WILMINGTON — The Ohio Board of Education member who represents Clinton County was a guest at the Wilmington City Schools (WCS) board meeting, and spoke about state-mandated assessment exams and Ohio’s school district report card.
Nick Owens of Georgetown succeeded Clinton Countian Ron Rudduck as the State Board of Education District 10 representative after last November’s elections when Rudduck didn’t seek re-election. He said of the 19 state board members, 10 including him are new.
He referred favorably to “pathways for graduating seniors that have more to do with success skills or life skills than arbitrary test score numbers.”
Owens added, “Now I believe in tests. I think that we have to have tests. But they [tests] have a right, proper scope in our educational system. Frankly, I think we’ve tested too much.”
Elaborating, he said a high school diploma needs to reflect what students truly are doing and what they’re capable of. “One thing we do a poor job of in Ohio and in the educational system is testing those life skills,” Owens said.
Standardized tests don’t tell whether the test-taker looks others in the eye, is attentive, works hard, or wants to make something of himself or herself, according to the state board member.
Ohio used to have 24 assessment exams, and now it’s 22 exams — 17 mandated by the federal government, and five by the state government.
“The goal is and I see a real movement on the [state] board to move us toward the federal minimum of 17 — that will take legislative action — but I see a lot of movement going towards that path,” remarked Owens.
Of the state report card that evaluates school districts, he said there’s a lot of consternation that it doesn’t truly reflect what’s going on in a local district.
“And I agree with that,” he told Wilmington school officials.
The state report card needs work, Owens continued. He added the “most wealthy districts are the ones succeeding the most,” which leads him to think the current report cards do not directly reflect what’s going on in the various school districts.
School districts “don’t get to choose students and the issues they bring with them,” said Owens, who is an assistant prosecuting attorney in Brown County.
Lower-poverty schools have more difficult issues, he believes, but “that doesn’t mean the kids [attending them] aren’t as bright as other areas; that just means teachers have a lot harder way to go sometimes.”
Due to an initiative of his, the meetings of the State Board of Education are now accessible as telecasts on the Ohio Channel, either live as they happen or by watching a session from the archives.
Owens was the first person in his immediate family to graduate with a college degree. Upon graduating from college, he began his public service career as an aide to Congresswoman Jean Schmidt of Ohio’s Second Congressional District, ultimately working in both her Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. offices.
He volunteers as a coach for the Western Brown High School mock trial team, which has qualified for the state competition.
The Monday night session of the WCS school board was held at Denver Place Elementary. Denver Place Principal Karen Long recognized members of the school’s student council.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
