Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Why legislators should slow-walk demands to limit Ohio’s state tests
Rushing to find a solution could swing the pendulum too far the other way
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Next-generation teacher evaluations: Are they living up to expectations?
Early results say no. Chad Aldis
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Science and social studies: To test or not to test
Data and policy options for stakeholders in Ohio
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Give PARCC a chance
Assessment is the drab side of schooling; but high-quality assessments are crucial.
Commentary
Standards
Common Core in Ohio: don’t look back
There is no room for Sisyphus in the fight to improve Ohio schools.
Commentary
Standards
International Benchmarking: State and National Education Performance Standards
The "Massachusetts Miracle" was more than just higher standards implemented well.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
A portrait of Ohio at the cusp of a new era
The Buckeye State is at the cusp of an era of new emphasis in K-12 education - the college-and-career-ready era. We look at Ohio's report cards in this new light.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction
Getting classroom observations right
A new Education Next study has implications for Ohio's OTES teacher evaluation protocols.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Ohio’s school report cards in the press
Much analysis of Ohio's school report cards has already taken place in the mainstream media.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools
Poised for Progress: Analysis of Ohio's School Report Cards 2013-14
On September 12th, Ohio released school report-card ratings for the 2013-14 school year. This report compiles and analyzes the statewide data, with special attention given to the quality of public schools in the Ohio Big Eight urban areas: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown (both district and charter school sectors).
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
A first-look at student performance on Ohio state exams from 2013-14
A quick first look at the trove of new performance data from around Ohio.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Effort to repeal Common Core leaves Ohio school board member “baffled”
Worthington school board member’s testimony in support of Common Core
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
The Condition of College & Career Readiness
We take a look at a new report on college and career readiness as measured by ACT test scores.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Failing schools, or failing to consider multiple indicators?
Achievement ratings alone don’t tell the whole story of a school.
Commentary
Standards
The problems with House Bill 597
Part Two of our analysis of the problems with the latest legislative assault on Common Core in Ohio.
Commentary
Standards
Pulling an Indiana: How House Bill 597 mimics the Common Core
Think we're getting something new from HB597? Think again.
Commentary
Standards
Ten things Ohio Common Core opponents don’t want you to know
As another legislative assault on the Common Core in Ohio begins, here's a few things you might want to know.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Standards, Accountability & Testing
For higher performance, use informal channels of teacher feedback
Ohio’s new teacher-evaluation system requires evaluators to conduct two, formal thirty-minute classroom observations. Yet these legally prescribed observations seem ripe for compliance and rote box-checking; in fact, they may not be quite the impetus for school-wide improvement that policymakers had hoped for.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Ohio’s high-flying public schools, in reading
We look for - and find - the public schools ranked in the top 10 percent on Ohio’s value-added measure for reading in each of the past four years.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
Spending More of the School Day in Math Class: Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity in Middle School
We take a look at the evidence for and against "double dosing" in middle school math.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Standards
Ohio's New Learning Standards: Helping, not hampering
This piece was originally published the United States Chamber of Commerce’s website on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. Six days later, two legislators proposed a new legislative assault on Ohio’s New Learning Standards, which include the Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Standards
Is alternative accountability real accountability?
Do Ohio's multiple accountability "systems" erode the very foundation of accountability?
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Standards
Standardized Tests: Correlation to Future Successes? (Part I of II)
First of a two-part analysis looking at early indicators to future success.
Report
Accountability & Testing, School Finance, Private School Choice
Pluck and Tenacity: How five private schools in Ohio have adapted to vouchers
Roughly 30,000 kids in Ohio take advantage of a publicly funded voucher (or “scholarship”).
Report
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Governance
Remodeled Report Cards, Remaining Challenges
Fordham's 2012-13 sponsorship annual report addresses our schools’ perspective regarding persistent challenges and how the schools address those challenges.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Half empty or half full: Superintendents' views on Ohio's education reforms
This report is based on the responses to an online survey conducted in Spring 2013 with 344 school district superintendents in Ohio. The survey covered seven education policies, specifically: Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluations, the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, open enrollment, A-to-F ratings for schools and districts, individualized learning (blended learning and credit flexibility), and school choice (charter schools and vouchers). It also included several questions on general attitudes towards school reform in Ohio and two trend items. Download today to discover the key findings!
Report
Accountability & Testing, Advanced Education
Needles in a Haystack
Profiles of six public high schools that serve poor and minority students to high levels of excellence.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Standards
2011-12 Ohio Report Card Analysis
Our annual analysis of school performance in our home state's major urban areas, plus a projection of proficiency rates when the PARCC exams arrive in 2014-15.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Teachers & School Leaders
Moving Up: Fordham's 2011-12 Sponsorship Accountability Report
"Moving Up" is The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation's charter school sponsorship accountability report for 2011-12. Through it, we hope to help readers understand the complexities of charter schools and better appreciate the hard work of the teachers, school leaders, and board members who serve not only the schools we sponsor but also the schools around the state and nation that are working to make a difference in the lives of children. This year's report features an in-depth look at the struggles of two Fordham-sponsored schools in Dayton; it is researched and written by former Dayton Daily News reporter and editor Ellen Belcher.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Applying Systems Thinking to Improve Special Education in Ohio
This paper uses systems thinking to provide common sense ideas for saving money while improving special education services to the more than 275,000 Ohio students with special needs.
