Gadfly Bites 10/3/25—Smoothing the runway

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1. Here’s a pretty even-handed look at how charter schools in Franklin County performed on the latest Ohio report cards. As you might imagine, it’s a mixed bag. “You see variability in quality, whether it’s (traditional) districts, charters,” Fordham’s Aaron Churchill points out. “There are a lot of schools that are doing an excellent job educating their students and there’s some that need to improve quite significantly.” Aaron also highlights the fact that there are some specific questions to ask regarding ratings for charter schools, including how they perform on the Progress measure (reflecting whether students are growing in achievement over time) and how they compare to those of the district in which they are located. An overall two-star rating with strong progress component can still be a positive thing—albeit in need of improvement—if the default district option sits lower than that. (Columbus Dispatch, 10/2/25)
   
   

2. Speaking of school districts—although not in the most-traditional sense of the word—here is what sounds like more awesomeness going on in Toledo City Schools’ career academy system. Yes, I mean it. Specifically, the Aerospace and Natural Science Academy (still a weird combo to me), is touting its new direct pathway for students to access nearby Bowling Green State University’s aviation program, including earning a bunch of college credits while still in high school and tuition support for qualified enrollees. Wowza. We’re talking aviation maintenance tech, flight technology, aviation operations, and more. On top of all that, BGSU has a partnership with an airline to get its students into good-paying industry jobs immediately upon graduation. Can’t ask for more than that, now can you? I love it. Best of all: No one at TPS is out there saying that their career academies are just about “transferrable skills” anymore. Which is a huge win in itself! (Toledo Blade, 10/2/25)

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