From gifted-student education to Common Core to charter school quality

The Fordham Institute has been engaged in a wide range of conversations recently, ranging from gifted-student education to Common Core to charter school quality. If you’ve missed any of these events or publications, check out the following notes.

• Fordham co-hosted an event with the Ohio Association for Gifted Children to discuss issues around educating Ohio’s best and brightest students. Fordham’s Checker Finn kicked off the even with a presentation of his findings from his recent book Exam Schools: Inside America’s Most Selective Public High Schools. After Checker’s presentation Jennifer Smith Richards of the Columbus Dispatch moderated a panel that included Carol Lockhart, the principal of John Hay Early College High School in Cleveland, one of four Ohio exam schools. While most of the panel agreed that more could be done to serve the needs of gifted students, Lockhart emphasized the breadth and depth of the many exciting opportunities that her students can engage in.
• In Fordham’s recent publication, Searching for Excellence: A Five-City, Cross-State Comparison of Charter School Quality, we found that closing poor-performing charters and scaling quality charters would begin to close achievement gaps. Bryan C. Hassel, co-director of Public Impact—our lead researcher, Parker Baxter of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and Scott Elliott from the Indianapolis Star have added further commentary on this report. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial also referred to our report, as the Peach State’s General Assembly debates its charter school law.
• Fordham’s Emmy Partin was recently a guest on National Public Radio’s The Sound of Ideas, discussing Ohio’s impending transition to the Common Core State Standards in 2014-15. The conversation spotlighted changes in classroom instruction, Ohio’s standardized exams, and graduation requirements that are and will occur under the new academic standards. Check out the Ohio Channel for video of this event.
• In February, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Community Research Partners gathered with expert educational panelists in Cleveland to discuss student mobility in our schools. The discussion was taped and will air on public television next week. Tune in to your local PBS station or the Ohio Channel on one of the following dates/times: April 6 at noon and 8PM; April 7 at 4AM; April 21 at 9AM and 5PM; April 22 at 1AM.