Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Bringing Head Start programing into the home
If a little treatment goes a long way, does it stand to reason that more treatment will go even further?
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/25/18 – Dracula becomes the Invisible Man?
The leader of the newest statewide e-school is introduced in this glowing piece from his hometown newspaper. Awesome. (Delaware Gazette, 6/22/18)
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
When the standard isn’t the standard: Ohio’s early reading guarantee
In a pattern now becoming all too familiar, the State Board of Education recently got spooked by the prospect of tougher standards and delayed action on lifting grade-promotion standards under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee for 2018–19.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/22/18 – It’s deliberate
As predicted earlier this month, Dayton Biz Tech – a dropout recovery charter school sponsored by Dayton City Schools – was this week saved from the chopping block by the school board.
Commentary
Governance
How Ohio is using New Skills for Youth to shape its CTE ambitions
In a recent blog, I described an initiative called New Skills for Youth (NSFY) that aims to help states transform their career-readiness sectors.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/20/18 – Good thing they hate sunlight too
Having already had the image of ECOT rising from the dead like Dracula put into our heads this week, I guess you could call House Bill 707 a garlic-crusted-crucifix-sprinkled-with-holy-water-and-attached-to-a-wooden-stake kind of bill.
Commentary
Governance
Rethinking regulation in K-12 education
“K–12 education in America is ripe for real deregulation,” writes Michael McShane in his recent paper on school regulations. Hailing from an organization founded by the famed economist and champion of limited government Milton Friedman, his main argument comes as little surprise.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/18/18 – Rise of the Boogeyman
A blog post by our own Chad Aldis is quoted in this piece looking at the future of funding and accountability for online schools in Ohio. The Education-Related Boogeyman™ that is ECOT’s thoroughly-beaten corpse is invoked here. Think I’m exaggerating this Boogeyman joke?
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/15/18 – Too much opposition
Some folks are calling foul after the shocking revelation™ that ECOT utilized NDAs with regard to terminated staffers. You know which folks I mean. Our own Chad Aldis weighs in amid the Dispatch coverage of the issue.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/13/18 – Bargain basement
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type: Columbus City Schools just bought the former headquarters of ECOT in an auction. District reps call it “a solid investment”. There are still many questions (and many jokes) outstanding.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/11/18 – The (almost) all ADC edition
A new report on the status of Youngstown City Schools’ turnaround efforts was released on Friday. There are some positives, to be sure, but the negatives are kinda big and kinda troubling.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/8/18 – Some alternatives are better than others
A final batch (one assumes) of graduation-time stories today. Here is coverage of a recent “signing day” for a small group of Akron-area kids going straight from high school to jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/6/18 – Hot, fresh, and reasonably priced
Lots of superintendent turnover in Butler County school districts in the last few years it seems. The longest-serving supe is just finishing his third year on the job.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
2018 Teacher Prep Review: An examination of graduate and alternative teacher preparation programs
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently added to their trove of teacher preparation evaluations with the 2018 Teacher Prep Review. This year’s study examines 567 traditional graduate, 129 alternative route, and eighteen residency programs across the U.S. (no undergraduate programs were examined).
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/4/18 – Latin system? It’s all Greek to me.
The Dispatch dug more deeply into the issue of districts across central Ohio dropping GPA and class rankings in favor of the Latin system. Turns out that a 4.0 just isn’t what it used to be and it’s stressing everyone out. Everyone in high end suburbs, that is.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 6/1/18 – I’m only in this for the insurance
Let’s start the day with a spate of graduation-time stories. First up, yet another Ohio school district is getting rid of “antiquated” class rankings in favor of the Latin system. Future Hilliard grads, you have been warned.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Don’t punt overall school ratings, again
If kicking the accountability can down the road were an Olympic sport, Ohio policymakers would win the gold medal. The latest example comes from the State Board of Education, which recently recommended that the state legislature again push back the overall A–F rating to fall 2019.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Getting to square one: Longstanding troubles hinder the Youngstown turnaround effort
In a recent analysis of the Academic Distress Commission (ADC) system currently in place in Youngstown City Schools, my colleague Jessica Poiner shows significant deviations from the six habits<
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/30/18 – “If you want to kill the progress here and you want to hurt the kids, you go right ahead and try.”
We're back after a week's break and there's a lot to cover!
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/23/18 – The brain is a muscle
It was a busy hearing in the House Education and Career Readiness Committee yesterday. Lots of bills crammed in there. Our own Chad Aldis was on hand to testify on two bills. First up, Senate Bill 216, the education deregulation bill.
Commentary
Governance
Testimony given before the House Education and Career Readiness Committee on Senate Bill 216—5/22/18
NOTE: The Education and Career Readiness Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives today heard testimony on SB 216, a proposal that would make changes to the regulatory burden of Ohio’s public schools.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Testimony given before the House Education and Career Readiness Committee on House Bill 591—5/22/18
NOTE: The Education and Career Readiness Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives today heard testimony on HB 591, a proposal that would make changes to Ohio’s school report cards. Fordham’s Chad Aldis was a witness at this hearing and these are his written remarks.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Fordham Ohio celebrates teachers and charter schools
During the recent celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week and National Charter Schools Week, Fordham Ohio staffers shared stories of the teachers, counselors, and schools that made a positive difference in their education and in their lives. You can read about:
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Old habits die hard: An analysis of the Youngstown turnaround effort
Ohio is no stranger to district turnarounds. Back in 2007, academic distress commissions (ADCs) were added to state law as a way for the state to intervene in districts that consistently fail to meet academic standards.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/21/18 – Plumbing the depths of the future
As previously noted here, FutureReady Columbus is once again ready for the present after more than a year of dormancy in the past.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
When progress isn't progress: Akron’s graduation rate soars
Education is hard, so we should celebrate success at every opportunity. A sky-high graduation rate, for example, should make us smile from ear to ear.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
The impact of phonics instruction in England
Back at the turn of the millennium, we at Fordham published a paper that urged a stronger focus on phonics.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/18/18 - Go Mercenaries!
In case you missed it, Chad Aldis published an op-ed on Ohio’s graduation requirements in the ABJ this week. Why the ABJ?
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/16/18 -- "Two steps backward and one step forward"; or "Shameless"
News was a little scarce out of this week’s meeting of the state board of education, but here’s what we’ve got.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 5/14/18 - How many strong options are there, Supe?
The tiny Sandusky school district in northern Ohio is home to a new(ish) charter school within its borders, and at least one person seems pretty steamed. Unfortunately, that person is the one writing about it in the Register.