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The EdChoice lawsuit is déjà vu all over again

Over the past year, media outlet

Gadfly Bites 4/14/21 – Past, present, and future

We start out today with a great, in-depth look back at this school year as experienced in

Here’s what i-Ready winter diagnostic assessments reveal about unfinished learning

Although most schools have returned to some semblance of in-person learning for families who want it, education researchers and analysts are still working to gauge the impact of extended school closures.

Gadfly Bites 4/12/21 – Policy by WalletHub

The editors at Vindy.com seem preoccupied with Ohio’s lowly ranking in a recent WalletHub report on return on taxpayer investment in education.

Ohio Charter News Weekly – 4.9.21

New to the discussion?

Gadfly Bites 4/9/21 – You wouldn’t have to rebrand if your original branding was good

There appears to be a difference of opinion among several of the elected school board members in charge of Wellington Exempted Village Schools if this piece is any indication.

Governor DeWine’s budget proposal tackles FAFSA completion

If Ohio is going to continue making progress toward Attainment Goal 2025, a larger percentage of Ohio’s K–12 graduates must enroll in postsecondary programs and earn a degree or credential.

Gadfly Bites 4/7/21 – “That's now an expectation.”

Fordham’s Aaron Churchill gives Cleveland.com a history lesson in this piece, explaining how school funding has changed, and how subsequen

Gadfly Bites 4/5/21 – Getting in the game

Hey! Have you heard of this brand new media outlet called The Week?! I stumbled across it in my searching for clips for you, loyal subscribers, and I have to assume that it’s brand new (despite what its masthead would suggest).

Ohio Charter News Weekly – 4.2.21

More charter schools?

Gadfly Bites 4/2/21 – The full “experience”

The Ohio Senate does report card reform right

Annual school report cards play an important role in healthy, accountable K–12 education systems.

Will federal megabucks impact state education policy?

In early March, President Biden and the Democrat-controlled Congress kept the fiscal faucets open by passing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP). For Ohio, this means that more financial help is on its way.

Gadfly Bites 3/31/21 – Have I been using my “downstairs brain” all this time?

In case you didn’t know, dedicated Gadfly Bites subscribers, your humble clips compiler is the quintessential “old dog”. As such, acquisition of “new tricks” is something of a challenge.

The calculus of student absenteeism

School attendance is compulsory for K–12 students, but getting kids to school every day is often difficult for families. Most parents want their children to attend school. But for those living in poverty, competing needs like jobs, medical appointments, and sibling care sometimes render school a lower priority.

Gadfly Bites 3/29/21 – It takes three?

Perhaps Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock had it wrong all those years ago?

Student wellness funding gets an upgrade in the proposed state budget

Two years ago, during his first budget cycle in office, Governor DeWine shepherded through the legislature a first-of-its kind initiative known as the Student Wellness and Success Fund (SWSF).

Ohio Charter News Weekly – 3.26.21

Toledo transportation changes move forward

Gadfly Bites 3/26/21 – What the heck is a “successful response”?

Maybe y’all saw this? Apparently Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon participated on some national panel with U.S. Ed Sec Cardona this week about school reopening.

Cupp-Patterson funding plan falls short on open enrollment and guarantees

Over the past two years, the Cupp-Patterson school funding plan has received tremendous attention in the media and at the statehouse. Currently, House lawmakers are considering what changes might be made to the plan, as laid out in House Bill 1.

Gadfly Bites 3/24/21 – April Fool’s Day comes early

Somehow, I don't think Bay Village City Schools is going to be submitting much of a remediation plan to Governor DeWine by the April 1 deadline.

P-TECH might come to Ohio thanks to the governor’s budget

In 2013, President Obama made headlines for his visit to P-TECH, a Brooklyn high school created in 2011 through a partnership between IBM, the New York Department of Education, and the City University of New York

Gadfly Bites 3/22/21 – “The past isn’t that important, what has happened is over and done with.”

Here’s another story that strives to answer the question “How awesome are pandemic learning pods?” Unfortunately for the way my brain wor

Ohio Charter News Weekly – 3.19.21

National news

Gadfly Bites 3/19/21 – A thorough job

Fordham is namechecked in this piece on the passage of HB 67 out of the General Assembly earlier this week.

House report card bill deserves an F

For more than two decades, report cards have offered Ohioans an annual check on the quality of public schools. They have strived to ensure that schools maintain high expectations for all students, to provide parents with a clear signal when standards are not being met, and to identify high-performing schools whose practices are worth emulating.

Gadfly Bites 3/17/21 – Heads in the sand

As we noted here in the Bites last Friday, there is a legislative effort clanking to life which would, if successful, pretty well gut Ohio’s

Testimony presented before the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee on HB 67

NOTE: On March 16, 2021, the Ohio Senate’s Primary and Secondary Education Committee heard testimony on HB 67, a bill which would, among other provisions, make changes to the state’s graduation requirements in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Equitably funding Ohio’s STEM schools will drive innovation, improvement

NOTE: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute occasionally publishes guest commentaries on its blogs. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of Fordham.

Reducing cheating on online exams

Concerns over the increased potential for cheating are front and center in debates