Strongsville Teachers' Union 'Encouraging' Kids to Skip State Tests, Board Says

The Strongsville School Board is charging that the teachers' union has begun a campaign to have parents exempt their students in grades 3 to 8 from taking the Ohio Achievement Assessment test, Board President David Frazee said.

Not taking the tests would hurt the school district's state ratings, he said.

“The SEA is promoting that this action will not hurt the student, while indicating that harm will be done to our school district and its rating,” Frazee said in a news release. “It is unconscionable that the union would promote this course of action. Most parents will see through this communication and want to know their child’s current level of achievement.”

The SEA, on its website, has posted what it calls its "recommendations" for the OAA tests, and refers parents to the document on its Facebook page.

The document tells parents they may exempt their students from taking the tests and explains how to go about it.

"The parent need not give a reason, but if they desire they could include specific reason(s) that best fit that child’s particular set of circumstances....e.g. inadequate instructional preparation for the test, unqualified substitutes administering the test, etc.," the document says.

The student would receive a 0 on the test.

"Although this would be an adverse score for the district, it will not negatively impact the individual student’s grade," the SEA says.

Frazee said in the news release he expects the state to step in.

“We are confident the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) will be responding to the SEA’s measures since the Ohio Revised Code (ORC 3301.0711) details that school districts must administer these state-mandated tests,” said Frazee.

School officials have sent a memo to elementary and middle school principals explaining the district's protocol to guide discussions with parents.

If a parent requests exemption from the OAA, principals will explain the benefits and reason for the test. They will also request that the refusal be in writing. Finally, the refusal will be placed in the child’s cumulative file, the district said.

“A lack of participation by SCS students will have a negative impact,” Frazee said. “There will be validity concerns of both local and statewide data. In addition, the value- added data generated by the April, 2013 OAAs will be used as one component of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) in 2013-14, so we run the risk of inaccurate teacher evaluations as the new OTES model is introduced across the state.”