In March 1999, Achieve conducted a review of Ohio's school improvement efforts to provide the newly elected governor, new state superintendent, business leaders and other policymakers with a candid review of state education reform strengths and weaknesses and recommended next steps. The evaluation focused on the state's current expectations for student learning, its assessment system and its plans to improve school accountability. The Ohio Business Roundtable, the governor's office and the Ohio Department of Education co-planned and sponsored Achieve's review.

Achieve urged Ohio leaders to develop more specific and detailed academic standards that spell out what students should know and be able to do, in place of the state's general curriculum guides. Achieve also urged the state to moderate the role of state tests and align them to a clearer and more coherent set of academic standards, thus minimizing separate and competing claims on classroom time. Achieve also recommended that the state broaden discussions about accountability to include the adults in the school community as well as the students and develop a substantial, sustained statewide program to equip educators with the skills they need to improve student performance.

Achieve has continued to work with Ohio, principally in the area of reviewing iterations of its standards in English and in math as they were being revised.