Gadfly Bites 9/9/20 – Has your school ever been any good at that?

1. Here’s a look at how schools in Montgomery County say they will address “the Covid slide” among their students. Sounds like they’ve got it all sorted, right? And that we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about kids falling behind. They got this. (Dayton Daily News, 9/6/20) It sure sounds like some folks in Columbus, currently testifying on SB 358, believe these assurances fervidly. And they want to pass that bill which would decimate the state’s education accountability system. Take state Senator Teresa Fedor, for example. “Missing school has produced serious gaps in student learning. Coupled with the normal summer losses, teachers will need to focus on getting students back on track,” she says. “Any pressure we can relieve so that the focus is on teaching and learning, rather than testing and evaluating, will help our students succeed in the long-term.” Just like ever, right? And how about State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria? “People say we should measure the learning loss, but why don’t we just figure out where students are and do our best to keep them moving forward?” he opined. “And to the extent we can figure out ways to accelerate that forward movement, we should do that.” Because Ohio’s education blob has been really good at forward academic movement in the past, I guess. Fordham’s Chad Aldis, once again, appears to be the only voice speaking from the realm of reality: “The truth is, we don’t know how far behind kids have fallen or if some students have fallen further behind than others,” he told the Dispatch. “It is critical that we administer state assessments, not as punishment, but as a tool to figure out exactly what students have learned in these tumultuous months.” (Columbus Dispatch, 9/7/20)
    
2. From the Counting Chickens Before They’ve Hatched Department: It is important to note that the bill under debate would simply replicate the invisibility cloak thrown over testing and accountability in Ohio last year for this school year. There’s still some debate and some politicking left to go before this could even become reality, but it’s interesting to see the messages being received back home. In this coverage of the meeting of the elected board of Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools, members were told that the waiver of testing and school report cards was already a done deal for the year. Which made them all happy. However, in more premature chicken-counting, some regret was expressed over the loss of last year’s report card, by which the district believes it could have boosted its overall grade. Given that so many components of the report card were relaxed to sub-basement level, that might actually be true. But the question included in our title for today’s clips should definitely be asked about every part of that supposition. (Cleveland.com, 9/8/20)
    
3. The last school districts in Montgomery County started classes yesterday—a mix of all-remote and hybrid models. Everyone says it went pretty great. “They [teachers] did just an amazing job with their transition to remote learning,” said one supe, “showing how much they learned from spring to this fall.” Of course, if spring was a huge disaster, almost any improvement could “show how much they learned”. And, of course, no one cares how much anyone learned anyway. So, it’s all good. (Dayton Daily News, 9/8/20)
    
4. Here in central Ohio, some teething troubles came up in regard to online curriculum providers for local districts, two of which were axed after Week One complaints. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/4/20)
    
5. In Summit County, the unpredictability of teacher availability a lack of substitute teachers is the problem. Luckily, travel agents aren’t too busy these days. (Akron Beacon Journal, 9/9/20)
    
6. Here is a timely op-ed from Ohio Excels president Lisa Gray, explaining how the Complete to Compete coalition has been working to help boost postsecondary attainment in the state. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/5/20)
    
7. He wasn’t just blowing smoke! Entrepreneur Pete (Snoop-Pete) Kadens has made good on his promise to provide seed money to graduates of Scott High School in Toledo. As many as 70 2020 graduates have completed all the paperwork and will be attending college or trade school this fall or spring, with everything paid for by the Kadens-funded HOPE Foundation. The two students profiled here seem to be set for a dope great start in college. (Toledo Blade, 9/6/20)
   

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