Buchy: Opt-outs raise report card concerns

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COLUMBUS – State Rep. Jim Buchy (R-Greenville) has released adjusted report cards for schools in Auglaize, Darke, Mercer and Shelby counties as concerns grow about the impact on local scores from students who opted out of the 2014-15 PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) examinations.

In December, legislators introduced House Bill 420, which would have required the Ohio Department of Education to issue data to account for students whose parents elected for their child to “opt-out” of PARCC examinations.

“The Ohio Department of Education has issued some adjusted grades, but have been unable to effectively communicate the impacts of opt-outs on the report cards,” Buchy said. “Upon the release of the report cards last month, I was surprised how difficult it was to review accurate scores.”

Buchy has been working with ODE officials to ensure that the entirety of the department’s website reflects the modified rankings for Ohio’s schools. In an effort to let residents of the 84th House District know how their schools performed, he has issued adjusted report cards for the 27 schools in Auglaize, Darke, Mercer and Shelby counties.

“In all the years I have served in the legislature I have never before been driven to do the job of a bureaucratic agency for them,” Buchy said. “The data on the adjusted report cards reflects data I have received from the Ohio Department of Education, but it more clearly reflects the impacts of those who did not take the test.”

Buchy has posted the adjusted report cards at tinyurl.com/adjustedreportcards These report cards are unofficial and serve only as a way of reviewing school results to consider the impact of the high level of “opt-outs.” The Ohio Department of Education has posted official results at www.reportcard.education.ohio.gov

Buchy has made protecting children and communities from the results of the failed PARCC test a primary goal, his office reported. He was the author of House Bill 7, which passed through the legislature in February of 2015 to extend safe harbor to all Ohio students to ensure that students could not be harmed by the results of the unproven, untested PARCC examinations. At that time, Representative Buchy spoke publically about the importance of all students taking the PARCC test with an understanding that it could not result in them being held back or having their class grades impacted.

Staff report

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