Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/30/24—Competition abounds
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Ohio receives a federal grant to support its early literacy efforts
Last year, Ohio policymakers established a statewide science of reading initiative. And this year, that initiative is well underway.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/25/24—And they would have got away with it too…
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/23/24—Complicated calculus? Downright twisted, if you ask me
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Implementation of citizen science curriculum in elementary school: A case study
The term “citizen science” refers to research in any field conducted with participation from the general public and/or amateur researchers—a way of crowd-sourcing data in more volume through observations or experiments conducted outside of a lab.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/21/24—Please won’t you be our neighbor?
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/18/24—The art and architecture of connecting the dots
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/16/24—Overcomplicating things
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/14/24—Fecklessness
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/11/24—Proper
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/9/24—Bring on the flex, bring on the heat
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Expanding schools’ capacity for career advising should be on Ohio’s to do list
A perennial question for high schoolers is what they plan to do after they graduate. But for many students, the answer is elusive—not because they don’t care to find it, but because they lack the information and support needed to do so.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Pre-K programming and third grade achievement: Evidence from Wisconsin
The jury remains out regarding the true impact of pre-K enrollment on early elementary outcomes. Some research finds a positive impact, some a negative, and much of it shows the fading out of impacts by third grade or soon thereafter.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Kindergarten literacy data raise questions about diagnostic assessments
Author update (10/11/24): Since this piece was posted, sources have indicated Canton’s kindergarten data were misstated on its report card—a possibility acknowledged in this piece. The district's report card, as well as its elementary school report cards, now have “watermarks” flagging the data reporting error and indicating that the error may have impacted the ratings.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/7/24—Culture change is needed to fight the scourge(s)
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/4/24—Flushing out the problem
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Has Ohio made progress narrowing achievement gaps, post-pandemic?
One of the most pressing challenges facing American education is closing achievement gaps.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 10/2/24—How about doing the actual job at hand?
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Report
Governance
The State of Educational Opportunity in Ohio: A Survey of Ohio Parents
We are excited to share the results of a new survey on the state of education opportunity in Ohio. It provides not only a unique window into the opportunities available to families in our state right now but allows us to compare those answers to parents in other states.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Setting the baseline for Ohio’s early literacy reforms
New early literacy data from state report cards are part of the baseline from which we can measure the impact of Science of Reading reforms going forward. Here’s a look at ten Ohio districts whose results fill in important details for the future.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/30/24—Priority zero
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/27/24—Between a rock and a hard place
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/23/24—“If kids aren’t here, how can you teach them?”
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Taking stock of Ohio’s pandemic recovery: Glass half full or empty?
Ohio has a lot to be proud of when it comes to the post-pandemic academic recovery—but also much work left to do. That’s the message that comes out of my recent analysis of spring 2024 state assessment data released earlier this month.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/20/24—“I think school is really simple”
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
State report cards show Ohio has a lot of work to do on chronic absenteeism
Last week, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) released updated school report cards that offer a
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/18/24—Willfulness is indeed on display
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Three report card features Ohioans might not know about
Ohioans now have access to a brand-new set of school report cards based on results from the 2023–24 school year. The data they contain provide policymakers, advocates, and families with an updated look on how students are progressing academically in the wake of the pandemic.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 9/16/24—Like the blind men and the elephant
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Fordham Institute statement on Ohio’s school report card release
Today, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce released its annual school report card, which is based on data from the 2023–24 school year. Included are five-star ratings that provide parents and the public with a user-friendly overview of district and school performance.
