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Great start to the new year for charter schools across Ohio
Three great stories to start our news roundup! The Ginn-Thompson School is a brand-new all-girls charter in Cleveland which opens its doors for the first time next week. Signal Cleveland gives a positive and super supportive preview, including some inspiring words from the founding principal (“I wanted something on the level of the private schools that we have for girls here in Northeast Ohio.”). There was also a huge ribbon cutting ceremony recently in Salineville, Ohio, celebrating the completion of a Connecting Communities Through Workforce Training project at Utica Shale Academy. The project creates a training center for certified health workers housed at the school. And there’s more expansion to come! Praise and celebration echo in this piece as well, covering the opening of Horizon Science Academy’s new space in Lorain. Those speaking favorably about the fast-growing, popular, and high-performing charter school network include the mayor of Lorain and the head of the Chamber of Commerce. All very exciting. Kudos to all!
Speaking of charter expansion…
Fordham Ohio’s Senior Research Fellow Stéphane Lavertu has been doing some out-of-the-box thinking to find cost-effective methods to boost math performance among students still languishing after pandemic learning loss. Among them: Strategic school closures and expansion of charter schools, since research shows students who experience these changes tend to end up in better-performing schools and reap the academic benefits thereof. Fascinating!
Transportation turmoil
As we discussed last Friday, hundreds of charter and private school families in Columbus are reeling from the district’s decision to deem them “impractical to transport”, leaving them without yellow bus service as the school year began. Charter school families and leaders addressed the elected board of Columbus City Schools this week, begging them to attempt some other fix. The elected board members heard it all…and then voted unanimously to make the impracticality determination final. In this coverage of the meeting, another charter school parent spells out the shoddy treatment they have all received very clearly: “We live in Columbus, it’s the capital of the state. Set the standard. Why is the standard so low?” Sounds like the same situation in Cleveland Metropolitan School District this year as well: The appointed board this week deemed 1,700 district-resident students (all of whom opt for charter, private, and “other specialty schools”) impractical to transport. They, like the Columbus choice students, will be offered a $600 payment to provide their own transportation…but of course that is pretty low and will only available as a reimbursement at the end of the school year nine long months from now. Likely untenable for most families affected.
Terrific transportation tale
Kudos to the leaders of Mahoning Valley Community School in Youngstown. They have gathered the wherewithal to provide transportation directly to the students who choose their school. Amazing! “Safe and reliable transportation is a critical component to ensuring access to a quality education for our students,” said superintendent Jennifer Merritt. “It was something that we were determined to offer to our students and their families. We believe this opportunity will significantly improve attendance and remove barriers to education in order to allow our students to be successful.”
The big picture of charter and district comparison
Two great analyses published this week by Fordham’s national staff worthy of your time. First up: president Mike Petrilli and associate director of research David Griffith look at the reasons why charter school performance largely outperforms that of their traditional district peers. Among the mechanisms they examine: the fact that charters are more likely to embrace evidence-based practices and to close low-performing schools that are not properly serving students. In the other piece, David teams up with research intern Heena Kuwayama to summarize the volumes of research literature that clearly show competition from charter schools helps boost outcomes for students who remain in traditional district schools. Important stuff.
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