Chief Assessment: OGT day one.

The high school where I work achieved an "A" last year in its indicators, meaning we accomplished a passing rating according to the state of Ohio (a high enough percentage of students passed) for 9 out of 10 assessments. This is not uncommon, but something of an accomplishment for an urban district with economic and demographic characteristics such as ours. This is to say that typically minority students and/or students from a low socioeconomic level tend to find less success on standardized tests. I'm not trying to be crass. Many researchers would agree that what these tests do best is to measure economic well-being.

With that said, I should be somewhat proud of the "A." The thing is, I'm pretty sure (and you'll forgive my language) that I was busting my ass and doing exemplary work when my school rated lower. I'm also quite certain that there are many other teachers in my district, and elsewhere, working in buildings with lower ratings who are killing it. They are working diligently to convey academic skills and content knowledge while inspiring their students to greatness. On the flip side, I'm guessing that there are teachers in well rated (read affluent) districts simply phoning it in. Now before you get terribly irate out there in Beachwood or the village of Indian Hill, I'm sure that you have your share of quality teachers too. My point is that we are using a ridiculously ineffective means to measure or grade students, teachers, buildings, and districts.

My students took the Reading OGT today. They will take the test in my content area on Friday. The furthest thing from my mind will be the rating of my school. I am concerned for the well being of my students, their levels of stress and confidence, and their ability to pass the test for the sake of their own graduation. My urban high school is currently beating a system under which it was not expected to be successful, and as that relates to students I am proud. However, regardless of the state of Ohio's A, B, or C, I am confident in the quality of work that my students and I are doing, and that's my chief assessment.

Incidentally, if you don't buy my allegations that standardized tests measure household income, then check out the information that follows. These are the top ten Ohio School Districts based on the state's Performance Index Ranking (from an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/12/14). The dollar amount that follows is their Median Household Income 2009-2013 from the US Census Bureau.

         1) Wyoming City.                                 $106,912

         2) Madeira City.                                   $87,750

         3) Solon City.                                      $97,181

         4) Oakwood City.                                $99,975

         5) Rocky River.                                    $67,926

         6) Indian Hill Exempted Village.           $207,069

         7) Ottawa Hills.                                   $111,364

         8) Beachwood.                                   $79,722

         9) Mason.                                           $85,679

        10) Chagrin Falls.                                 $57,434

For comparison's sake, I teach in Elyria. Our rank is 548 on that list. Our median income: $41,600. Our neighbor to the north, Lorain, ranks 602 with a median income of $33,610. Finally, Cleveland is ranked 607 on that list and has a median income of $26,217.

Perhaps you'd still argue that this is merely a coincidence.  You're a skeptic. I like that. Well, do some more research on the correlation between test scores and income, test scores and poverty, rates of free lunches, whatever angle you want to take. What are we measuring?