Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/16/25—Greed, ego, and foolishness
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Commentary
Governance
The good, bad, and ugly in the Ohio House education plan
Last week, House lawmakers passed their version of Ohio’s biennial budget. As usual, the measure contains billions of dollars in appropriations and nearly as many policy changes.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Impacts of a pre-kindergarten preparation program in Texas
Can a parent-education initiative help a school district to boost the readiness of three-year-olds who will soon enter pre-K? One Texas district has been implementing such a program for almost a decade, and a new working paper documents outcomes that are both promising and problematic.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/14/25—“The Little Engine that Couldn’t”
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/11/25—Rounding errors
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/9/25—The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Taxation
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Report
Curriculum & Instruction
The Science of Reading in Action: How Toledo’s Escuela SMART Academy is making phonics and content knowledge central to literacy instruction
In 2022, the first year Samantha Eischen used Amplify CKLA, a reading curriculum based in the Science of Reading, the second-grade teacher at Escuela SMART Academy in Toledo was sold.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/7/25—Banging on about the bucks
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/4/25—Miswritten
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Commentary
Governance
Testimony presented before the Ohio House Finance Committee on Substitute House Bill 96
NOTES: Today, the Ohio House Finance Committee heard testimony on House Bill 96
Commentary
Governance
Fordham Institute written testimony on House Bill 96
NOTES: Today, the Ohio House Finance Committee heard testimony on House Bill 96
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/2/25—Rigorous implementation indeed
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/31/25—100 Day Dream School
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/28/25—I don’t write ‘em, I just compile ‘em
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/26/25—A tiny bit miraculous
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Commentary
Governance
Governor DeWine doubles down on cellphone bans in schools
Last spring, Governor DeWine used his state of the state address
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/24/25—Seeing the data and responding to the data are two different things
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/21/25—Data and words…but mostly data
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Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/19/25—Show your work, people
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Commentary
Governance
Comparing the mental health impacts of schools' restrictive and permissive cellphone policies
School systems across the country (and world) have been implementing limitations or outright bans on student smartphone use during the school day in an effort to improve the educational experience for young people. Improvements have been predicted along many dimensions: attention span, academic achievement, mental wellbeing, disciplinary referrals, and even absenteeism.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Four ways Ohio lawmakers could strengthen Governor DeWine’s literacy and numeracy push
Student math and reading achievement continue to lag in schools across Ohio. Governor DeWine is proposing numerous initiatives to address this issue via the state budget. Yet lawmakers can and should go further in the following ways.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/17/25—Multiple topics
Bom dia, y'all! Gadfly Bites is back from vacation and our first catch up edition covers important clips from March 3 through March 14.
Commentary
School Finance, Governance
The cost of “updating inputs,” plus other notes on the state budget
Debate on the biennial state budget is in full swing, as Governor DeWine has unveiled his proposals and House lawmakers are now holding committee hearings. Through the amendment process, the chamber is expected to put forward its plan in April and send the legislation over to the Senate.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance
Governor DeWine is right: Ohio must stop funding “empty desks”
School funding guarantees have been a much-discussed element of Governor DeWine’s proposed
Report
Curriculum & Instruction
Ohio’s path to early literacy: Science of Reading progress and challenges
Our latest report is an evaluation of the high-quality charter funding program. It finds positive results: The additional dollars have allowed charters to boost their teachers’ salaries, reduced staffing turnover, and driven student learning gains.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance
Here’s how to make Governor DeWine’s proposed career planning requirement work better for students
Last year, during his state of the state address, Governor DeWine called on the legislature to “make a very simple fix in statute to insert career planning into existing graduation plan requirements.” The
Report
Governance
Ohio Education By the Numbers—2025 Edition
The brand new and fully updated eighth edition of our Ohio education guidebook is out now. It offers policymakers, journalists, and civic and business leaders easy-to-use statistics—sans commentary—about Ohio’s K-12 schools and the students they serve.
Commentary
Governance
DeWine’s state budget overhauls Ohio’s absence intervention framework
Years after the resumption of “business as usual” schooling, chronic student absenteeism stubbornly remains higher than it was before the pandemic. The governor’s budget offers a new approach to tackle this persistent problem.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/3/25—Whack-a-Mole
Gadfly Bites is taking a vacation break for a bit. Back with you on Monday, March 17; hopefully rested, refreshed, and ready to rumble once again.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/28/25—Not enough learning leads to not enough earning
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