- In case you missed it yesterday, Fordham’s Chad Aldis had the best time ever on the radio yesterday morning, talking Common Core with two knowledgeable hosts and debating with Rep. Andy Thompson and Dr. Terrence Moore with their feisty assistance. Great fun to listen to. The comments underneath the post on the website are insightful as well. (IdeaStream/WCPN-FM, Cleveland)
- Lots of newspapers around the state and into West Virginia today note that the education MBR bill passed the House yesterday. On to the Senate, with lots to talk about for dropout recovery, charter school accountability, voucher programs, and all the things we love. Here is the Dispatch's take on the bill. (Columbus Dispatch)
- Speaking of dropout recovery, here is a story in the continuing series about high school dropouts in Ohio – a very personal one about a woman from Cleveland who actually dropped out of school in 7th grade due to early reading difficulties. She is now a mother of 3 and has learned to read at age 30. Wow. Great story. (WKSU-FM, Kent)
- So Aaron and I attended an event yesterday on the topic of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and what it means to students in Columbus. While the awesome Andy Boy from USN was there and was recognized, the focus was on what Columbus City Schools and the Columbus Library were doing to help students. The mantra: “all hands on deck”. I’ll be blogging my reaction to the event later today, but the idea of perception is key to this particular clip. The Dispatch reviewed the event with two subtly different stories. The one that ran online yesterday afternoon was headlined “More than half of city's third-graders could be held back under new law” as if this was news to people and they should be very concerned. There are currently six fairly critical comments beneath the article. The one that ran in the printed paper this morning was headlined “Columbus library to help third-graders improve reading scores” presenting a tone I consider more consistent with the event I attended. There are currently no comments beneath that story. Fascinating! (Columbus Dispatch)
- Toledo’s public library system is getting into the act too, unveiling “Planting a Seed to Read”, a bookmobile-type program to take literacy education directly to families. (Toledo Blade)
- Budget cuts in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s 2014-15 budget have been reduced from $21M to $5M and maximum cuts for the largest buildings have been capped at $400K. Huh. I usually only find a dollar or two when I dig into the couch cushions. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- I almost mentioned this last week when it was first reported because it occurred to me then, but those same parents who don’t want school in Cleveland to start on August 13 due to the potential for hot weather also are not enamored of the year round school idea. Several gathered to say so in the first public meeting on the issue. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
