- Editors at the Vindy opined yesterday upon the need for immediate assistance from the state for the failing schools in the Youngstown area. They did not neglect the higher-achieving schools in the area, opining in praise of those schools and urging the constructive use of report card data to continue to improve. (Youngstown Vindicator)
- The BASA/OASBO folks have put out their analysis of Ohio’s report cards, and they conclude that performance index scores “closely followed” the percent of students in a district that are economically disadvantaged. (Newark Advocate)
- Editors in Akron have read the above report and have opined in sympathy with its conclusions. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- There’s a nicely-detailed look at the report cards of a number of charter schools in Springfield. Some interesting insights from the school leaders interviewed. (Springfield News Sun)
- Some excellent journalistic investigation in this piece by Patrick O’Donnell digging into the accusations against Horizon Science Academy in Cleveland. Specifically, allegations that the school “dumped” low-performing students before state testing in order to improve their results. Definitely worth a read. Having already been through this with Columbus City Schools and other districts around Ohio, both ODE and the education journalists should know what to look for…and what to do if they find it. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- The Lorain Academic Distress Commission has parsed the district’s report card and is discussing their take on it in the press. The takeaway: “bubble kids” are the answer to improvement. Now, there seems to be something of a flexible definition of this term among the commission members (on the bubble of passing tests vs. on the bubble of dropping out) but if I lived there and my child wasn’t on any sort of “bubble”, I might have some questions. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal)
