Writing
Reading
Mathematics
Citizenship
Science

Twelfth Grade Proficiency Tests Requirements

The 12th grade proficiency tests will no longer be administered, per Am. Sub. Senate Bill 1.  The last administration of the 12th grade tests was in February 2001.  However, the following learning outcomes are recommended by the Ohio Department of Education:

WRITING

In a piece of writing, the student will:

1. Convey a message clearly related to the prompt (topic or description of a situation).
2. Establish a main idea.
3. Include relevant and clearly developed supporting ideas or examples.
4. Follow a logical order.
5. Use paragraphing to make the logical order clear.
6. Convey a sense of completeness.
7. Choose words appropriate to the audience, the purpose, and the subject.
8. Include precise language.
9. Use sentences of varied length and pattern.
10. Use language as an expression of self.
11. Produce complete sentences (although some purposeful fragments are acceptable).
12. Maintain subject-verb agreement.
13. Use standard forms of verbs and nouns.
14. Use clear pronoun reference.
15. Use appropriate internal and end punctuation.
16. Use correct spelling and capitalization.
17. Use legible handwriting.

READING

Given a fictional selection, the student will demonstrate an integrated understanding of language and elements of fiction by responding to items regarding:

1. The meaning of an unfamiliar word (i.e., uncommon or low-frequency word).

2. Implied main ideas.

3. Most-probable outcomes.

4. Details that either support or do not support the main idea.

5. The best summary or paraphrase.

6. The identification of questions that will demonstrate comprehension of the main idea and supporting details.

7. The appropriate meaning for a word used in context when given a dictionary entry.

8. Structural elements of literature (e.g., plot, theme, character, mood, setting, point of view).

9. The comparison and contrast of characters, objects, or events.

10. Literary devices (e.g., metaphor, foreshadowing, flashback, allusion, satire, irony).

11. The recognition and interpretation of organizational patterns of writing (i.e., cause and effect, time order, comparison and contrast, simple listing).

Given a nonfiction selection, the student will demonstrate an integrated understanding of the major concepts, the evidence that supports those concepts, the possible application for the concepts, and the possible purposes the selection might serve, by responding to items regarding:

12. The meaning of an unfamiliar word (i.e., uncommon or low-frequency word).

13. Implied main ideas.

14. The difference between statements based on fact and statements

based on inference.

15. Predictions about whether certain information is likely to be included in material.

16. Details that either support or do not support the main idea.

17. The author's purpose for writing the selection.

18. The best summary or paraphrase.

19. The author's attitude toward a topic, including possible biases.

20. The comparison and contrast of characters, objects, or events.

21. The recognition and interpretation of organizational patterns of writing (i.e., cause and effect, time order, comparison and contrast, simple listing).

Given everyday/functional reading materials, the student will identify, locate, and use information in items regarding:

22. The intent of propaganda.

23. The selection and use of appropriate reference sources and illustrative materials.

1. Examples of reference sources/illustrative materials would be individual, encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, periodical/newspaper, complex schedule, and Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.
2. Examples of skills/processes would be reading charts, tables, diagrams, graphs, and maps; identifying alternative/additional reference sources for a specific topic.

MATHEMATICS

The student will:

1. Compare, order, and determine equivalence of real numbers.

2. Estimate answers, compute, and solve problems involving real numbers.

3. Determine area and volume.

4. Estimate and use measurements.

5. Organize data into tables, charts, and graphs.

6. Read, interpret, and use tables, charts, and graphs to identify patterns, note trends, draw conclusions, and make predictions.

7. Determine probabilities of events involving unbiased objects.

8. Translate verbal statements into symbolic language.

9. Simplify algebraic expressions.

10. Set up and solve linear equations.

11. Solve quadratic equations.

12. Solve systems of linear equations with two variables.

13. Graph linear functions.

14. Use the laws of exponents (including scientific notation).

15. Apply the Pythagorean theorem.

16. Use deductive reasoning.

17. Describe and apply the properties of similar and congruent figures.

18. Determine slope, midpoint, and distance.

19. Demonstrate an understanding of angles and parallel and perpendicular lines.

CITIZENSHIP

The student will:

1. Understand the rationale, consequences, and applications of the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and other amendments, as the supreme law of the land.

2. Identify factors which have contributed to America's cultural pluralism, including historical, racial, ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds of this nation's people.

