Ohio Teacher Contracts: The Black Hole of School Spending

Education Action Group FoundationSpring 2010

Congratuations to Andy Boy!

Congratulations to Andrew Boy, the co-director and founder of Columbus Collegiate Academy, one of the six charter schools Fordham authorizes.

Special Edition Ohio Gadfly: The race is on and teachers are front and center

Check today's Ohio Education Gadfly for a special Race to the Top analysis recommending strategies for the Buckeye State as it heads into round two of the competition. Ohio has exactly one month (that's when districts and charter schools must sign on) to improve its application.

3 things Ohio needs to do to win money for schools

Today's Dayton Daily News featured an op-ed by Fordham's Terry Ryan on what Ohio can do to win in the next round of Race to the Top. In the op-ed, he provides three actionable points for moving forward: 1. Get more buy-in from districts and the teachers' unions.

Ohio makes same mistake

Like Connecticut and California, Ohio has mistakenly blamed its lack of

Ohio makes same mistake

Like Connecticut and California, Ohio has mistakenly blamed its lack of stakeholder support for its loss in th

CT learns the wrong lesson

This article is the reason I continue to hammer that states need to worry about reform substance not union support when crafting round two RTT applications.

Career-specific majors crowd out liberal arts

There's a new trend at many of America's higher learning institutions: emphasizing career-specific majors at the cost of the liberal arts. A recent Newsweek piece by Nancy Cook, ???The Death of Liberal Arts???, covers the causes and potential effects of this movement.

Ohio Education Gadfly: Rick Hess sets us straight

Be sure to check out this week's Ohio Gadfly for a Q&A with Rick Hess, who divulges his thoughts on Race to the Top, educational entrepreneurship, Ohio's budget constraints, and why the notion of ???best practices??? in education makes him ???nauseous.???

Ohio Education Gadfly: Rick Hess sets us straight

Be sure to check out this week's Ohio Gadfly for a Q&A with Rick Hess, who divulges his thoughts on Race to the Top, educational entrepreneurship, Ohio's budget constraints, and why the notion of ?best practices?

Ohio's path to Race to the Top success

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the winners of the federal Race to the Top education sweepstakes. Delaware took home $100 million and Tennessee was awarded $500 million.

Ohio starts getting its ACT together

Ohio recently unveiled plans to scrap the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) in favor of the ACT (and a combination of other performance measures) for high school juniors in an attempt to better align high school curricula with college- and career-ready

Should federal dollars be used to try to turn around failing charters?

Charter schools are different from traditional district schools in that they are free of many regulations and operating constraints, but in return for their freedoms they are held accountable for their results. Those charter schools that fail to deliver results over time are closed, the theory holds.

Ohio's Race to the Top application rewrite should improve 'Great Teachers & Leaders' section

Yesterday Terry outlined five ideas for strengthening Ohio's Race to the Top application for round two submission: invite critics into the conversation; remove the fat from the proposal; focus on real measures of teacher performance; remove the teacher unions' veto power ove

Race to the Top: How Ohio can go from a B- to an A

Based on today's round one Race to the Top (RttT) rejection, Ohio still has work to do to before submitting its round two application (due June 1) and demonstrating to the US Department of Education that the state is serious about education reform. Despite the disappointment many may feel, now is not the time for turning back.

Ohio superintendent under fire for asking teachers to do lesson plans

The superintendent of Ohio's Twin Valley Community Local School District has come under fire in his first year on the job from the local teachers union for, among other grievances, trying to mak

Promises, promises

The National Council on Teacher Quality recently reviewed the 16 Race to the Top finalist states' ???great teachers and leaders??? application sections.

Surprise, Surprise? Not in Ohio's NAEP reading results

The 2009 NAEP reading scores were released this morning with little fanfare for Ohio. There has been virtually no growth in the Buckeyes State's NAEP reading results, with only 36 percent of fourth graders and 37 percent of eighth graders in Ohio proficient or above in reading.

The Ohio Education Gadfly: Why Common Core standards are a welcome upgrade for Ohio

Don't miss the latest Ohio Education Gadfly!

Gap still persists between Ohio reading scores and NAEP, proficiency still flat

Drew Carey cares

When asked how he would go about improving Pittsburgh, Frank Lloyd Wright offered a simple solution: ???Abandon it.???

Fickle on federalism

“[This plan] will fundamentally change the federal role in education. We will move from being a compliance monitor to being an engine for innovation.” --Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, March 17, 2010, before the House Education and Labor Committee

Bottom-up creation of new teacher evaluation systems unlikely in Ohio

Brookings' Brown Center on Education Policy just released a proposal for ???America's Teacher Corps,??? a federally funded program that would recognize highly effective teachers in Title I schools, award them a salary bonus ($10,000), and give them a ???portable credential???

Columbus Collegiate Academy wins prestigious national award for student achievement gains

Solar panels on Ohio schools green for two reasons

Despite a debate among residents and school board members in Worthington, Ohio, over global warming, the district has put itself on the map for install

Today's Ohio Education Gadfly: find out why Ohio might be a trailblazer in charter accountability

This week's edition kicks off with a great piece by Terry discussing the unprecedented move by the Ohio Department of Education to close a charter school sponsor (aka authorizer) for fiscal mismanagement.

Will being a first-round finalist hurt Ohio's chances in the Race to the Top?

When federal education Secretary Arne Duncan unveiled the finalists for his $4.35 billion Race to the Top sweepstakes last week, surprise was a common reaction – surprise both at how many (16 out of 41 applicants) and who made the cut.

Buckeye State holding charter school sponsors accountable

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is seeking to close a troubled charter school sponsor (aka authorizer), the Cleveland-based Ashe Culture Center, Inc.

My impromptu education debate with Bill Ayers

Forget accusations of terrorism, it seems wise to shy away from involvement with Bill Ayers if only because his ideas on public education reform are, well ??? pretty awful.

Timing is right in Ohio for smart district consolidation

Spurred by a new report and the looming state financial crisis, the time may be right for school district consolidation for Ohio.??