E-schools, a.k.a. virtual charter schools, have been so thoroughly mired in controversy that they’ve become radioactive in most education discussions. Or in most discussions, period. The current dispute in Ohio is largely technical and centers on the extent to which e-schools provide learning opportunities to students rather than merely offering them.
By Jamie Davies O'Leary
On this week's podcast, special guest Sandi Jacobs, principal at EducationCounsel and former vice president for state and district policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss the problems and risks associated with teacher pension systems. During the Research Minute, David Griffith examines the hidden costs of school discipline in California.
Although it’s been almost seven years since many states took the important step of elevating their academic standards by adopting the Common Core, teachers and administrators across the country still bemoan the lack of reliable information about which instructional materials are high-quality and best aligned to the new standards.
Ohio’s Gap Closing report card component reports how students in certain subgroups perform on state tests and their schools’ graduation rates compared to the collective performance of all students in the state.
Ohio’s current approach to school funding (K-12) has several strengths, including its ability to drive more state aid to disadvantaged districts and to add dollars for students with greater educational needs. But in a time when Ohio’s budget – like that of many other states – is stretched thin, policy makers need to ensure that every dollar is being well spent.
On this week's podcast, Checker Finn, Alyssa Schwenk, and David Griffith discuss the future of school choice under a Trump administration. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the effects of birth order on non-cognitive abilities.
By McKenzie Snow, Claire Voorhees, Adam Peshek, and Patricia Levesque
By Kristin Blagg and Matthew M. Chingos
A response to Robin Lake’s article “Is charter school growth flat-lining?”, originally published 2/17/17 in The Lens.
