Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Here’s how ADC districts performed on state report cards
Academic Distress Commissions (ADCs) have a long and controversial history in Ohio.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Ohio’s urban district and charter school performance, 2022–23
For more than two decades, Ohio’s school report cards have shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of the state’s public schools. This year’s report card is no different.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
2021 PIRLS test results starkly illustrate global learning loss
The first pandemic-influenced data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test are in. Unsurprisingly, an initial analysis says the news is bad.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Fordham Institute statement on Ohio’s school report cards
This morning, the Ohio Department of Education released its annual school report cards based on results from the 2022-23 school year. This year’s iteration makes clear that the impacts of the pandemic on student learning are still being felt, especially for students from less advantaged backgrounds.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Despite steady gains, much work remains on Ohio’s academic recovery
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.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Here’s how Governor DeWine and Ohio lawmakers expanded CTE access this legislative session
Career and technical education (CTE) was a huge priority for Ohio lawmakers during the recent budget cycle.
Event
Accountability & Testing
Are Ohio students making up sufficient ground, post-pandemic?
As has been widely reported, students in Ohio and across the nation suffered major setbacks during the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2022, Ohio students lost on average the equivalent of roughly one-half grade-level of learning.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Are students more likely to cheat on unproctored online exams?
When classes moved abruptly online at Iowa State University in March 2020 as part of Covid-mitigation actions statewide, psychology professor Jason Chan expected big changes in student behavior. Specifically, he worried about his students being easily able to cheat on unproctored online exams.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Student acceptance of computer-adaptive testing
Computer-adaptive testing (CAT) is on the rise in K–12 schools, from Seattle to Virginia
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
An in-depth analysis of the I Promise School’s troubling academic results
In 2018, basketball superstar LeBron James opened the I Promise School (IPS) in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. IPS is a joint effort between Akron Public Schools (APS), the I Promise Network, and the LeBron James Family Foundation. It’s overseen and operated by APS, the state’s seventh largest school district.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
How Ohio helps students into tech-based internships
Since he took office in 2019, Governor DeWine has consistently prioritized work-based learning and workforce development.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Ohio lawmakers gut the third grade reading guarantee. What now?
Enacted in 2012 under the leadership of Governor John Kasich, Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee included a retention requirement aimed at ending “social promotion,” the
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Lorain schools don’t deserve special treatment in the budget bill
It’s been a very busy budget season in Ohio.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Don’t weaken accountability for Ohio’s charter sponsors and online schools
As this year’s budget process races to the finish line, state lawmakers are the midst of making decisions about what stays and what goes. The current, Senate-passed version of the budget bill has dozens of provisions that would move K–12 education in the right direction.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Senate takes aim at some CTE funding boosts proposed by Governor DeWine
The Ohio Senate recently introduced its version of the state budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Governance
CREDO got it wrong: Ohio’s charter sector is strong and getting better
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.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
It’s time for Ohio to adopt the science of reading
NOTE: This piece was originally published by RealClear Education.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
More evidence—this time from Ohio—that third grade retention works
Following Florida’s lead, about twenty states, including Ohio, have enacted laws that require schools to retain third gra
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Fordham Institute media statement on new study demonstrating academic benefits of third grade retention
Today, Ohio Excels and the Ohio Education Research Center (OERC) released a study on the academic impact of retaining students under Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee and providing them with extra support.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Ohio’s urban students lost a full grade level of learning. Here’s what their schools need to do right now.
By now, it’s no secret that the pandemic and schools’ pivot to remote learning was a disaster for most students.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Despite the best of intentions, education policy still comes up short
NOTE: This piece was originally published in the Dayton Daily News.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Examining stackable credentials and equity for low-income adults in Ohio and Colorado
Stackable credentials are a sequence of postsecondary credentials that are earned over time, build on each other, and offer different levels and types of training.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Backing down from the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is on brand for Ohio policymakers
Ohio’s recent focus on early literacy is largely thanks to Governor DeWine’s budget recommendations, which contain a bold plan to boost reading achievement in Ohio.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
The social and emotional damage of socially promoting struggling readers
Over the last few weeks, debates about early literacy have dominated headlines in Ohio.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Fordham Institute testimony on Substitute House Bill 33—4/19/23
NOTE: Today, members of the Ohio House Finance Committee received testimony on the education provisions of Substitute House Bill 33, establishing the operating budget for the sta
Report
Accountability & Testing
Will Ohio’s Covid Generation Get Back on Track? An analysis of 2021–22 state test results—and how to accelerate learning
In fall 2022, the Ohio Department of Education released state assessment results from the 2021-22 school year. The data continue to reveal the massive learnings losses that occurred during the pandemic, along with the uneven recovery in its wake. This report offers a close look at Ohio's achievement data from the 2018-19 to 2021-22 school years, and concludes with four recommendations that can help accelerate student learning across the Buckeye State.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
A closer look at the strengths and weaknesses of Ohio’s career pathways initiatives
Career pathways are emerging as a promising, bipartisan solution to help adolescents and adults secure well-paying jobs and support employers searching for skilled workers. Although their design varies from state to state, these pathways are intended to help participants develop knowledge and skills in a particular career field, typically one that’s considered in-demand.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
A reminder that third grade reading retention is right
In 2012, Ohio lawmakers enacted the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a significant early literacy reform package. Under the initiative, schools must administer diagnostic reading assessments to students in grades K–3.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Some Ohio teenagers are struggling after graduation. The governor’s budget proposal could help.
The wage difference between college and high school graduates, or the “college wage premium,” grew during the pandemic. On average, recent college graduates earn $52,000 per year compared to the $30,000 earned by those with only a high school diploma.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Four steps Ohio can take to improve its career pathway efforts
In 2010, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce published a report warning that a majority of the nation’s jobs would soon require at least some post-secondary education.
