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- An internal audit of Akron City Schools was released on Friday. It was initiated at the behest of incoming superintendent Michael Robinson and conducted by an outside consultant. It is called the first time in decades (“if ever”) that the district has been evaluated by someone from the outside. I wish I could say the results are surprising—some pockets of positivity, with huge and glaring problems that are the general modus operandi day to day—but it just feels typical of more large urban school districts to me. There’s a lot to unpack, but let’s just leave it at this for now: “It is an understatement to say the culture is not one of accountability,” the report notes. “Many reasons created this problem, but the most significant is the administration's fear of the unions. Consequences are nonexistent. Poor performance is tolerated.” (Akron Beacon Journal, 5/25/24) The report concludes with as much positivity as it can: “APS has tremendous potential, but faces huge obstacles. Bold leadership is required. Hopefully this Report will provide a meaningful roadmap for dialogue, change, and most importantly a better education for APS students.” Interestingly, there has been no official responses from any quarter as yet, including the leader who commissioned the report to help him decide the way forward. I’m sure when those responses come, they will add even more layers to this story. (WKYC-TV, Cleveland, 5/24/24)
- Speaking of large urban school districts, there’s not much new information in this piece, but it’s a nice catch up on the status of the crazy sideshow which threatens to derail the work of Columbus City Schools’ facilities task force before whatever happens next. I am encouraged by the stated determination of many administration and task force members to continue with the process, but I think that the first public meeting they are able to hold will be the true test of whether the process survives or not. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/28/24)
- Speaking of students and families needing better options (were we?), here’s a look at the “voucher accountability” bill recently introduced in the Ohio House, aiming to allow for an “apples to apples” comparison of test scores between voucher-using students in private schools and their peers in district and charter schools. Judging from this write up, I think the bill’s supports are suggesting that private schools are secretly providing a lower-quality education to families without anyone knowing and this bill, if implemented, will finally “blow the lid off” that fact as a matter of vital public accountability. Personally, I doubt it. But even if it would turn out that some private school students are scoring lower and that fact were made known (say, via an internal audit or a bombshell memo leak or even something boring like a state report card), the schools would either ramp up their academic offerings, teach the kids, and boost the scores, or they wouldn’t. In the latter case, families would leave in droves and the schools would close. Either way: putative problem solved. The same simple solutions cannot be expected, I reckon, for the myriad problems—academic or otherwise—in the district schools these families have already opted out of. (See items 1 and 2, above.) That seems like a minimum bar to me, if we really want to compare our bin of apples properly… (Columbus Dispatch, 5/27/24)
- Apropos of all the foregoing clips, here’s a great look at Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls Catholic school in Toledo, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. It sounds incredible: high expectations; lots of opportunities to learn, grow, discover, and succeed; a supportive staff and community; a diverse student body; and the additional benefit of strong role models for young women in education, work, and life. (Why yes, they do take voucher students. The enrollment guru even says so in the article.) I will agree that this is all important, notable, and worthy of celebration—but I’d also say that it’s typical of the culture of most private schools I know. By which I mean, the opposite of almost every finding of that internal audit or that leaked memo we talked about above. Just to spell it out clearly for you. (Toledo Blade, 5/26/24)
- Finally today, some late breaking good news from yesterday: The lawsuit challenging the transfer of the majority of K-12 education governance from the State Board of Education to the Department of Education and Workforce was dismissed by the judge overseeing the case. She did so not only because she determined the two plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit in the first place, but also “because the ability to define the powers and duties of the State Board of Education is expressly granted to the General Assembly by the plain language of Article VI, Section 4.” Meaning they would lose anyway if the suit proceeded. Awesome. Moving on! (Gongwer Ohio, 5/28/24)
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