Gadfly Bites 7/21/17 - Oh the thinks you can think
We start to today with a clutch of stories from Lorain. The “realness” of the arrival of a CEO in the district seems to have caught up with the elected school board.
We start to today with a clutch of stories from Lorain. The “realness” of the arrival of a CEO in the district seems to have caught up with the elected school board.
While many folks in the education realm here in Ohio are congratulating themselves on lowering the state’s graduation standards for the Class of 2018, some are still questioning the wisdom of the action (our own Aaron Churchill included) and some are worried about unintended consequences and/
We start today with something of a broad overview of education in Ohio, courtesy of state supe Paolo DeMaria. The supe presented his vision at the City Club of Cleveland last week, stressing the need for strategic planning and broad goals rather than what he calls “random acts of policy development”.
As originally noted in Wednesday’s clips, here is more on this week’s Ohio Supreme Court rulings against the state’s largest online charter school. And I do mean “against”. It ain’t over yet, of course, but three rulings in two hours has got to be a tough blow to absorb.
Now here is a confluence of articles that I would call inexplicable. First up, the state board of ed met earlier in this week and seemed eager to talk about Ohio’s CEO-style Academic Distress Commissions. That is, about how much they all seem to loathe them. Seriously? None of you see any positives at all?
In case you missed it, there was some talk a week or so ago that two new charter schools planned for the 2017-18 school year might not open in Cleveland due to some procedural, paperwork-y type issues.
In case you missed it last week, the General Assembly passed the new two-year state budget and Governor Kasich signed it into law…making a record number of line item vetoes along the way. Jeremy Kelley took a look at 11 of those education-related vetoes and got some big names to help him make sense of the original intent of the language and the effect of the vetoes.
The Dispatch published an interesting piece this weekend discussing the lack of district superintendents who are female and people of color in Ohio.
After the departure of its high-profile leader in the recent past, FutureReady Columbus is still trying to get itself ready for the present day. The organization was born as a big ticket, partner-fueled initiative to help Columbus students get the best possible education.
Apprenticeships are all the rage. President Trump recently announced a doubling of federal funding for apprenticeship programs to $200 million in his next budget. This follows an investment by President Obama of $50 million in the outgoing months of his administration. In fact, this follows a major rewrite of the federal legislation governing job training in 2014.
Since 2002, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has published yearbooks on the state of preschool education.
Our own Jamie Davies O’Leary was front and center on the editorial page of The D this morning, opining against lowering graduation standards in the strongest possible terms.
Not much going on in education news over the weekend, but what there is of it revolves around money. Of course.
Patrick O’Donnell took a look at the latest CREDO study of charter management organizations, showing that several CMOs with schools in Northeast Ohio are performing very well indeed. John Zitzner of Breakthrough Schools calls their results “mind-boggling”.
Our own Jessica Poiner, in a blog posted Monday, “blasted” Ohio’s efforts to lower graduation requirements and reduce the state’s high school diploma to an Oprah-like certificate of participation. (“Everybody gets a diplomaaaaaaaa!”).
When it comes to high standards and accountability, Ohio talks a pretty good talk. Many of the most popular education reforms of the day have already been proposed or passed in the Buckeye State, and a few have even been hailed as best in the country.
Our own Chad Aldis was a guest on the State of Ohio news program on Friday.
We start today with a feel good story of high schoolers beating the odds to graduate and go on to college. All have earned scholarships for that accomplishment. The main story is of a young Columbus woman who has, indeed, survived war and other hardships.
NOTES: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.This piece was first published in a slightly different form on EdBuild’s blog.
In a surprise to no one, the state board of ed this week voted to order the state’s largest online school to repay something like $60 million in regard to the ongoing kerfuffle between the state and the school over its recent attendance audit.
I don’t usually clip blog posts, but this seemed fairly significant. The learned Dr.
Since 2002, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has published yearbooks on the state of preschool education.
We start today in Fordham’s birthplace of Dayton, which as you will recall, may be facing a summer of strife over teacher contract negotiations or lack thereof. Jeremy Kelley this week dug deep into the state of play in the stalled negotiations and tried to discover what is at issue.
In case you missed it, Fordham yesterday released a first-of-its-kind analysis of interdistrict open enrollment in Ohio – a look at the districts and the students utilizing it this popular and widespread school choice program and the academic outcomes attained.
It’s the end of the traditional school year across Ohio and that means only one thing: a dearth of actual education news in publications far and wide. As you can see.
We start today with an opinion piece from the PD in which education professionals attempt to dispel misconceptions abou
The CEO-style Academic Distress Commission is on the mind of the PD’s Patrick O’Donnell this week. Fist up, he took a look at the hopes and fears of officials in Lorain as said CEO-style ADC ramps up there. Mostly at the fears, though.
We start today out in the ‘burbs. (I know, right!) First up is a lengthy piece about some “options” for suburban kids for whom the traditional classroom route just doesn’t seem to work.
We begin today talking about school districts and “their” money. But honestly, when aren’t we talking about that? Editors in Columbus opined in favor of more state money for school districts. Especially for Columbus City Schools.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was intended to improve student health and reduce childhood obesity by increasing the minimum nutritional standards that schools must meet.