User:Duffman894/New Page Workshop

History
Education is traditionally the responsibility of the local school district. This authority includes establishing the school’s curriculum. This completely decentralized method drew criticism in the early 1980’s, culminating in the 1983 report ‘’A Nation at Risk’’. This report, written by President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education, chronicled the nation’s academic underachievement. Among other recommendation, the report suggested that schools “adopt more rigorous and measurable standards, and higher expectations, for academic performance.111111111” This report initiated a series of Standards-based_education_reform at the local, state, and federal level.

In Ohio, the State Board of Education responded that same year by requiring competency-based education in English composition, reading, and mathematics2222222222. By 1992, all school districts were required to develop and implement competency-based education programs, which included performance objectives for composition, reading, mathematics, science, and social studies2222222222.

The precursors to the Ohio academic content standards, the Ohio Model Competency-Based Programs, were created by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) from 1991 to 1994. 22334455 These documents were meant to “provide direction for schools and districts in developing local competency-based education programs.”2222222 Local districts were not required to use the state developed program and could still adjust the curriculum to meet local needs. However, these model programs formed the foundation of the ninth-grade proficiency test, which became a graduation requirement for the class of 1994. 66666666

In 1997, the State Board and the Ohio Board of Regents worked together to create a set of common expectations for students upon completion of high school. 7777777 These expectations were for six content areas:


 * The arts
 * English language arts
 * Foreign languages
 * Mathematics
 * Science
 * Social studies

In 2000, the Governor’s Commission for Student Success recommended that Ohio should create clear, rigorous academic standards in key subjects for all grades. 88889999 ODE was charged with the creation of these standards. The common expectations formed the foundation for the new standards.

Development
To begin the creation of the standards, advisory groups were formed for each content area covered by the common expectation and a new area: technology. These groups assisted in the preliminary planning process, helping with principles, structure, and format of the standards. A second set of groups, the writing teams, actually wrote the standards themselves. The writing teams were made up of teachers of all grades, business representatives, parents, and specialized learning professionals. All original members of the writing teams who wrote of the common expectation were invited back to join the writing teams777777.

After the first draft was completed, the drafts faced extensive public review. ODE held focus groups and solicited electronic feedback from interested stakeholders. All of the feedback gathered was considered by the writing teams for the final drafts. The standards were developed and adopted by the State Board in a staggered manner: