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- I’m not going to say much about Ohio’s scores on NAEP in these clips until others smarter than I weigh in. Then we’ll talk. Just know that it’s pretty bad everywhere, including here—“About 38 percent of fourth-grade students and 31 percent of eighth-grade students can’t read at that basic level” in Ohio, according to this first coverage—and keep those figures in mind as you think about the following clips. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/29/25)
- Fordham’s Aaron Churchill is quoted extensively in this story about the ways in which district superintendents and treasurers are (or are not, as the case may be) evaluated by their elected board member bosses. There are no state rules, we learn, and every district does it differently. While I’m sure everyone else pretty much agrees with Aaron that regular, structured, and detailed evaluations—with accountability and consequences—should be the rule, I imagine that his insistence that focusing on hard data around student achievement is “absolutely essential” to the process is going to be less popular across the commentatorsphere. No matter what those pesky NAEP scores say. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 1/28/25)
- Center for Christian Virtue president Aaron Baer published a response to ProPublica’s recent Ohio voucher hit piece, with an assist from Aaron Churchill and the Blues Brothers. It’s good. (National Review, 1/27/25) ProPublica doesn’t appear to be done with their anti-choice efforts in our state just yet (no matter what those pesky NAEP scores say), thanks to repackaging of their product, like in this piece by their compadres in the Ohio Statehouse News in which their reporting is actually the topic of the story. (Ohio Statehouse News, 1/28/25) The same ground is retrod in this local news piece, looking at new U.S. Senator Jon Husted’s history with
all the education stuff they don’t likeselected school choice issues. (NBC4 News, Columbus, 1/28/25) - Meanwhile, the elected board of Westerville City Schools changed its mind this week and decided against putting a levy on the ballot in May, despite the fact that their budget projections are bad and the assertion by their superintendent that “We are deficit spending” right now. Instead, they plan to rally the community and undertake “aggressive effort” to get more money from the state during the budget process. Charming. Of course, buried in the text is the fact that even if they get a big sack of money from Santa DeWine, they’ll still have to have a levy at some point (sooner, rather than later). And they’re going to press for all the federal money they can get. (Good luck with that.) And they may also do some more cuts…but only as a last (and most distasteful) resort. (Fox28 News, Columbus, 1/28/25)
- In case you didn’t know it, this is National School Choice Week. In Cleveland, they are celebrating rather strangely, I reckon: by announcing the imminent dissolution of the Cleveland Transformation Alliance, the organization that, among other things, provides navigators to help parents find the best educational choices for their children. We are told CTA is closing up because it has met many of its original goals. And I believe that. Met ‘em real good, too. I also hope the money that supports CTA goes to another worthy cause. (Signal Cleveland, 1/27/25)
- It is also Catholic Schools Week. The only story I’ve found about that so far is this one, from Lima. A big community celebration was held at St. Charles School, where Lima mayor Sharetta Smith spoke, discussing the importance of education. “Education is a lifelong activity, and when they invest in learning, it helps them become critical thinkers and contribute more to the community,” Mayor Smith told the reporter covering the event. “I also talked about how education is the great equalizer. It has often been a tool to help individuals rise out of poverty.” Only if it’s a good one, Your Honor. Only if it’s a good one. See item #1, above. (Hometown Stations, 1/27/25)
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