Gadfly Bites 4/1/24—A little less showbiz and a little more methodology

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1. Big thanks to Gongwer for taking a look at our recent report, authored by Senior Research Fellow Stéphane Lavertu, looking at the impacts of charter schools—specifically the rapid ramp up of charters from 1998 through 2012—on traditional districts in Ohio. While you can’t read Gongwer’s blurb without a big ol' subscription, you can read the full report for yourself for the low low price of zero dollars right here. (Gongwer Ohio, 3/29/24).
   
   

2. Here is an interesting look at one aspect of Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Parent University program. It is a 10-year-old effort to help CMSD high schoolers consider going on to college after graduation—and to ultimately making that leap—focusing as much on parent education as student enthusiasm. The way the program’s founder sees it: Students “will not get to college without their parents.” Probably true. But despite what it wants to do, Parent University is less successful than it feels like it should be. According to the story, less than a third of CMSD’s 2020 graduates were enrolled in college two years after their high school graduation (according to DEW data) and just 10 percent of the district’s class of 2016 graduated college after six years. Pandemic disruption notwithstanding, why hasn’t more than a decade of dedicated work produced better outcomes? I think the answer may be in this piece. Parent University staffer Anthony Brown tells us amid the high-energy college tour that forms the basis of this piece that one of the biggest obstacles stopping the district’s students from going to college “might be fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of leaving Cleveland, fear of getting out of their comfort zone.” Possibly correct, but to me it feels like the real problem is that the folks charged with helping overcome obstacles aren’t sure what the obstacles are. One student on the tour, we read, got an on-the-spot acceptance from the college. Amazing, although clearly unplanned. But another student’s mom seemed like a solid “no sale” because she really wanted to see the type of dorm room her baby was going to inhabit there and such a visit was not provided. Surely that wasn’t the first time this dealbreaker has come up in ten years. In short, the obstacles are very likely small in number and readily definable. They also seem, sadly, highly resistant to enthusiastic cheerleading and positive energy. (Signal Cleveland, 3/28/24)

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