Effective Date: September 15, 2003 

Senate Bill 55
Increases required high school graduation science units from 2 to 3.  Total required high school graduation units remain at 21.

Effective Date: July 1, 2002

Senate Bill 55
OPT graduation requirements change from a 9th grade test to a 10th grade test.  All students completing high school after September 15, 2004 are required to pass the new 10th grade OPT to receive a diploma.  The 10th grade OPT was administered for the first time in March 2003.  The 9th grade OPT will remain available for all students completing high school prior to September 15, 2004, but who have not yet passed the 9th grade OPT, with the last of these tests being administered in the summer of 2004.

Effective Date: September 15, 2001

Senate Bill 55
Increases required high school graduation units from 18 to 21.

Effective Date: September, 2000

Science is added to the OPT required for graduation.

Effective Date: July, 1999

House Bill 282  ORC Section 3302.03
Allows test exemptions for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students until they have 2 years of instruction in English.  Law still requires all LEP students to pass all sections of the OPT required for graduation except those students excused by IEP exemptions.  Allows districts to deny grade-level advancement to any student who does not take any required OPT unless the student it exempted by a valid IEP and LEP request.

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Effective Date: July 1, 1999

Senate Bill 55
Districts may deny grade advancement and summer remediation must be offered to all students not passing three or more sections of the 4th and 6th grade OPT.  First district report cards to be issued.

Effective Date: September 15, 1998

All students graduating from private schools or other chartered nonpublic school are required to pass the graduating OPT to meet curriculum requirements and receive a high school diploma.

Effective Date:  July 1, 1998

Senate Bill 55
Districts are required to assess reading skills in grades 1, 2, and 3, offering intervention for all students reading below grade level and intense summer remediation for those students reading below 3rd grade level.

April 1998

Ohio Supreme Court rules that OPTs are public documents and therefore should be made available to the public.  Prior to this ruling OPTs were not available for public scrutiny.

1998

House Bill 770
Requires public release of all OPTs on July 1 of each year following their administration.  OPTs are now available from the Ohio Department of Education for a charge of $.05 per page.

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1998

Senate Bill 55 Highlights

• Establishes a new 10th grade graduation OPT, replacing the current 9th grade OPT and increasing graduation proficiency standards.  Effective for all students graduating as of September 15, 2004.
• Increases required high school graduation units as follows (1 unit = 120 hours of instruction):
• Total Units from 18 to 21.  Effective for all student graduation as of September 15, 2001.
• English Language Arts from 3 to 4.
• Math from 2 to 3.
• Science from 1 to 2 -- and then from 2 to 3. Effective September, 2003.
• Electives counting towards graduation reduced from 9 to 8.  Effective through September, 2003.
• Electives counting towards graduation reduced from 8 to 7.  Effective September, 2003.
• Requiring 1 unit of electives from business/technology, foreign language and fine arts.
• Establishes the 4th Grade Guarantee which requires districts to deny grade advancement for all students not passing the 4th grade reading OPT unless exempted by an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or both the principal and the teacher agree the student is academically prepared for 5th grade.  Districts are required to offer summer remediation for all students not passing the 4th grade reading OPT.
• Establishes $500 scholarship to students attaining applicable scores on the 12th grade OPT.
• Establishes performance indicators upon which district report cards will be created.  Effective July 1, 1999. These report cards, issued by the state, will rate each district's effectiveness according to the achievement of the following 18 performance indicators:

  1) 75% of all 4th grade students passing the 4th grade citizenship OPT
  2) 75% of all 4th grade students passing the 4th grade math OPT
  3) 75% of all 4th grade students passing the 4th grade reading OPT
  4) 75% of all 4th grade students passing the 4th grade writing OPT
  5) 75% of all 9th grade students passing the 9th grade citizenship OPT
  6) 75% of all 9th grade students passing the 9th grade math OPT
  7) 75% of all 9th grade students passing the 9th grade reading OPT
  8) 85% of all 10th grade students passing the 9th grade writing OPT
  9) 85% of all 10th grade students passing the 9th grade citizenship OPT
  10) 85% of all 10th grade students passing the 9th grade math OPT
  11) 85% of all 10th grade students passing the 9th grade reading OPT
  12) 85% of all 10th grade students passing the 9th grade writing OPT
  13) 60% of all 12th grade students passing the 12th grade citizen OPT
  14) 60% of all 12th grade students passing the 12th grade math OPT
  15) 60% of all 12th grade students passing the 12th grade reading OPT
  16) 60% of all 12th grade students passing the 12th grade writing OPT
  17) 93% minimum student attendance rate
  18) 3% maximum dropout rate

Each district will then be classified into one of the following categories, according to the number of effectiveness criteria it achieved:

• 17 or more Effective (meets 94% or more of criteria)
• 10-16 Continuous Improvement (meets 50-94% of criteria)
• 6-9 Academic Watch (meets 33-50% or criteria)
• 5 or less Academic Emergency (meets less than 33% of criteria)

The law provides for the addition of nine more criteria, including 6th grade OPTs and science OPT sections at all appropriate grade levels.  The number of achieved criteria for purposes of category ranking will adjust accordingly, when enacted.

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Effective Date: 1996

6th grade OPT administered for the first time.
4th grade OPT adds the science section for the first time.

Effective Date: 1995

4th grade OPT sections of writing, reading, math and citizenship administered for the first time.

1995

House Bill 117: ORC Section 3301.01
Established a state board of education that was no longer solely elected by the public, but rather consisted of 11 elected members, and 8 members appointed by the state governor.

Effective Date: July 1, 1993

Students must pass the 9th grade OPT to receive a high school diploma. Students failing to pass this test, but who complete all other graduation requirements will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

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1992

House Bill 55
Required the phase-out of current state required selection of standardized achievement test at grades 4, 6, 8, and 10 to be replaced by new OPTs.  OPTs to include 12th grade, 9th grade graduation test currently in place, 4th grade test to be administered for the first time in 1995, and an additional OPT to be administered for the first time in 1996 at some yet to be determined grade between 4th and 9th.

Required a science section to be added to the 9th and 4th grade OPTs for the first time in 1996.

Eliminated 4-tier high school diploma system established with 1987 law.  New diplomas are awarded as follows:

Effective Date: 1990

9th grade OPT administered for the first time as a high-stakes graduation test.

Effective Date: 1987

House Bill 231
State Board of Education adopts list of learning outcomes in reading, writing, math, and citizenship which become the basis for the 9th grade OPT.

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			"The secret to education is respecting the pupil." Ralph Waldo Emerson

-- 2000 (to be further updated in 2004)

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