Each year, we strive to provide Ohio Gadfly readers analysis and commentary on important developments, legislation, and happenings in K–12 education in the Buckeye State. It’s important to us to pay attention to what you, our readers, find valuable in our work so we can continue to cover the most vital issues.
Here’s a look at the most-read pieces from the past twelve months.
5. Which Ohio districts are most burdened by oppressive union contracts? (Stéphane Lavertu, 2/21/24)
Fordham’s Senior Research Fellow Stéphane Lavertu took a fascinating and much-read look at the language used in contracts negotiated between every bargaining unit of teachers (and non-teaching school employees) and the Ohio school boards that employ them from 2019 through 2023. He found thousands of uses of the terms “shall” and “will,” providing a proxy measure for how oppressive the contracts were for school leaders. These clauses, Lavertu concludes, impose rules and procedures that precisely prescribe how district administrators must make decisions on vital matters such as curriculum, student discipline, school closure, resource allocation, and testing. Such prescriptions bind the hands of superintendents and principals, and undermine their ability to meet the varied and evolving needs of students. Clearly a topic of interest to many readers.
4. Ohio continues to move toward high-quality reading curricula (Jessica Poiner, 2/8/24)
Also of import to many Ohio Gadfly readers: Governor DeWine’s efforts to mandate research-based reading curricula and teaching practices in all public schools in the state. In early February, the Department of Education and Workforce released its initial list of high-quality instructional materials that schools would ultimately be required to select from as part of the new policy. Interest in which products made the cut was high, as evidenced by the strong readership for Senior Education Policy Analyst Jessica Poiner’s first look at the list.
3. Ohio’s national ranking for K–12 education is better than you might think (Aaron Churchill, 2/28/24)
Optimism was the attraction of this piece, in which Ohio Research Director Aaron Churchill responded to a newspaper op-ed that blamed the expansion of school choice and a resulting “chronic underfunding” of traditional districts for a drop in Ohio’s education rankings compared to other states in the last decade. Churchill dismantled the op-ed’s assertions and dubious correlations, and offered a clear-eyed—and surprisingly positive—assessment of Ohio’s place in more reliable national education rankings.
2. Kindergarten literacy data raise questions about diagnostic assessments (Aaron Churchill, 10/7/24)
Fordham’s willingness to dive deeply into data has always resonated with our readers. There’s no better example of this than Aaron Churchill’s recent examination of one of the measures included in districts’ early literacy ratings on school report cards. The analysis suggests that the ways in which different districts assess and report kindergarten students’ literacy skills might be producing data inconsistencies. Specifically, a number of schools appear to be reporting an overly rosy picture of children’s literacy skills. If the results are indeed skewed, children with reading deficiencies could be prevented from accessing the supports they need to become strong readers. We’re keeping an eye on this issue to make sure that these concerns are resolved.
1. Five takeaways from Ohio’s baseline survey of elementary reading curricula (Aaron Churchill, 3/22/24)
Another crucial part of Ohio’s science of reading initiative was a survey of all public schools to determine what reading curricula and materials they were currently using prior to the legislative reforms. These data were released by the Department of Education and Workforce in March, indicating that dozens of districts and schools would need to purchase new curricula. Even more daunting: They had to select, purchase, and implement the new materials by no later than June 2025, which included training hundreds of teachers and support personnel. Aaron’s analysis gave us all a sense of how heavy the lift was going to be.
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A huge thank you to all of our readers this year. We appreciate your attention to these and many other vital issues covered by our Gadfly authors. We’ll see you next year for more in-depth analysis and insightful commentary.
