LISBON -Six of the 12 school districts in Columbiana County saw an increase in the percentage of students who passed the Ohio Graduation Tests administered in March, while the scores for the other six districts declined.
Registering increases were Crestview, Lisbon, Salem, Southern Local, Wellsville and the Buckeye Online School for Success. The passage rate dropped for the other districts: Beaver Local, Columbiana, East Liverpool, East Palestine, Leetonia and United Local.
The OGT is administered every March to high school sophomores across Ohio who are tested in reading, mathematics, writing, science and social studies. Students must pass all five tests to graduate and have their junior and senior years to do so.
Columbiana still ranked first among county school districts, with 76.6 percent of its 10th graders passing the test the first time around, but this represents an 11 percent decline from March 2011.
Falling to last place was East Liverpool, with 48.8 percent of its sophomores passing all five sections. BOSS and Wellsville tied for last in 2011, with 47.1 percent of its sophomores passing.
OGT results tend to fluctuate from year to year, as is evident by Columbiana's 11 percent drop. At the other end of the spectrum, the number of Wellsville and Southern Local sophomores passing the OGT's jumped by more than 20 percent.
These are only preliminary results and could change, depending on the outcome of any appeals by the school district to the Ohio Department of Education, late scoring, or other factors. The final results will be issued along with the state report cards for school districts in late August.
