- Interesting rhetorical pivot from the state supe this week. After announcing that Ohio was going to delay submitting its ESSA accountability plan due to “public outcry” over a lack of changes in the state’s standardized testing regimen (i.e. – lack of reduction in same) early in the week, Paolo DeMaria was at the end of the week turning the lens back on local districts. He notes that districts may very well have been “layering on” tests themselves over the years and might perhaps want to look at their own regimens for places to cut should they maintain the belief that their students are being tested too much. "It's not a stone we should leave unturned," he said. Is it just me who predicts that that particular stone will remain unturned? (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 3/17/17)
- As you may have heard, Governor Kasich in his new biennial budget proposed an externship at a local business as a requirement for teachers to renew their licenses. Democrats in the General Assembly – all on their own, probably, with no prompting from anyone – quickly introduced a response bill that would require Governor Kasich to “intern” at a school or two instead. Perhaps knowing that this proposal may take a while to become reality, an enterprising reporter in Athens decided to play Kasich-for-a-day while “interning” with an intervention specialist at the local high school. Yep. I’m sure Kasich’s day would play out just like that. (Athens Messenger, 3/19/17) Meanwhile, in Newark, the local career tech education service center has launched a brand new event similar in spirit to what the governor is proposing at base: connecting high schoolers with local employers so they understand the progression from high school to career. Nice. (Newark Advocate, 3/17/17)
- Before Ohio’s widely-available and wildly successful College Credit Plus program came around two years ago, dual-enrollment access to college classes for the state’s high schoolers was narrow and limited, and often driven by the colleges themselves. Especially small private colleges. With the wide availability and wild success of the College Credit Plus program over the past few years (within whose rules all dual-enrollment programs had to work), those smaller private colleges appear to be dropping out because it is no longer cost effective or recruiting new freshmen at an acceptable rate. (Columbus Dispatch, 3/19/17)
