- The final private school profiled in Fordham Ohio’s Pluck and Tenacity voucher school report from January – Eden Grove in Cincinnati – has been published by Education Next. (Education Next)
- So, we told you last week about ODE’s unprecedented action to send out stern letters to three charter school sponsors warning them not to open their proposed new schools next year for a variety of very good reasons…or else. Most charter advocates are down with this, the Columbus Dispatch editorial staff is down with this. Why, then, are charter critics NOT down with this? (Columbus Dispatch)
- Editors in Toledo are attempting to parse recent graduation rate numbers, editorializing themselves into something of a corner: “It’s a tricky proposition — declaring that minority students are largely responsible for the increase in graduation rates, but also acknowledging how far behind they continue to lag.” Indeed. (Toledo Blade)
- This story is supposed to be about all the stress brought to bear on kids at testing time in Ohio. There are quotes from psychologists and hospital people and concerned parents, but there are some really interesting nuggets here away from the beaten path. To name just a few: sports and testing are equated as end-of-year stressors, a mom with kids in both public and private schools talks about the difference in school culture around testing, and two savvy-sounding fifth graders compare the online PARCC field testing from earlier in the month to the pencil and paper OAA testing coming up (hint, computers win). Excellent. (Middletown Journal-News)
- Here’s a companion piece to the preceding, which thinks that it’s delving into the questions of a) whether there is too much testing in schools today (all but one interview subject on this question believe that there is), b) how this unholy travesty happened to us (all interview subjects on this question blame No Child Left Behind and Common Core), and c) what can be done to stop this relentless juggernaut (all interview subjects on this question seem to think there is only one man in Ohio who can do anything at all). Less than balanced, I'd say. (Middletown Journal-News)
- Back in the real world, the Dispatch gives us some details on the second round Straight A Fund grant proposals in Franklin County. And no, there’s no million dollar gelato projects around here. (Columbus Dispatch)
