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National School Choice Week celebration IRL
Here’s a great look at the in-person celebration of National School Choice Week by Ohio Virtual Academy students in Zanesville, Ohio. Dozens of students, teachers, family members, and one reporter gathered at the Sunrise Bowling Center for a day of fun and community building. Tina Denny, a first grade special education teacher, told the WHIZ-TV news that online learning is not all that different from brick and mortar schools, “but it’s more concentrated. The kids are getting live instruction, by certified teachers, they also do online lessons.” Good stuff.
Another type of celebration
At the tail end of National School Choice Week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it had withdrawn two “notices inviting application” for the State Entity Charter School Grant Program and the Charter Management Organization Grant Program, ending what officials called “burdensome” regulations on the programs enacted by the Biden Administration in its waning days. Officials also announced they will be directing $33 million toward charter schools through the Charter School Program (CSP) competition. These actions, they say, better align the agency’s work with President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the expansion of school choice.
In other news…
Also making national news last week was the release of the latest NAEP testing results. Overall, Ohio’s results were bad, mirroring many other states. Karega Rausch, president and CEO of NACSA, says that stagnating or falling scores in reading and math achievement across the country—especially in terms of recovery from Covid-era learning loss—stem from two crucial and intertwined issues: Far too many education leaders have abandoned accountability and have failed to embrace innovation. “All schools should be empowered to tailor their programs to meet their students’ needs,” he writes, “while accountability structures ensure their efforts are aligned with clear, rigorous goals.” Charter schools are ideally designed to do just that and should lead the way in showing improvement.
Update
We noted last week that the Cleveland Transformation Alliance—formed in 2012 as part of the voter-approved Cleveland Plan—will close its doors in March, with leaders saying that it has largely achieved its foundational goals. This week, Patrick O’Donnell took a deeper look at CTA, its mission, its history, and what its closing might mean for enhancing education and making high quality schools more available to Cleveland students going forward.
Kudos to NWOCA
Northwest Ohio Classical Academy this week announced two fascinating lecture events for February in Toledo. Conducted by NWOCA teachers, the lectures cover history and science topics and are open to the public free of charge. An amazing and generous way to show the community what classical education—and charter schools—are all about.
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