governor and the general assembly, slow this down, let's work together, do it with us and not to us," Estrop said.
The new provision in House Bill 487 will give school districts more time to get students ready to take new assessment tests that will start during the 2014-15 school year. It also states that students' first year’s scores won’t affect school rankings or teacher evaluations.
Estrop indicated that there are still a lot of parents around Ohio that aren't fully aware of the new standards.
"Most have no idea that this train is on the track, much less is running at full speed and will be in place next school year," he said.
Starting in the fall, students in third grade through high school will take a common assessment test. Then beginning in 2018, the Ohio Graduation Test will be eliminated. Instead, high school students will have to pass competency exams in math, science, history and English.