Making middle schools work
By guest blogger and Fordham's Director of Charter School Sponsorship Kathryn Mullen Upton
Re: Churches and charters: what do you think?
Eric OsbergI'll take??Emmy's bait. I have no objection to churches working as authorizers, if they can do it well.
Letting go of romantic notions about charter schools in Ohio
Terry RyanThis conversation about churches authorizing charter schools has raised my hackles.
Churches and charters: what do you think?
Emmy L. PartinA central Ohio church has appealed the Ohio Department of Education's denial of its application to become a charter school authorizer (more on the story here, subscription required):
Continued debate on charter schools in Ohio
Jamie Davies O'LearyWhile we at Fordham view the results of the much talked about Hoxby charter study as encouraging and a good rebuttal to charter critics, here's a reminder of the antagonism towa
Video now available from ???World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio'
Video is now available from our recent event, World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio, which was held October 5 in Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio's "Common Core" conundrum
Emmy L. PartinOhio is on board with the NGA/CCSSO Common Core State Standards Initiative, ostensibly agreeing to adopt 85 percent of the standards that result from the effort.????
Jay Mathews, a creative (but maybe illegal) 11th option to "pick the right school"?
Jamie Davies O'LearyYesterday 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?"
Taking a stand for Rhee -- catering to "learning styles" can help students get engaged
Jamie Davies O'LearyA 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
Ohio scraps social studies testing
Jamie Davies O'LearyOur 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
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.
Fordham in the news -- Buckeye State clips worth paying attention to
Emmy L. PartinThis 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.
Let's praise all schools that work as we don't have enough of them
Terry RyanIn 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
Majority of Americans misinformed about charters
Jamie Davies O'LearyOkay, I know I'm about the 31,487th person to pick up on this, but there's one factoid in the 2009 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of Americans' attitudes toward public schools that is driving me especially nutty.
Pictures: The first days of school
Teachers and administrators arrive at Columbus Collegiate Academy by 7am.
2008-09 Ohio Report Card Analysis
Emmy L. Partin, Terry RyanEach year the Thomas B. Fordham Institute conducts an analysis of urban school performance in Ohio. Read the findings for Ohio's Big 8 schools for the 2008-09 school year.
Smart anti-choice strategies emerging
Emmy L. PartinSchool-choice foes in the Buckeye State are getting smarter about the strategies they employ to undermine the choice movement.???? Since the birth of charters here in 1998 and vouchers in 2005, opponents--namely Democrats, teacher unions, and the education establishment--have fought a "districts = good, choice = bad" fight.????
From Stumbling to Sprinting- Ohio Senator Calls for Charter Improvements
Ohio intern Rachel Roseberry wrote this guest post.
Ohio at the Crossroads: School funding—more of the same or changing the model?
Paul T. HillOhio Governor Ted Strickland's education plan calls for modernizing Ohio's K-12 education system, including the state's school-funding system, but the plan's so-called "evidence-based" approach would actually scuttle any modernizing efforts, argues this study issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
2007-08 Ohio Report Card Analysis
Emmy L. Partin, Terry RyanThe Thomas B. Fordham Institute, in partnership with Public Impact, analyzed the 2007-08 academic performance data for charter and district schools in Ohio's eight largest urban cities.
Accelerating Student Learning in Ohio
Emmy L. Partin, Terry RyanAs Gov. Ted Strickland concludes his 12-city "Conversation on Education" tour to gather ideas for reforming public education in Ohio, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has put forth a report of five recommendations designed to keep improvements in the Buckeye State's public schools on track toward three critical goals: 1) maximizing the talents of every child; 2) producing graduates as good as any in the world; and 3) closing the persistent academic gaps that continue between rich and poor, and black and white and brown.
Ohio Value-Added Primer
Beginning in August 2008, Ohio's academic accountability system includes a value-added component that measures student academic progress in addition to achievement. Fordham created this short primer on value-added to help business people, lawmakers, policymakers, and others understand this powerful but complex tool.
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2007
Sheila Byrd Carmichael, Carol Jago, Lucien Ellington, Paul Gross, Sheldon SternFor information on Fordham's unique role as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2006-07. The report offers a comprehensive account of Fordham's sponsorship policies and practices-as well as individual profiles of all Fordham-sponsored schools. Included in the profiles are descriptions of each school's educational program, school philosophy, and overall academic performance.
2006-07 Ohio Report Cards
Emmy L. Partin, Terry RyanDespite a decade of significant school reform efforts in Ohio, students in the state's largest cities still struggle mightily to meet basic academic standards and are nowhere close to achieving the goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind law, according to an analysis of the latest Ohio school report-card data.
Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs
Michael PodgurskyDespite its long history and prodigious size, all is not well with Ohio's teacher pension system. In this Fordham Institute report, nationally renowned economists Robert Costrell and Mike Podgursky illuminate some of the serious challenges facing STRS.
Ohioans' Views on Education 2007
Steve FarkasThis survey covers such topics as school quality and funding, academic standards, school reforms, proposals to improve how the public schools are run, teacher quality, charter schools and school vouchers. It follows up a survey conducted in 2005 and many of the questions are repeated, allowing us to gauge whether attitudes have shifted over time.
Turning the Corner to Quality
Bryan C. Hassel, C. Peter Svahn, Louann Bierlein Palmer, Michelle Godard TerrellAt the request of Ohio's top government and education leaders, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and National Alliance for Public Charter Schools have issued a report seeking to strengthen the state's charter school program. Among its 17 recommendations are calls for closing low-performing charter schools while also helping more high-performance schools to open and succeed in Ohio.