- Unless you were living under a rock, you could not have missed the announcement from the PARCC governing board – whose members include our own Superintendent of Public Instruction Dick Ross – about changes to the consortium’s testing regime following the first year of rollout in member states. Lots of coverage around Ohio. Here are two piece which quote Chad Aldis extoling the virtues of the “common sense” changes. Columbus Dispatch (5/21/15) and Cincinnati Enquirer (5/21/15). The Cincy piece got picked up in several other Gannett outlets as well.
- For some reason, other big city dailies didn’t see fit to include Chad’s dynamite quotes in their coverage of the PARCC testing changes. Not sure why I’m even including them here (public shaming maybe?), but they are the Cleveland Plain Dealer (5/21/15) and the Dayton Daily News (5/21/15).
- Perhaps the PARCC folks were listening to the Big D’s editorial board, who opined yesterday that Ohio needs to keep Common Core and PARCC, whatever tweaks are necessary. They were not the first to say this, as you know if you read Gadfly Bites regularly, but they do have some juice. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/21/15)
- In other news, there was a hearing earlier this week about proposed changes to Ohio charter school law (remember that?) in the Senate Finance Education Subcommittee. Heavy hitters like Breakthrough Schools, KIPP Columbus, and the State Auditor (that guy again - can’t get enough!) all spoke up on various provisions. The straight-up basics of testimony can be found here (Gongwer Ohio, 5/20/15). A more streamlined version – with about 20 percent more Yost – can be found in the Big D. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/21/15).
YOST! - The Plain Dealer focused on one particular facet of Breakthrough’s testimony this week – facilities funding for charter schools. There is a provision currently being debated that would make up to $25 million available for high-performing charter schools across the state to help with buying and/or rehabbing spaces for charter schools. Nicely-detailed look at the issue here. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/21/15)
- My loyal readers will know that Gadfly Bites likes to point out the subtle tricks journalists and headline writers use in packaging (and often in repackaging) stories. Here is another. Public media decided to take a look at maybe-presidential-candidate-and-definitely-still-governor John Kasich’s stand on charter schools during his time in office. Here is the original piece (StateImpact Ohio, 5/21/15), titled “Gov. John Kasich’s Stance on Charter Schools”. Boring, right? Here is a repackaged version of the same piece (WKSU-FM, Kent, 5/22/15 titled “Charter schools grow on Ohio Gov. John Kasich's watch”. No less factual a title, right? But far less boring and far more something else.
Also: the WKSU piece included a picture of the Ohio Auditor of State. Here he is again.
YOST! - Finally, StudentsFirst Ohio’s Greg Harris had a guest commentary in the Enquirer yesterday, extolling the virtues of the Cincinnati Accelerator project. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/21/15)
