- As a rule, Ohio’s education journalists are shall we say wary when it comes to education reform issues. For most of today’s clips, however, I fear we’re looking at “wary” in the rearview mirror. Let’s start with a PD piece about online charter schools. Its opening paragraph reads “Poor test results at online schools are creating divisions in the charter school community in Ohio and nationally, leading some national leaders to question whether e-schools should even be part of the charter school movement anymore.” It quotes Nina Rees as saying, “If you were to eliminate the (test scores of) online schools, the performance of the state would dramatically improve." All fairly factual, but I can’t help but wonder what the opener would have been if there was any doubt about those claims. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/30/15)
- The Dayton Daily News is claiming credit for “persuading” Ohio’s treasurer to ask charter schools to join his push for opening their expenditures for online inspection by the public, along with other public entities statewide. The treasurer said his oversight in not asking charters previously to join his voluntary program was inadvertent, but that doesn’t satisfy the DDN who dig into campaign contribution records to create a new definition of “inadvertent”. Many pat financial sins of charter schools are rehashed here, which was not the case when Dayton City Schools pledged to join up back in September. (Dayton Daily News, 12/1/15)
- Making big news today across the state is an analysis of PARCC test results by the Ohio Education Policy Institute’s ubiquitous Howard Fleeter which shows that districts with higher levels of low-income students did less well on the tests. It is a good thing that Fleeter is actually looking at educational performance, but most folks are already aware that economically disadvantaged students have struggled for far too long and that the relationship between test scores and family income is well established. This probably explains why none of the media outlets reporting on this found anyone to speak to any other side of the story than that put forward by Fleeter, OEPI, and the school boards association. What's less well established is whether simply pouring more money into the current system (the side of the story put forward by Fleeter, OEPI, and the school boards association) will produce any measurable gains for low-income students. We look forward to OEPI’s analysis on that part of the story, should it ever materialize. Coverage from Gongwer (Gongwer Ohio, 12/1/15) and the Columbus Dispatch (Columbus Dispatch, 12/2/15) is typical of what’s been published around Ohio on it.
- Ohio had a “parent trigger” pilot program in place…for a minute. No parents in any of the 20 (!) eligible schools in Columbus opted to take action and now the post-test-mania “safe harbor” provisions in Ohio mean no schools will be designated eligible for parent trigger action for at least three years. Reading this piece, one may be tempted (one is invited, perhaps?) to punch the air and assume that life is good here in Columbus. But let’s go back and read that headline again. No part of the outcome of this adventure in education reform indicates that anything has improved in those 20 (!) “lousy” schools. (Columbus Dispatch, 12/1/15)
- Here’s a story about another impending pilgrimage to what we’ll call the Shrine of Our Lady of Oyler. That is the nationally-lauded model for intensive, on-campus social and medical services in one Cincinnati school. Who’s coming this time? A contingent of penitents from Lorain City Schools, including the new-ish district supe. Says he, “It’s hard to focus on algebra when you have a toothache… This keeps them in class longer. It’s hard to educate someone who isn’t there… When I was in the Woodridge School District for my first superintendency, we would do mental health this way. It’s a way to remove non-academic obstacles to education. It’s not school funded. It’s billed through Medicaid.” (Big plus for the centered text in the online version of this story which makes the above quotes look like a haiku.) Also along for the trip, members of the district’s Academic Distress Commission, whose members are under a ticking clock for their own version of the “Youngstown Plan”. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 12/2/15)
- Speaking of Southwest Ohio, Mason City Schools is dealing with a large and sudden influx of non-English speaking children across grades and buildings. It is straining their capacity in a number of ways. The source of the influx is a new and growing program by a local hospital that has had unexpected consequences, to say the least. I am not exaggerating to say that this is a tricky and sensitive situation for all involved. In my humble opinion, I am also not exaggerating when I say that no one involved is well-served by this piece of journalism. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/1/15)
- In other news, Columbus City Schools’ free, universal breakfast program won some awards. (Columbus Dispatch, 12/2/15)
- “This is a three-year plan to change the way education is done in the Mahoning Valley,” said Judge Theresa Dellick of the Mahoning County Juvenile Court earlier this week. What’s she talking about? The new Early Warning Intervention Engagement program in the county that aims to flag student at risk of dropping out and to provide interventions to help them stay in school. Intentions that could include tutoring, student or family counseling or other services provided through the court. It is funded by a $600,000 federal grant, is aimed at high school students, and currently includes five districts, Youngstown City Schools among them. Good luck to all involved! (Youngstown Vindicator, 12/2/15)
