- Slightly-belated coverage of Monday’s School Choice Week event in Columbus showed up in public media yesterday. I probably shouldn’t even clip this today as it’s obviously slanted (likely why it took so long to be published). The absence of Cleveland Schools’ CEO Eric Gordon from the coverage is especially egregious, but more importantly is the very odd photo of myself while speaking. While I know my words were neither particularly eloquent or inspiring, I apparently did hold sway long enough to get my fellow speakers to all look at empty air while I gestured about something. Ah well. Can’t look like a rock star at every event. (WOUB public media, Athens)
- In actual news, Republicans in the Ohio House gave clear indications of their priorities yesterday with the introduction of a number of high-importance bills, first in the 131st General Assembly. High on that priority list is reform of charter school law – HB 2. You can read coverage of the bill itself in several media outlets today. Both Gongwer Ohio and the Columbus Dispatch include reaction from our own Chad Aldis. To wit: "Our independent research clearly shows the need for better transparency and accountability, so we're pleased with the legislature's decision to make charter school reform a priority… Parents of charter school students and all Ohio taxpayers should be very happy that our elected officials are tackling these reforms." Nice.
- Meanwhile, the Ohio Senate’s Education Committee spent their full hearing time on testimony from State Superintendent Dick Ross yesterday on the topic of standardized testing. He summarized his recent report on the subject and answered members’ questions. Committee Chair Peggy Lehner said this was a high priority issue for the committee and that future hearings would include input from superintendents, teachers, and parents. I’m sure Sen. Lehner will welcome testimony from students as well, but honestly, is there a kid alive who’s going to say on the record that she’s “totes stoked” about the amount of testing currently being done or that he would prefer “hella more” tests? (Gongwer Ohio)
- You may recall from news reports last summer that Toledo City Schools executed something of a takeover of Lucas County’s Head Start program, grabbing a big chunk of federal money, hosing the local YMCA a bit, and contributing to the demise of a local charter school into the deal. These things are complicated, but stay with me for a moment. As part of the Head Start deal, Toledo schools promised to be a bit more data-driven and transparent and they have now made a downpayment on that promise. Baseline assessment data on Head Start students was released this week by Toledo supe Romules Durant. It seems to indicate that Head Start’s structured environment helped students improve in social, emotional, and cognitive measures from ages 3 to 5 but that even those improvements largely place students far behind where TPS would like them to be when they start Kindergarten. No one seems particularly surprised by any of this data, but at least it’s out there. Hope it means that help is at hand. (Toledo Blade)
