Understanding the Ohio State Tests

Beginning in the 2015 – 2016 school year, students in Ohio will begin taking the Ohio State Test (OST) to as their assessment for student learning. According to the Ohio Department of Education, the purpose of the OST is to determine “how students are growing in the knowledge and skills outlined in Ohio’s Learning Standards.” These tests help guide and strengthen future teaching to ensure Ohio students are prepared for “long-term success in school, college, careers, and life.”

The OST is designed for students in grades 3 – 8 to assess Math, English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. Each content portion of the assessment is broken into two sessions. The assessments are given online and will be a combination of multiple choice and technology-enhanced questions. The sessions are designed to assess the Ohio Learning Standards in manageable chunks of time for the students.                                                                  

                                                                         

For support on the mathematics portion of the assessment, some students will be offered references. Students in grades 3 – 5 will not be allowed to use calculators on the test; however, they will receive references sheets with conversions and formulas. Students in grades 6 – 8 will be able to use both calculators and reference sheets on the math portion of the exam.

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