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- Not sure I had paid enough attention to this as it was approved via the state budget, but here it is, fully ready to go: The Governor’s Merit Scholarship is an effort to keep high-achieving high school graduates in Ohio as they choose a college to attend. Graduating seniors—starting with the current Class of 2024—in the top 5 percent of their class at district, charter, STEM, and private schools will be automatically applied to the program by their schools. (Homeschool and dropout recovery high school students can also qualify by passing a college admissions test but must apply on their own.) Recipients can renew their scholarship—up to $5,000 per year toward tuition, fees, or other expenses—for up to four years of full-time instruction. Can’t wait to see how it goes! (Spectrum News 1, Ohio, 12/5/23)
- An opinion piece by one former State Superintendent of Public Instruction puts forth the idea that the new, more-limited focus of the state board of education and its next supe—described as the full human resources infrastructure for the teaching profession in Ohio—is hyper-important right now. Glad someone thinks so. (Dayton Daily News, 12/5/23) As if on cue, the gang held a special meeting yesterday to narrow down their list of candidates for that position. You can check out the three finalists here. (Ohio Capital Journal, 12/6/23)
- Also happening yesterday: The governor’s appointee for inaugural director of the Department of Education and Workforce had a confirmation hearing in the Senate Education Committee. Members asked no questions following Steve Dackin’s testimony and then voted unanimously to recommend full Senate approval. (Gongwer Ohio, 12/5/23)
- Out here in the real world, I am of the opinion that this coverage is way too little and far too late. Last week, the elected board members that run Columbus City Schools voted to lower the academic goals for third grade reading and seventh grade math over the next five years. They blame the pandemic for the impossibility of reaching their previous lowball goals and suggest that even achieving their new, even lower, goals will be a huge feat that few other Ohio districts have managed. All of this despite cogent refutation of the data underpinning the decision provided by CCS gadfly Vlad Kogan. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 12/4/23)
- “Overall, the temperature of the schools feels different.” This is the full extent of the data provided by Akron City Schools officials as proof that a stringent cellphone ban in the district is the bestest. They all-but-promise that academic achievement will increase and in-school fights will decrease this year due to the new policy, but I reckon it’s a vain hope that some actual stats on either of these things will be provided. And I also despair that anything beyond an amorphous temp check will really matter in their decision to continue the policy anyway. (One stat that did draw my attention: A 2023 national study which found that students use phones for an average of 42 minutes during the school day. Forty freakin’ two! Imagine!!) As a comparison, check out the way Beachwood City Schools (median home price $425K—just sayin’) implements, evaluates, and discusses their own efforts to cut down those forty whoppin’ two minutes of cellphone use by their own students. (Cleveland.com, 12/5/23)
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