End the confusion about per-pupil spending on Ohio report cards
A recent article from the Tribune Chronicle in Northeast Ohio covered a school funding analysis published by the personal finance website WalletHub.
A recent article from the Tribune Chronicle in Northeast Ohio covered a school funding analysis published by the personal finance website WalletHub.
When coronavirus turned everything upside down this spring, there were predictions that educators would retire in droves rather than risk teaching during a pandemic.
In the least-anticipated release on record, Ohio published its annual school report cards in mid-September. Due to the cancellation of last spring’s state tests, there’s not much there, though the state did release graduation rates and data about students’ readiness for college and career.
There are no silver bullets when it comes to closing achievement gaps. But there are inputs and interventions with solid evidence bases, and the impact of a good teacher is one of them.
In the last six months, as the nation has struggled in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s been a lot of controversy and disagreement over what schools need
2020 has brought no shortage of headlines—and many of them aren’t exactly heartwarming. Education is no exception.
It’s important to give Ohio school districts’ reopening plans a close look, even if they’re now void in the many locales around the state that will start the fall fully online. Eventually—hopefully sooner rather than later—this pandemic will fade, and schools will be right back in the positions they were in earlier this summer, needing to create reopening plans again.
With Covid-19 cases rising in Ohio and other parts of the nation, a depressing reality is starting to set in: A whole lot of schools aren’t going to open for in-person learning this fall.
With Covid-19 cases on the rise and state budgets in crisis, federal lawmakers seem poised to pass another round of stimulus.
To go back or not to go back? That’s the question on everyone’s mind as we inch closer to August and the beginning of a new school year.
Governor DeWine recently signed House Bill 164, legislation that addresses several education policies that have been affected by the pandemic.
School’s out for the summer, but thanks to coronavirus, the season seems far less carefree than usual. There are dozens of pandemic-related issues schools must contend with before they can reopen in the fall.
Approximately nine million students across the nation lack access to the internet or to internet-connected devices. Lawmakers and educators have known for years that this disparity, often referred to as the “digital divide,” can contribute to achievement and attainment gaps based on race and income.
As the economy slowly reopens and Ohio returns to something resembling normalcy, it’s a nice opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned during the pandemic. For me, time itself became very different, both in practice and in concept. The plague rid our daily lives of conventional time constraints—and freed us to use our days differently.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently published the latest data from the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), conducted during the 2017–18 school year. It gives us an important snapshot of today’s teaching force in both public and private schools.
Editor’s 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.
Due to plummeting tax revenues, Governor Mike DeWine last week announced plans to slash state spending for the current fiscal year, ending June 30. Among the cost-cutting includes a $355 million hit to K–12 education, a roughly 3 percent reduction in education outlays. With the economy still swooning, legislators are mulling deeper cuts for 2020–21.
In the last few weeks, schools have rightfully been focused on student nutrition, health, and the transition to distance learning. But flying under the radar—and of increasing importance to schools’ ability to serve students well—are teacher policy issues. How has the pandemic affected current and aspiring teachers, and what are states and local districts doing to respond?
Now in its fourth edition and fully updated for 2020, Ohio Education by the Numbers Education is a look at vital statistics about Ohio’s schools and the students they serve. We intend it to be a readily accessible resource that keeps education stats—with cites to original sources—at your fingertips.
Effective communication is a two-way street that involves not only sending and receiving information, but also understanding it. Breakdowns can occur at any point. A new report from the Center for American Progress digs into the state of school-to-family communication, looking for strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in this important endeavor.
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.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 marked a massive federal investment in our schools, with more than $100 billion to shore up school systems in the face of the Great Recession. Along with that largesse came two grant programs meant to encourage reform with all of those resources: Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants (SIGs).
Moving to a new state often means new career opportunities, a better quality of life, or closer proximity to loved ones. But making these transitions comes at a cost, which for some include the need to gain occupational licensing in the new state.
Editor’s note: It’s been almost ten years since the creation of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System.
Note: This is the seventh in a series of blog posts on school funding in Ohio; for the previous
A decade ago, teachers were the most talked about aspect of education policy and practice.
Last year, NBA superstar LeBron James opened I Promise School (IPS), a school for at-risk kids in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. In its first year (2018–19), IPS served 240 students in grades three and four.
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.
Note: This is the fourth in a series of posts on school funding in Ohio.
The first two blog posts in my series about school funding lo