Some people like fall. Some people like summer. My favorite time of year is graduation season, especially when you get an interesting crop of news stories like these.
- Charter school Utica Shale Academy is celebrating its largest graduating class ever this year. What’s more, many of them have earned more than double the number of industry credentials they needed to earn their diplomas. (Morning Journal, 6/6/22)
- How about this one: A graduation ceremony for homeschooled students. Ten young central Ohio grads were celebrated by the Mid-Ohio Christian Home School Association this year. You can read about all their extracurriculars and their postsecondary credits and their college plans as well. Nice! (Mount Vernon News, 6/7/22)
- The individual stories are super interesting too. Abigail Sanders, an Ohio Connections Academy student, earned her bachelor’s degree (with a major as well as a minor) and her high school diploma simultaneously! Watch the interview to see how she did it and especially the way in which her online charter school helped make it possible for her and for others. (ABC6 News, Columbus, 6/4/22)
- There’s a lot to love in this story too. DECA graduate Alexander Joseph’s personal story is inspiring; but DECA itself, the Dayton Promise scholarship program (including charter school students in a city-based college support program, what a concept, right?), and the University of Dayton are all to be commended for supporting students who might otherwise have been overlooked through high school and into college. (Dayton Daily News, 6/7/22)
- But let’s not forget to look at student success in the traditional district sphere too. Bay High School graduate Olivia Konschak’s story is not unlike several of those we’ve already clipped. She did well in high school, was able to earn an associate’s degree from Cuyahoga County Community College at the same time by means of the state’s College Credit Plus program, and will have all those credits transfer to Baldwin Wallace University. Bay Village City Schools is, by many measures, one of the best school districts in the state. Bay is a very expensive place to live and, thus, cost families a ton to access the schools there (house purchase, taxes, H.O.A. fees, extracurriculars, etc.). One suspects that Olivia’s story is fairly common there. Given all that, though, take a look at Olivia’s mom’s extensive comments in this piece and see what percentage of credit you think she gives the school district for her child’s success. (Cleveland.com, 6/6/22)
- In other news, and staying in northeast Ohio for a moment, despite the extremely sketchy connections being made here between the resignation of our short-lived state superintendent and the level of student achievement in Ohio, Cleveland.com is going all in on their outrage over it. (No, this is not an editorial; it is what passes for an actual news story up there these days.) Unfortunately for them, they seem to be the only ones who are so exercised about the equivalence they have attempted to build. Seriously, they couldn’t find anyone else to bolster their stance? (Cleveland.com, 6/6/22)
- Back in the real world, here’s a brief piece covering the fact that two new IDEA charter schools will be opening in Cincinnati this fall. Yay! (Local 12 News, Cincinnati, 6/6/22)
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