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Commentary
Gadfly Bites 3/10/17 - If only someone had released a report this week on ways to improve school funding in Ohio...
So there’s some reportage on the topic of school funding to report today. Just not the particular part of the topic I thought might get some coverage.
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ESSA
Text of testimony given before the Joint Education Oversight Committee 3/9/17
NOTE: The Joint Education Oversight Committee of the Ohio General Assembly is hearing testimony this week on Ohio's proposed ESSA accountability plan.
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Report Foreword: A Formula that Works
School funding debates are as predictable as the seasons, and right on cue, the release of Governor John Kasich’s biennial budget has precipitated hand-wringing from various corners of Ohio. Why? Like many other states, Ohio’s budget is tightening and his plan would reduce the amount of state aid for dozens of districts that have been consistently losing student enrollment.
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Too many school districts forgo acceleration and leave bright students behind
By Josh Dwyer and Carolyn E. Welch, J.D.
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Gadfly Bites 3/8/17 - What up, J.D.!
The Middletown newspaper today caught up with local-boy-made-good: J.D. Vance. (Middletown Journal-News, 3/8/17)
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Gadfly Bites 3/6/17 - True confessions of outgoing Lorain distress commission members
Interesting coverage of a convening in Dayton last week in which education stakeholders got together to discuss ways to close the racial achievement gap and to end implicit racial and cultural bias in area schools. (Dayton Daily News, 3/3/17)
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Providing more gifted classes to children of color in Florida
By Adeyela Bennett and Bradley Bennett
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Gadfly Bites 3/3/17 - "A declining pool of applicants"
Sad news from Cincinnati this week: due to a “declining pool of applicants” two Catholic girls schools will merge at the end of the 2017-18 school year, eliminating activity at the century-old Mother of Mercy school building.
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Gadfly Bites 3/1/17 - The topic of the day is "rifts"
The reach of Fordham’s Aaron Churchill is wide. Case in point: his guest commentary on the influence of union interests in the current LAUSD school board race. (LA School Report/The 74, 2/28/17)
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Gadfly Bites 2/27/17 - It's "long overdue to bring back these dollars.”
It was announced last week that Dayton City Schools will be initiating a new online school starting in the 2017-18 school year.
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Putting growth closer to the center of Ohio’s overall school grading formula
Under federal and state law, Ohio policy makers are responsible for gauging and reporting on the performance of its 3,000 public schools and 600 districts. To do this, Ohio has a report card system that assigns A-F grades based on a variety of performance indicators.
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Gadfly Bites 2/24/17 - Farewell, Lorain ADC. We hardly knew ye.
At its sunset, the Lorain City Schools’ Academic Distress Commission was lionized by the school board at a special meeting this week. Nope. I don’t get it either. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 2/22/17)
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Ability grouping and acceleration can help teachers and school leaders
By Saiying Steenbergen-Hu, Matthew Makel, and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius
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Requiring teacher externships: Good intention, bad idea
It’s budget season in Ohio, and that means plenty of debates about school funding and other education policy issues.
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Gadfly Bites 2/22/17 - A new voucher bill on the horizon in Ohio
There is a new voucher bill on the horizon here in Ohio, looking to make some radical changes – some might say improvements – to the existing programs. First up with coverage was Patrick O’Donnell.
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The Fordham Institute's 2017 Wonkathon: The $20 Billion School Choice Edition
By Michael J. Petrilli
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Gadfly Bites 2/17/17 - It's not a security camera, it's a medical device.
Mike Petrilli and Fordham are namechecked in this guest commentary about the role of the local chapter of The Exchange Club in boosting civics education in Dayton. Fascinating. (Dayton Daily News, 2/15/17)
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Gadfly Bites 2/15/17 - Ignoring the public's wishes?
The state board of education met this week and members heard testimony from a number of organized groups of superintendents on the state’s draft ESSA plan. Coverage was sparse.
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On school funding, first kill caps and guarantees
The recent unveiling of Governor Kasich’s budget plan for the 2018-19 fiscal years has kicked off Ohio’s biennial ritual of debating school funding. Caps and guarantees have long been a central part of that discussion, and it’ll be no different this spring.
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Gadfly Bites 2/13/17 - Fordham staffers quoted in out-of-the-way places
Fordham Ohio staffers were quoted in some out-of-the-way places over the weekend.
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Ohio’s ESSA plan: Using reduced chronic absenteeism as a measure of student engagement
On February 2, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released the first draft of its state plan to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act.
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Gadfly Bites 2/10/17 - After the fact
With less than a month to go until a new CEO-style Academic Distress Commission comes to Lorain City Schools, one elected school board member has decided to reach out to the ACLU to see if a possible civil rights case may be an option to halt ADC implementation
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Gadfly Bites 2/8/17 - Global Impact STEM Academy growing again
Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger published an op ed this week in which he opines on the necessity and early efficacy of charter law reform in Ohio. For the latter, he cites our recent report looking at the early implementation of HB 2. Nice!
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Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Improve Educational Performance
Do incentives nudge students to exert more effort in their schoolwork? A recent study by University of Chicago analysts suggests they do, though the structure of the incentive is also important.
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Gadfly Bites 2/6/17 - Green Bear, Green Bear, what do you see?
A bit more coverage of the Ohio charter school facilities report, with whose release we helped out last week, courtesy of statewide public radio. (Statehouse News Bureau, 2/6/17)
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Gadfly Bites 2/3/17 - "This isn't about the money."
In case you missed, it Fordham assisted in the release of a new report documenting the opportunities and challenges facing charter schools in Ohio in terms of obtaining and maintaining proper facilities for their work.