Commentary
The Pursuit of High Quality Schools: A Progress Report on Ohio's Quest to Graduate More Students Ready for College and Career
Ohio Education MattersAugust 2009
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Commentary
Ohio retirement study council member explains crisis facing state retirement systems
Fordham has had a keen interest in STRS since 2007. We frankly were not surprised last month when it came out that the STRS was facing serious funding shortfalls.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Jay Mathews, a creative (but maybe illegal) 11th option to "pick the right school"?
Yesterday in his column, Jay Mathews asks a question that plagues many of us:"How do parents evaluate the schools their children may attend and escape the heartbreak of buying a great house that turns out to be in the attendance zone of a flawed school?"
Commentary
Ohio retirement study council member explains crisis facing state retirement systems
Fordham has had a keen interest in the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) since 2007. We frankly were not surprised last month when it came out that the STRS was facing serious funding shortfalls.
Commentary
Chicago's anti-violence initiative and a return to the Broader, Bolder debate
You probably remember the debate (over a year ago) between two competing education circles, the Broader, Bolder group and the Education Equality Project, as well as the mountains of press when Arne Duncan
Commentary
Did you know?
Inspired by the "Graph of the Week" offered up by our friends at the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio , we'll be rolling out regular graphics on Flypaper to illustrate interesting trends and facts about public education, especially as they relate to Fordham's home state of Ohio.
Commentary
Not the kind of headline you want when asking taxpayers for more money
Over the weekend, the Columbus Dispatch ran a story that represents the proverbial icing on the Ohio teacher pension cake (for metaphor accuracy, the State Teacher Retirement System (STRS) is not just any old baked good; it's a calorie-laden mammoth that has grown so large it will bust the windows out of its own bakery-this, while the rest of the town is starving...).
Commentary
A hard news day for Ohio's education community
The nation's economic woes are making life hard on state budget crafters around the country.?? While Ohio's unemployment rate has decreased slightly, we're nowhere near out of the woods yet, as evidenced by this particularly miserable news day for Ohio's schools:
Commentary
Pity those who have to implement accountability systems for 21st century skills
There has been much ink spent on the debate around 21st century skills.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Taking a stand for Rhee -- catering to "learning styles" can help students get engaged
A Core Knowledge blog this week criticizes the concept of "learning styles" and educators' acceptance of this "unquestioned dogma." Specifically under critique is Michelle Rhee, whose DC Public Schools
Commentary
Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal's Triumph in the Inner City
Dr. Ben Chavis with Carey BlakelyNew American LibrarySeptember 2009
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Ohio Education Gadfly: teacher pensions, mentoring programs, evolution and more
You may recall that in 2007, Fordham published a report critical of Ohio's state teacher pension funds. The report found that the current system was wildly unsustainable and essentially hindering recruitment of quality teachers.
Commentary
World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio conference October 5
National education experts and top state leaders will come together October 5 in Columbus for a one-day conference about academic content standards. Panelists and speakers will share promising practices from across the country and around the world, talk about the current ‘common standards’ effort, and discuss what Ohio can do to achieve “world-class” standards.&nbs
Commentary
Why Science Standards are Important to a Strong Science Curriculum and How States Measure Up
Louise S. Mead and Anton MatesNational Center for Science EducationAugust, 2009
Commentary
Ohio fiscal saga continues, this time let's talk about full-day kindergarten
The fiscal problems consuming states and school districts have gotten their fair share of press recently. The narrative is somewhat formulaic: _________??
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On the decline of stately schools
Over at the Education Next blog, Martha Derthick laments the decline of "stately" schools:
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Curriculum & Instruction
Ohio scraps social studies testing
Our friends at the State of Ohio Education blog rightly call Ohio's recent move to eliminate social studies tests in grades five and eight a "short-sighted decision," not just because a basic understanding of history, geography, civics, and current events is critical, but because Ohio students h
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Sage policy advice from the Ohio Education Gadfly
Don't miss this week's special edition of the Ohio Education Gadfly! One year ago, the Fordham Institute released a report titled Accelerating Student Learning in Ohio.
Commentary
Optimism fades as Ohio's school funding reality sets in
State education budgets across the country were temporarily buoyed by an infusion of federal stimulus money earlier this year.????
Commentary
Grade inflation on state & city report cards
Yesterday's NY Times article points out that 97 percent of??NYC schools had received an A or B on city report cards. Given all the lamenting that goes on about the sorry state of public education in America (and rightly so), news like this is amusing.
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The spillover effect
Education Week features an insightful new study that finds excellent teachers tend to raise the performance of their peers.
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This week's Ohio Education Gadfly brings you up close and personal
Do you want a nitty gritty view of how funding issues and accountability ratings affect local school districts? Then you won't want to miss this week's Ohio Education Gadfly.
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A new kind of victim-blaming
One frequently hears arguments that redirect blame from failing schools (and their teachers and principals) to ubiquitous social monsters that are bigger and hairier (poverty, broken families, crime) but also impossible to hold accountable.?? I get this. There are undeniable correlations between student achievement and socioeconomic status.
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2009 Ohio report card analysis
Terry Ryan, Fordham's vice president for Ohio programs and policy, talks about the recently released performance data for Ohio's urban district and charter schools. Watch here.
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School Choice Ohio is blogging
Our friends at School Choice Ohio have joined the education blogosphere. Visit http://scohio.org/wordpress/ for the latest news and updates about choice in the Buckeye State.
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Innovative Ohio schools struggle to make ends meet
While funding for most public schools will be flat - and schools will be lucky with that - for innovative schools at both ends of the state's pre-K-12 education ladder, the budget is nothing short of doomsday.
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Exciting news: The New Teacher Project will conduct study of Cincinnati Public Schools
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on Friday that Cincinnati Public Schools will be the focus of a study by The New Teacher Project (TNTP).
Commentary
Charter Schools
Fordham in the news -- Buckeye State clips worth paying attention to
This weekend saw a flurry of news stories on education in Ohio, and Fordham was in the middle of these in our usual roles of analysts and prognosticators.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Let's praise all schools that work as we don't have enough of them
In February, during the heated political debate around Governor Strickland's education reform plan, I wrote an opinion piece for the Columbus Dispatch that argued the governor's attack on for-profit charter schools "wou