3. Locate major bodies of water, continents, and significant places in the United States, and important regions and countries of the world.

4. Read maps, charts, or graphs to draw conclusions regarding natural resources and topography of the U.S. and the world.

5. Understand that geographic locations affect the political and economic systems of the world.

6. Understand the following economic concepts:

1. Individuals and households exchange their resources for the income they need to buy goods and services.
2. Individuals and business firms use resources to produce goods and services and generate income.
3. Markets allocate goods and services.
4. Competition affects markets.
5. Local, state, and national governments play important roles in a market economy.

7. Understand principles of traditional, market, and command economies (as applied in nations of the world).

8. Distinguish the constitutional relationship among the several levels of government regarding reserved powers, delegated powers, concurrent powers, elastic clause, and powers denied the government.

9. Understand and apply the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances.

10. Compare and contrast the U.S. representative democracy with other types of governments around the world.

11. Understand that lawmaking is influenced through formal and informal processes (recall, referendum, initiative, legislative committees, lobbying).

12. Understand that the evolution of democratic principles (e.g., civil rights, widening franchise) can occur through civil disobedience.

13. Understand the roles of political parties in a democratic process.

14. Describe the ways officials can be elected, appointed, or removed from office.

15. Know the purposes of and the qualifications for voting in Ohio's primary and general elections.

16. Identify significant features of the 14th amendment (due process and equal protection of the laws).

17. Identify the legal responsibilities of citizenship.

18. Demonstrate the ability to use information that enables citizens to make informed choices.

1. Analyze sources to obtain information.
2. Compare and contrast points of agreement and disagreement among sources.
3. Evaluate the reliability of available information.
4. Identify and weigh alternative viewpoints.

19. Recognize that local and national issues can be related to those confronting the global society.

20. Recognize that a nation's foreign policy may have a worldwide impact.

SCIENCE

1. Trace energy transformations, and/or apply the principles of mass/energy conservation to physical and biological systems:

Identify the changes in the forms of energy within a system.

2. Utilize models of atomic and molecular structures and/or interactions to explain, interpret, or predict experimental results:

Explain how a chemical reaction occurs on a molecular level.

3. Use fundamental forces to explain and make predictions about motions and changes in systems:

Explain how the path of a thrown ball can be predicted and why the ball falls toward the ground.

4. Analyze the results of changing a component of simple systems:

Explain and predict how a change can affect a system like a lake, a machine, or a mountain range.

5. Relate structure and function in physical and biological systems:

Use the structure of wings and feathers to explain why birds can fly.

6. Predict the effect on an ecosystem due to a given or proposed environmental change:

Identify how an environmental change will disrupt the balance of an ecosystem.

7. Evaluate the scientific validity of data used in persuasive communication:

Evaluate the advertising claim of a soap product.

8. Formulate an experimental design to test a given hypothesis:

Design an experiment that will test an idea.

9. Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of natural phenomena on the earth's geological formations over short and long time spans:

Explain how and why mountains, rivers, and lakes change.

10. Analyze and interpret meteorological data and predict weather for a specified location:

Use data to predict weather.

11. Relate planetary cycles and observations to natural phenomen including seasons, tides, days/nights, phases of the moon and eclipses:

Explain the tides or an eclipse of the sun.

12. Demonstrate an understanding of units of measure and precision by using an appropriate measuring device for an application:

Identify the appropriate instrument needed to make a given measurement.

13. Identify the safety precautions that should be taken given a Manufacturers Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or a product label with a key:

Know how to interpret safety precautions given on a MSDS or a product label.

14. Relate the effects of biotic and abiotic factors to animal life including growth, reproduction, and behavior:

Describe how living and nonliving (like fleas and floods) factors can affect animal life.

15. Demonstrate an understanding that scientific theories and methods have developed and continue to develop through time:

Describe how light and water affect plants.

16. Relate the effect of light and other factors on various aspects of plant life and growth, including photosynthesis and respiration, germination, and tropism:

Describe how light and water affect plants.

17. Relate patterns of diversity, extinction, adaptation, and speciation as a result of natural selection at the molecular and population levels:

Explain why maple seeds that spin as they fall provide a survival advantage to the maple tree; Use DNA to explain how bulldogs and greyhounds are alike and different.

18. Relate biodiversity to the stability of ecosystems within biomes:

Explain why a forest is more stable than a corn field when a plant disease occurs.