- Throughout the coverage of Governor DeWine’s visits to elementary schools around the state in recent days, we have been sure to note some demurring (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) on the part of teachers and school administrators with regard to mandating the science of reading in Ohio classrooms. This includes a directly-stated dislike of the proposal to ban three-cueing and other low-quality reading curricula and the less-direct discussion of five year phase-ins of phonics instruction…which always sound like they’re going to take way longer than that to accomplish. And, in case you were wondering, here’s a look at the hymnal from which the state teachers unions and many of their members are singing in this regard. (The74, 3/30/23)
- Speaking of teachers unions, the one calling the shots in Cleveland Metropolitan School District has a beef with the way the district has structured community input on new CEO candidates. They say that their members will not get a fair share of input due to the “random assignment” method of building diverse interview panels the district is planning to employ. You will recall that teachers and other district staff members outnumbered parents, students, and community members nearly two-to-one during the earlier phase of the process seeking input on what was required in a new CEO, but those were simply open forums. This, they say, is an “internet reality show” approach. “This final stage will only show how well a candidate can pander to strangers,” the union prez says, “many of whom will have zero idea of what it takes to do the job.” Wowza. (Signal Cleveland, 3/30/23) Speaking of game shows, this event at Toledo City Schools sure feels like one to me. (And one that is more on the level of The Chair than Jeopardy.) I’ll let you read the details of the game yourself, but I will note that the records transfer bill our co-host talks about here is a very good thing, notwithstanding this staged display. In fact, I know the stalling of student record transfers goes both ways and I reckon it’s way worse the other direction than it is here. But there is also another bill or two I could mention circulating through the Statehouse right now that could actually help out these students even more, in a very permanent sort of way. You know the ones I mean, right? As a side note: I fully expect to see more and varied grandstanding stunts like this as school choice—and especially universal vouchers—remains a going concern here in Ohio. (Toledo Blade, 3/30/23)
- I’m not sure that the scope of this issue is fully explained here—“I think what was kind of eyebrow raising to me was the scope of the problems and how many children were being affected by the problems in this facility.”—but it sounds like really bad news for lots of students with disabilities and their families without much of a fix in sight. (Spectrum News 1, 3/30/23)
- After the foregoing miasma of yuckiness which has beslimed these clips today, I would desperately like to end the week on some good news. This recap of Math Night at Elgin Elementary School will have to do. “All of the games involved either money, time, basic math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,” said one of the retired teachers/math aides who organized the event. “These are just ways to do math.” Sounds like a fun time and the event drew 400 people. (Marion Star, 3/29/23)
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