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Accountability & Testing
Another attack on accountability from the Ohio House, this time on school ratings
Please note the update posted on May 15th at the bottom of this blog post.
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Accountability & Testing
A better path ahead for Ohio’s graduation requirements
Over the next month or so, thousands of Ohio students will cross the stage and receive diplomas at their high school graduation ceremonies.
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Accountability & Testing
Fordham Institute media statement on passage of House Bill 154
The Ohio House of Representatives, after rushing the legislation through the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee late last night, passed House Bill 154 today.
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Accountability & Testing
Written testimony provided to the Ohio General Assembly’s Joint Education Oversight Committee – 4/25/19
The General Assembly’s Joint Education Oversight Committee has begun a series of hearings looking at all of the various components of Ohio’s school report cards. One component will be examined per meeting. Today, JEOC members reviewed testimony on the achievement component.
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Accountability & Testing
The promises and pitfalls of House Bill 154’s ADC revisions
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of legislative activity related to Academic Distress Commissions (ADCs), Ohio’s mechanism for intervening in low-performing school districts.
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Accountability & Testing
Testimony given before the Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on HB 127 – 4/9/19
NOTE: Today the Ohio House of Representative’s Primary and Secondary Education Committee heard testimony on House Bill 127, a measure which would put a moratorium on new Academic Distress Commissions being enacted for consistently low-performing
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Accountability & Testing
Testimony given before the Senate Education Committee on SB 110 – 4/9/19
NOTE: Today the Ohio Senate’s Education Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 110, a measure which would alter the state’s current academic distress framework for consistently low-performing school districts.
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Advanced Education
Tackling Ohio’s toughest education challenges: Make AP/IB and industry credentialing exams free for low-income students
Editor’s Note: Back in September 2018, awaiting the election of our next governor, we at the Fordham Institute began developing a set of policy proposals that we belie
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Accountability & Testing
Senate Bill 110 is a step in the right direction toward mending ADCs
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the increasingly loud kerfuffle surrounding academic distress commissions, or ADCs. Often referred to as “state takeovers” by the media, ADCs are a mechanism in law that calls for state intervention in low-performing school districts.
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Accountability & Testing
Data Quality Campaign gives Ohio's school report cards high—but not perfect—marks
The Data Quality Campaign, an organization dedicated to advocating for effective educational data policy and use, recently released its third comprehensive review of school report cards in all fifty stat
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Accountability & Testing
Don’t leave district turnarounds to chance
As winter turns to spring, the question roiling the General Assembly is what Ohio should do about chronically underperforming school districts.
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Standards
Student completion data for Ohio colleges
In late 2018, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center published its annual data on national college completion rates.
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Accountability & Testing
Ohio’s alternative graduation routes: The soft bigotry of low expectations rears its ugly head
Back in July 2017, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation permitting students in the class of 2018 to graduate based on weak alternative pathways recommended by
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Accountability & Testing
Policymakers should listen to Ohio’s business community on graduation requirements
At their March meeting, the State Board of Education voted to send its proposal for a new set of high school graduation requirements to the Ohio General Assembly for consideration.
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Accountability & Testing
ADCs aren't perfect, but they prove that accountability pressure works
In an article published on March 5, Bill Bush of the Columbus Dispatch wrote that Columbus City Schools plans to target key areas of their state report card where “modest gains
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Accountability & Testing
A sobering reality: A look at the districts where the highest percentage of students used alternative pathways to graduate
One of the defining characteristics of Ohio’s graduation debate is a lack of data.
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Advanced Education
Tackling Ohio’s toughest education challenges: Incentivize schools to help students earn high-value industry credentials
Editor’s Note: Back in September 2018, awaiting the election of our next governor, we at the Fordham Institute began developing a set of policy proposals that we belie
Report
Accountability & Testing, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders
Fulfilling the Readiness Promise: Twenty-Five Education policy ideas for Ohio
Creating smart, coherent education policy is painstaking work; there are technical, budgetary, and political challenges at almost every turn. But it is some of the most important work that state leaders can undertake.
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Accountability & Testing
How to improve Ohio’s academic distress commissions
Jeremy Kelley of the Dayton Daily News
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Accountability & Testing
Weakening graduation standards hurts students in the long run
In early February, Chalkbeat published an analysis of New York City’s graduation rate, which rose to nearly 76 percent in 2018—a 1.7 percent increas
Report
Accountability & Testing, School Finance, Teachers & School Leaders
Ohio Education By the Numbers—2019 Edition
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." -- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. That sentiment has never been more profound and applicable than it is today.
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Accountability & Testing
Extending softened graduation requirements is no victory
Ever since the supposed “graduation apocalypse” was first declared two years ago, we at Fordham have been vocal about the dangers of
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Accountability & Testing
Media statement on Senate Education Committee’s support for weakening Ohio’s graduation requirements
COLUMBUS (OH) – The Senate Education Committee today amended House Bill 491 to extend previously-relaxed graduation requirements for the class of 2018 to the classes of
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Accountability & Testing
Chad L. Aldis written testimony on Ohio House Bill 491
Thank you, Chair Lehner, Vice Chair Huffman, Ranking Member Sykes, and Senate Education Committee members for the opportunity to provide written testimony on amendments potentially being offered on House Bill 491 related to softening the graduation requirements for future graduating classes.
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Accountability & Testing
The State Board’s approach to graduation requirements fails the equity test
The ongoing debate on what standards (if any) students in the class of 2019 should have to meet in order to receive a diploma has resulted in very little attention being paid to recent
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Accountability & Testing
Tackling Ohio’s toughest education challenges: Fine-tune state assessment policies
Editor’s Note: As Ohioans await the start of the new governor’s term in January, and as state leaders look to build upon past education successes, we at the Fordham In
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Accountability & Testing
Challenging young men to excel academically
In Ohio’s great graduation debate, we at Fordham have
Report
Accountability & Testing
Checking Ohio’s educational vital signs: An analysis of the state’s 2017–18 report cards
Since 2005, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has published annual analyses of Ohio’s state report card data, focusing on district and charter schools in Ohio’s Big Eight urban areas: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown.
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Standards
Ohio’s average ACT score dropped, but that’s not a bad thing
A few weeks ago, officials at ACT released a report that breaks down the ACT test results of the 2018 graduating class.
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Accountability & Testing
“Fixing” Ohio’s graduation rate should be the least of our concerns
Ohio’s news outlets have covered the debate over graduation requirements as if it were a burning problem that policymakers need to urgently “fix.” For instance, the local NPR affiliate headlined an article, “Ohio education panel still crafting long-term fix on graduation stan
