- We’ve been talking a lot about PARCC test practice across Ohio, but it’s also actual OAA testing time as well – the last time the venerable OAAs will be given. So here we discuss the real future of testing in the state with a Cincy spin, focusing a lot on computers vs. pencils (hello 21st century!) and what a tougher test will mean for everyone. Is it just my imagination, or do some of the teachers and administrators interviewed sound wistful to you? (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- Today's story about city budgeting decisions in Toledo may seem pretty boring, but there are a couple of nuggets in here worth noting. First up, the effort to reduce funding for After-School All Stars, ostensibly because they are “carpetbaggers” from Columbus. This group apparently provides some pretty good services to a few Toledo district schools. If those programs close or reduce services, who will take their place? Maybe it’ll be a district-run Head Start program, the awarding of which we were supposed to find out sometime in April but which has not yet been announced. Secondly, the effort to reduce funding for the United North community group is a mystery to me because they’ll need all the support they can muster should that Head Start money not come through and Horizon Science Academy move forward with their own plans, which have been challenged at every turn by United North. This is like Shakespeare! (Toledo Blade)
- I’m so sick of talking about data scrubbing in Columbus City Schools that I almost didn’t include this Dispatch editorial today. But, it’s slim pickings for the day and the editors make some good points about the opportunity to move forward with systemic changes that not only might prevent the subterfuge but might actually help the system work better to identify potential dropouts earlier and to divert them into alternative programs or supports. (Columbus Dispatch)
