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Making school choice work for kids
Ohio is on the verge of adding an enormous new private school choice scholarship to its existing array of choice programs and policies.
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ObamaFlex: Too much tight, too little loose
Followers of Fordham’s work know that, for the better part of three years, we’ve been advancing an approach to federal education policy that we call “Reform Realism”—a pro-school-reform orientation leavened with a
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Legislative round-up: Lots of school choice bills on the table
After an unusually busy spring and summer passing major education reforms, the General Assembly isn’t ready to stop quite yet. September saw renewed debate in the House and Senate over education issues, most notably those bills that impact K-12 school choice.
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Teacher ratings spread out evenly across spectrum of quality
This week the Columbus Dispatch ran an article about recently released performance ratings of some 7,500 teachers in central Ohio, including those in Columbus City Schools and South-Western City Schools.
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Measuring Inequity in School Funding
This report examines variations in per-pupil funding across states and further analyzes funding differences between districts within each state. In order to make comparisons in funding between states, it adjusts for local costs by looking at of the percentage of taxable resources each state spends on education.
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Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings Estimates
This recent report by the United States Census Bureau looks at the relationship between an individual’s level of education and their earnings.
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What do GOP candidates think about education?
Ohio should know that it’s not alone: Value-Added performance assessment of teachers is becoming more and more widely used as part of evaluation ratings. This report by the Wall Street Journal points out that districts in at least 26 states are judg
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The unilateral repeal of NCLB and the 2012 election
You better believe Rick Perry is watching this one
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Is college the best ticket to the middle class?
With completion rates so low, we need to consider other options
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National poll of voters provides conflicting insights on Ohio's Senate Bill 5
Voters in Ohio support restrictions on collective bargaining (60% support restrictions), and strong majorities (62%) oppose service cuts as a means of keeping public employees at current salary and benefit levels. ??These findings from Douglas E. Schoen ??? pollster for President Bill Clinton ???
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No high achiever left behind, please
It?s not chic to fuss about them, but our international competitiveness may depend on them
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Recruitment, Retention and the Minority Teacher Shortage
It?s about where they teach not who they are
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State Capacity for School Improvement: A First Look at Agency Resources
Can't hand over the reins if states can't ride the horse
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What can Ohio districts learn from Colorado's Harrison School District 2?
Ohio school district leaders as well as state policymakers and education leaders should pay attention to what's happening in the Harrison school district just outside of Colorado Springs, and not just because NCTQ President Kate Walsh called its teacher evaluation and compensation system one of the most sophisticated in the country.
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A Better Measure of Skills Gaps
As the nation attempts to pull itself out of economic recession, leaders and policy makers alike are struggling to find ways to integrate the millions of unemployed back into the world of work. The longer these individuals go unemployed, the more likely it is that their current skill sets will continue to deteriorate.
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Ohio's value-added system faces a new level of scrutiny
Ohio has been a national leader in using value-added measures of student academic growth. The current value-added system was piloted in 2007 and fully integrated into the state accountability system in 2008. Yet, since then Ohio’s value-added system has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism from some district superintendents and others in the field.
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Event recap: Assuring Highly Effective Teachers for All Ohio Students
Last week Fordham, along with the Nord Family Foundation and Ohio Grantmakers Forum, convened two public discussions in Lorain and Cleveland on how districts across the state can improve teacher effectiveness.
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Report card recap
This year with the help of researchers from Public Impact in North Carolina we continued our tradition of conducting an annual analysis of student achievement in Ohio’s Big 8 districts and charters. State report card data were released in late August, and we released a quick turn-around analysis on Big 8 charters and traditional schools.