Commentary
Voucher record, lima beans, and PARCC piloting
EdChoice vouchers, food service in Lima, gifted services, and PARCC pilot testing are in the news.
Commentary
Not Just the Problems of Other People's Children
PISA and NAEP scores have long been dismal for students in the United States. What happens when those results are correlated and compared? We look at a new report which does just that.
Commentary
An exciting public-records lawsuit - and its impact on potential voucher families
It's about darn time that school districts get pushback for avoiding legitimate public records requests.
Commentary
Ohio Senate maintains state's commitment to high-quality standards
MBR changes in the Senate maintain commitment to Common Core.
Commentary
Commentary
Ohio’s state legislature still fumbling value-added
Senate MBR changes to value-add leave the Ohio Gadfly confused and fuming.
Commentary
Commentary
Ohio Gadfly Daily News 5-22-14
Gubernatorial candidates, open enrollment scrooges, and Common Core haters all feature in today's clips.
Commentary
Not just the problem of other people’s children: U.S. student performance in global perspective
America’s educational shortcomings are not limited to disadvantaged kids. Far from it, as Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann explain in this recently released Education Next/PEPG study. Looking at the NAEP scores in every U.S. state and the PISA results of all thirty-four OECD countries, Hanushek et al.
Commentary
Young teachers get the short end of the stick
Kudos to Andy Rotherham and Chad Aldeman for taking on, via a nifty new website and this recent Washington Post article, t
Commentary
What kids are reading: The book-reading habits of students in American schools; Children, Teens, and Reading
How often are kids reading, and which books are they choosing? Two recent reports took a crack at finding the answers.
Commentary
The State of Charter School Authorizers 2013
Every year, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers draws on survey data from half of the nation’s charter-school authorizers to assess the quality of their practices, outlining a set of twelve essential practices and scoring authorizers based on their adherence to them. In this sixth edition, the results are mixed.
Commentary
Evaluating Teachers with Classroom Observations: Lessons Learned in Four Districts
Everyone agrees that a good teacher makes all the difference in the world—but that’s where the agreement ends. This new report from Brookings adds to the body of research examining how to decide what makes a good teacher, specifically looking at teacher-evaluations systems in four moderate-sized urban districts in an effort to suggest ways to improve them.
Commentary
Newark unfriends reform?
After a rancorous mayoral race, the city of Newark has elected Ras Baraka—a decision surely to hold repercussions for the city’s ambitious education reform agenda.
Commentary
Commentary
Ohio Gadfly Daily News 5-16-14
School Choice Ohio has initiated legal action against Springfield and Cincinnati schools for denying them student directory information requested under Ohio public records law, while they were regularly providing that same information to other nonprofits.
Commentary
The NCES, the NIEER, and government-funded advocacy
Something unsavory is underway at the Department of Education and in the world of preschool zealotry. They seem to be merging—and in so doing, they risk the integrity of our education-data system.
Commentary
Ohio Gadfly Daily News 5-14-14
We talk about TGRG fatigue and Lima beans, among other topics in the news.
Commentary
Ohio Gadfly Daily News 5-13-14
Lots to cover today: opinions, revelations, history lessons, and accounting included.
Commentary
Imagining a choice-friendly school transportation system
We think outside the box on a thorny education issue often at the heart of the school choice debate.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands
We take a look at the School Choice Demonstration Project's latest examination of charter funding across the country.
Commentary
Northeast Ohio school districts address education reforms in their own ways
Education reforms take many forms and can affect school districts differently. Recent news stories from Northeast Ohio show some positive momentum for several important reform efforts.
Commentary
Commentary
Are online credit recovery programs too flexible for their own good?
A recent EducationNext article pinpoints some weakness in online credit recovery programs which Ohio is experiencing first hand.
Commentary
Are online credit recovery programs too flexible for their own good?
A recent EducationNext article pinpoints some weakness in online credit recovery programs which Ohio is experiencing first hand.
Commentary
Commentary
Ohio Gadfly Daily News 5-8-14
Some excellent articles on the Third Grade Reading Guarantee in Northeast Ohio highlight today's clips.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Sector Switchers: Why Catholic Schools Convert to Charters and What Happens Next
Although they’ve long been a favorite of working-class parents in search of safe, structured, morally solid environments, inner-city Catholic schools have struggled with finances and enrollment numbers for decades.
Commentary
Preventable Failure: Improvements in Long-Term Outcomes when High Schools Focused on the Ninth Grade Year
New research from the Consortium on Chicago School Research provides a relatively easy to-do list for district leaders who want to see more students progress toward graduation. Melissa Roderick and company use real-time data to identify and monitor pupil performance at one intervention point: the ninth-grade transition.
Commentary
The Nation's Report Card, Grade 12: Reading and Mathematics 2013
Today brought the eagerly awaited release of the 2013 NAEP results for 12th grade math and reading, which include scores for the nation as a whole as well as eleven pilot states.