Teachers in Toledo and throughout Ohio are seizing on a new federal education law as a chance to curtail standardized testing they view as excessive and harmful.

Toledo Federation of Teachers President Kevin Dalton met with supporters outside Oakdale Elementary before classes began Thursday to bring attention to the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The law, signed by President Obama in December, replaces the controversial No Child Left Behind Act and provides states greater flexibility and control.

Some teachers see it as a chance to reduce standardized testing and improve public education. On Thursday, teacher unions in Toledo, Oregon, Port Clinton, and across Ohio held events billed as Walk-ins for Public Education.

“Our teachers want less testing. Parents want less testing. Our teachers want authentic assessment and a realistic view of how their child is doing,” Mr. Dalton said. “Our parents don’t believe their students are doing F work, and our teachers know they’re not. And they want a reflective tool. They want something that reflects the hard work that the kids are doing.”

On the state report card released last month, TPS received an F in the achievement component, which measures how well students did on standardized tests.

Some other local districts saw grades drop. The state administered its third different test in three years during the 2015-2016 school year and raised the benchmarks for what it takes to be considered proficient.

The Ohio Department of Education is working on a plan in response to the new law that addresses assessments and school accountability.

“We’ve done this testing for years and years and years,” said Oakdale science teacher Karen McNaughton. “What have I gotten out of that testing? Not much.”

The state has been slow to report test results, she said.

Mr. Dalton said teachers want the state to take this opportunity to consider other ways to gauge student performance.

“We understand that assessments are not going away. We want to see less standardized testing and more authentic assessments for kids. Authentic assessments can be done through portfolios, rubrics, a litany of ways. However, it’s not just a multiple choice test that captures that student’s ability one snapshot at a time,” he said.

In Oregon, teachers at all six school buildings participated in the walk-ins. Terri Hook, the district’s lead teacher and president of the Oregon City Federation of Teachers, pointed to the strong correlation between lower test scores and higher poverty rates.

She opposes “over-testing” and teacher evaluations tied to test scores. She said the new state plan offers a “ray of hope” to better the system.

“These practices of the past … 20 or 25 years have not shown the improvements that they were supposed to, and we need to look at doing things differently,” she said.

The state has held a number of public meetings throughout Ohio to gather feedback from residents and school officials about what they would like to see in Ohio’s plan.

Education department spokesman Brittany Halpin said the state also has received up to 9,000 responses to an online survey about the new law. The survey, at education.ohio.gov, closes today.

“It’s been very instructive and informative,” she said.

That input will be used by the department as it develops the plan, which will be sent to the federal education department and implemented during the 2017-18 school year.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published October 7, 2016, 5:05 a.m.