Legislative Update: Standardized testing, school report cards, financial literacy & fair funding

Featured guest: 

Jeff Wensing, Ohio Education Association Vice PresidentA high school math teacher from Parma, Ohio, prior to his election as OEA Vice President in Spring 2019, Jeff Wensing served as the President of the Parma Education Association and as the President of the North Eastern Ohio Education Association. One of Jeff’s accomplishments was organizing members and the community to elect a new local Board of Education majority in 2017. This successful undertaking highlights his skill set by coordinating with local mayors, city council members, other unions, and the candidates themselves. Jeff has a history of listening to members prior to implementing decisions, communicating thoughtfully throughout the process, and engaging all stakeholders with full transparency.

In this episode:

"I want to be clear that classroom teachers aren't against tests. We've invented testing, and testing drives instruction, and these [formative assessments] are the tests that mean something, that were given to students in real time and drive our instruction; We can differentiate based on our students needs - not standardized tests, where you get the results in the summer and you have no way to react to the results of those tests."1:25 - House Bill 67's original intent to waive state and federally required tests this school year2:15 - The problems with standardized testing requirements this year3:15 - Reworking HB 67 in wake of announcement that federal waivers would not be offered and how the new bill offers graduation requirement relief4:05 - Amendment in HB 67 creating a new path to graduation and provisions exempting schools from having to administer American History exams as well as requiring the the Ohio Department of Education to seek a waiver from federal accountability and reporting requirements4:45 - The emergency clause in the Senate version of HB 675:45 - "Teachers aren't against tests...We test all the time." Teacher-Based Teams, Professional Learning Communities, and formative assessments to guide instruction7:45 - State report cards and House Bill 200, which would replace A-F grades for school districts and buildings with terms like "exceeds expectations or meets expectations"8:15 - "We're happy with the direction that it's going; we're not fully supportive of it at this time."8:40 - Areas for improvement in HB 200: An opportunity dashboard and removing the Value Added component"I think it's fair when you're evaluating students that they know how they're going to be evaluated and rated, and I think that's fair for teachers, too, and the Value Added system is some mysterious system that hardly anybody, if anybody, can understand."10:00 - The failures of the A-F report card system: "It's a blame and shame game"11:40 - Senate Bill 1, creating financial literacy requirements for graduation, sounds great on its surface, but is an unfunded mandate that would create hardships in smaller and less wealthy districts, especially13:00 - The fight to fairly and fully fund all of Ohio's schools by working to include House Bill 1 (the Fair School Funding Plan) into House Bill 110, the state budget14:00 - Issues with proposed restrictions on how student success and wellness funds money can be spent that are currently in HB 11015:00 - The importance of cultural competency training and trauma informed care16:15 - Including health and wellness funding in the Fair School Funding Plan17:00 - Hopes for finally fixing Ohio's broken school funding system this year

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About us:

The Ohio Education Association represents more than 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May, 2020, after a ten-year career as a television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. 

This episode was recorded March 17, 2021.