PERRYSBURG – New assessments will change the
way students take state tests as well as how those who teach them are evaluated.Superintendent Tom Hosler
presented information on the new tests and how they’ll affect teachers under a new evaluation model during a
school board meeting last week.Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests
are to replace the Ohio Achievement Assessments and Ohio Graduation Test in math and language arts for
students in grades four through eight. The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, new this year, requires that
instructors be evaluated yearly under an even split of performance evaluations and measured student growth
as shown on the tests and other performance indicators.Fifty percent of a teacher’s evaluation will be
calculated by student progress during the year as measured by the new tests. Teachers of those subjects will
be measured based on the test results, while those who instruct in other areas will be subject to Student
Learning Objectives currently being compiled by teachers, building leaders and administrators.Many teachers
are uneasy about how they’ll be scored under the new evaluations, and Hosler said the PARCC tests represent
a "major shift" and will create new challenges for students.The tests will require students to
think critically, rather than fill-in a multiple-choice guess if they don’t know an answer. Questions will
require more work to arrive at a conclusion by asking students to select quotes from a passage that support
a central idea, for example. The tests will also be given via computer rather than pencil and paper, and
additional testing time will keep students from the classroom for longer, which could distract them from
preparing for their own exams.PARCC tests represent such a dramatic change that they are expected to
significantly affect passage rates in the district and others across the state. Hosler said that figure is
typically between 90 and 100 percent in Perrysburg, but may fall to between 60 and 70 percent with the new
tests.Board president Gretchen Downs said she was initially overwhelmed at an Ohio School Board Association
workshop on the tests. But while those from other districts lamented the challenges they face under the
changes, she said she became more convinced that Perrysburg had already made substantial progress by
expanding Internet bandwidth and starting a technology program to assign individual computers to
students."We are so much further ahead in so many ways," Downs said.But being a step ahead of
other districts on the test isn’t enough to keep Perrysburg from supporting Senate Bill 229, sponsored by
State Sen. Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green), which would lessen PARCC’s impact on teacher evaluations from 50
to as low as 35 percent, at the discretion of each school district.Hosler testified in Columbus Tuesday in
support of the bill, which would also reduce the frequency of assessments for those instructors who achieve
top ratings.Before the testing discussion, he first hour of Monday’s meeting was used to recognize
accomplishments of students, staff and community members, including the girls’ golf and cross country teams
which qualified for state tournaments this season.Doug Kollman of Ft. Meigs Elementary School was presented
with an award from an American Heart Association representative honoring the school’s first-place
designation in Ohio for $13,971 raised through the combination of Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart in
2012-2013. Since 2003, the school has raised more than $100,000 through the events.The Youth Jefferson Award
for the first quarter was presented to Val Kopp and Niara Williams.Lastly, Hosler recognized Mayor Nelson
Evans and Perrysburg Municipal Court Judge S. Dwight Osterud, both departing their positions, for their
community service."They’re really fixtures, not only in our community, but in our schools," Hosler
said.The board accepted donations from Ford Cauffiel, $5,000, for the Students for Other Students
peer-tutoring program; and $776 from Rick Ruffner for a car cruise-in, bringing the year’s total school
contributions from the events to $2,652.