- Here’s a great story about the value of having clear academic standards and four years of lead time to create/align curriculum. Teachers and administrators in Fairfield City Schools, in southwest Ohio, have worked hard since 2010 to create a program that can meet and exceed the targets set by Ohio’s New Learning Standards (which of course include Common Core in ELA and math) so as to implement a dual-enrollment program. They are ready, their partnership with Cincinnati State is ready, and now the path is clear for Fairfield students to meet the standards and then move on to free college credit-bearing courses while still in high school. Nice. (Middletown Journal-News)
- Dispatch editors took a bit of time to digest the Vergara ruling before issuing their opinion on the issue of tenure for teachers. Bottom line: “Teacher tenure is a relic… It made sense in 1886 Massachusetts, where female teachers were fired for getting married, becoming pregnant or wearing pants.” Yowza. (Columbus Dispatch)
- How do you say “scrunch up there” in Turkish? The State Auditor’s office is jumping on the investigate-Horizon-charter-school bandwagon, becoming the third entity do so. Not saying it’s not warranted, but it’s probably gonna be a very long line to get to the file cabinet for a while. (Columbus Dispatch)
- But seriously, on the front page of the Dayton Daily News today, State Sen. Peggy Lehner says – in response to questions about the Horizon allegations – a full review of Ohio’s charter school laws is needed before the end of the year. True and necessary, with or without the Horizon issues, and hopefully those issues won't overshadow all of the work that needs to be done. (Dayton Daily News)
- You’ll have to click the link to see the renderings, but trust me when I say that Columbus City Schools’ new Africentric School campus looks completely awesome. (Columbus Dispatch)
- I almost hate to clip this story for fear of spooking the parties involved but the Blade reports that Toledo Public Schools’ officials have been talking to some local charter schools about ways that they can collaborate for the benefit of students. Even TPS’ board president says she has no problem with working with charter schools, as long as they aren’t low performers or focused on making a profit. Wow. (Toledo Blade)
- We’ll stay in Toledo for our final story today. Summer camp seems like a perfect place for kids to work on those non-cognitive abilities/character skills that folks like Paul Tough and now Richard Reeves have been talking about as important to academic success. The decade-old summer leadership program for inner-city youth profiled here – with at least one local principal serving as a strong role model – fits that bill pretty well, it seems. (Toledo Blade)
