Ohio high schools have shifted from the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) to American Institutes for Research (AIR) test, the American College Testing (ACT) and the WorkKeys test following state legislation.

Over the past four years, high schools across Ohio have done away with the OGT, replacing it with a variety of other graduation tests. This action, done in order to comply with state law, has brought the digital AIR test as a replacement. Seven tests comprise the AIR: English language arts 1 and 2, American history, American government, geometry, algebra 1 and biology. Students who take these tests receive scores between one and five much like an Advanced Placement (AP) Test. Students must garner a minimum of eighteen points to pass the test and graduate. Revere High School Principal Phil King elaborated upon the other options students have for graduation tests.

“The OGT is totally out after this year. The current standardized test that is in is the ACT. The state is now mandating that students take a college readiness exam. Students can now use their ACT to fulfill their graduation requirement. There is now a third option and that is called the WorkKeys Exam, and that is a specialized exam for students in a career technical field like at CVCC,” King said.

Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Educational Technology Kathy Nolan explained how and why the change in testing occurs.

“Ohio’s first test was simply minimal proficiency. Our students outgrew that pretty quickly so the next step was based on the new standards implemented in 2001. The OGT was then designed to assess those standards. Currently, we have yet another set of standards and the PARCC/AIR tests were designed to specifically measure the new Ohio Standards. So as you can see, the tests continue to evolve as the standards and expectations change. Now with the focus on College and Career Readiness, the new standards and tests are designed to measure this,” Nolan said.

King also clarified why Revere made the switch from the OGT to the AIR and other tests.

“It is simply a matter of legislation. The Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate has approved changes in graduation requirements to move away from the OGT and into end of course exams and into the ACT. We are legally mandated to give the exams. When it comes to college qualifying score, some schools have chosen to give the SAT. We chose the ACT bc we think more students go to state schools, and we think Ohio state schools prefer the ACT,” King said.
Nolan further predicted what she thinks standardized testing will look like in the future.

“I would hope [testing] would be more performance-based, where students have to demonstrate that they can do something productive with the knowledge, skills, and strategies they have learned. . . . No matter what, standards will certainly drive that test as they are the road maps for where we go with our teaching and your learning,” Nolan said.

Finally, school counselor Nick DePompei mentioned how standardized testing impacts classroom learning.

“[Testing] could affect learning if schools and teachers do too much to teach just to take the test. I believe we do a good job at our school though making sure students are ready for that test but still building above and beyond the test material in our classrooms,” DePompei said.

Students took their end of course exams on April 5, April 6, April 17, April 18, April 25 and April 26.