"Triangle DEF has vertices with coordinates D(-2, 1), E(1, 5) and F(2, 3). Draw the triangle DEF by translating each vertex of triangle DEF three units to the right and two units down."

If your eyes have already started to glaze over, you now know just a sliver of the stress that Lawrence County 10th-graders will be experiencing this week, as they undertake the Ohio Graduation Test, which for the first time this year will determine whether or not they'll receive their diplomas.

Their absolute best

The OGT replaces the ninth-grade proficiency tests that Ohio students had to complete previously. The OGT is more stringent in many areas, primarily because it tests for 10th rather than ninth-grade proficiency, and students have only have five chances to pass, as opposed to nine as was the case with the previous test.

The Ohio Graduation Test consists of five sections: reading, writing, mathematics, science and citizenship, one of which will be tested each day this week. Though the grading cut-off for passing and failing has previously been established for the reading and math sections, students will take the others without knowing how high their scores must be in order to pass.

Though this has some educators and students worried, J.C. Benton, Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the Ohio Department of Education, points out that it's not unusual,

indicating the ACT and SAT as other tests in which students aren't encouraged to shoot for a cut-off grade but instead to do their absolute best, an attitude that Benton said that the ODE wants to encourage.

This is doubly important in the OGT, which doesn't have a pass/fail system, but rather five gradients that students and schools will receive: limited, basic, proficient, accelerated and advanced. Students who score in the latter three categories won't be retested in that section, but those who are graded as limited or basic will have to retake that section if they want to walk across the graduation stage.

Leaders of tomorrow

The assessment and accountability of Ohio schools was one of only 12 states to receive an "A" from newspaper Education Week, a ranking that Benton said speaks for itself.

"We're holding our students accountable, more so than ever before, for high academic performance. Not only are students in Ironton competing with students in Marietta for the jobs of tomorrow, they're competing with students from all over the world," Benton said.

"In this 21st-century global-based economy, Ohio has to continue to be an economic leader, and as such we have to be sure that our children are prepared for the futures of tomorrow by providing that high-quality education today."

A pile of nerves

South Point High sophomore Laura Langham was not as concerned yesterday with being a 21st century global leader as she was with passing all the sections of the OGT.

She was a pile of nerves before the testing began, but said that once she put pencil to paper, she didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"I thought it would be a lot harder than it ended up being," Langham said. "As long as you've been paying attention, it's pretty easy."

Fellow student Karina Jimenez didn't find the reading segment to be as much of a breeze as Langham, though the going got easier as she went along.

"I thought it was actually kind of hard," Jimenez said, "I didn't understand some of the words. But after I got used to it I thought it was pretty easy."

Though neither of the students were terribly vexed by the reading segment, both though that preparations for the test should have begun earlier, even going so far as to suggest that the students begin cramming as early as 5th grade.

Jimenez was especially nervous about the upcoming math section of the test, which she feels she has not been adequately prepped for.

"I think we should have been prepared for the geometry and stuff a long time ago, instead of just cramming it into our hands when we started ninth grade," Jimenez said.

Value of accountability

South Point High School Assistant Principal Eddie Scott is sympathetic to his students concerns, in fact he's got some of his own, including how little is known about the three new sections, the subjectivity involved in grading a writing section and the reduced chances for students to pass.

Overall though, he feels that the tests are an important facet of Ohio education, if for no other reason than to give educational institutions an idea of how far they've come, and how far they have yet to go.

"It's changed our curriculum, it has changed everything we do, and I believe for the best. It has made us more accountable," Scott said "Doctors are held accountable, lawyers are held accountable, most fields in this county are held accountable by one controlling board or another.

"This is our way of being held more accountable. The change has caused some discomfort among educators, however, I agree with being held more accountable."