Reports

Displaying 1-30 of 130 results
Ohio Charter Schools' Turnaround, 2007-2025 Report_WEB OCT FINAL cover
Report
10.13.2026
Charter Schools

Ohio Charter Schools’ Turnaround, 2007–2025: The Role of Funding and Accountability in their Performance Trajectory

Stéphane Lavertu

Our latest report shows that Ohio charter schools are delivering a quality education for their students. Analysis indicates that the average student attending a brick-and-mortar charter school outperforms her district peer on state math and reading exams. The educational advantage is equivalent to an additional 25 to 35 days of learning for a typical charter student.

Ohio Charter Schools' Turnaround, 2007-2025 Report_WEB OCT FINAL cover
TBFI OEBTN 2026 cover png
Report
2.24.2026
Governance

Ohio Education By the Numbers—2026 Edition

Aaron Churchill

The brand new and fully updated ninth edition of our Ohio education guidebook is out now. It offers policymakers, journalists, and civic and business leaders easy-to-use statistics—sans commentary—about Ohio’s K-12 schools and the students they serve.

TBFI OEBTN 2026 cover png
Fordham 25_FSAR cover
Report
11.24.2025
Charter Schools

2025 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report

Our 2025 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report details our work providing monitoring, oversight, and technical assistance to ten charter schools on nineteen campuses—serving over 6,000 students—throughout Ohio.

Fordham 25_FSAR cover
Ohio HALO report cover
Report
11.5.2025
Advanced Education

The Leaky Pipeline: Assessing the college outcomes of Ohio’s high-achieving low-income students

Stéphane Lavertu

Our latest report sheds light on the academic trajectory of high-achieving, low-income (HALO) students in Ohio. They have demonstrated their potential to reach college and use it as a springboard to the American dream. Yet due to the widespread neglect of their talents, our education system allows too many of them to fall through the cracks.

Ohio HALO report cover
Diploma report cover
Report
10.15.2025
Curriculum & Instruction

Ohio’s High School Diploma: Gateway to success or door to nowhere?

Aaron Churchill

Our latest report examines Ohio’s current diploma requirements as well as recent trends in high school graduation and student achievement. It uncovers large discrepancies in graduation and proficiency rates, indicating that many students leave high school without a strong academic preparation.

Diploma report cover
State career-tech Ohio report COVER 600
Report
7.15.2025
Career & Technical Education

The state of career-and-technical education in Ohio: An analysis of coursework, industry-recognized credentials, and work-based learning

Jay Plasman

Rigorous career-and-technical education (CTE) can give students an edge when they enter the workforce, while also benefitting employers seeking skilled workers. But just how many students in Ohio avail themselves to CTE opportunities during high school? And what does CTE look like when they participate in such programs? Our latest report provides an overview of recent trends in CTE participation across the Buckeye State.

State career-tech Ohio report COVER 600
Funding Career and Technical Education in Ohio Cover
Report
4.22.2025
Career & Technical Education

Funding Career and Technical Education in Ohio: An overview and policy recommendations

Aaron Churchill

Over the past decade, Ohio policymakers have made upgrading career-technical education (CTE) a top state priority. Yet the CTE landscape remains complicated and quickly evolving, none more so than in the area of funding. This paper provides an overview of the various funding mechanisms for CTE, including state and federal programs that aim to provide students with high-quality CTE.

Funding Career and Technical Education in Ohio Cover
JHU cover final
Report
3.12.2025
Curriculum & Instruction

Ohio’s path to early literacy: Science of Reading progress and challenges

Alanna Bjorklund-Young, Andrea Ochoa

Our latest report provides insight into how Ohio teachers view the shift to the Science of Reading. Conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the survey finds promising signs that most teachers are supportive of these changes, while also uncovering areas that need continuing attention from state and local leaders.

JHU cover final
Report
3.4.2025
Governance

Ohio Education By the Numbers—2025 Edition

Aaron Churchill

The brand new and fully updated eighth edition of our Ohio education guidebook is out now. It offers policymakers, journalists, and civic and business leaders easy-to-use statistics—sans commentary—about Ohio’s K-12 schools and the students they serve.

2024 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report cover
Report
11.25.2024
Charter Schools

2024 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report

Our 2023-24 Sponsorship Annual Report details our work providing monitoring, oversight, and technical assistance to ten schools across sixteen campuses that served approximately 6,300 students in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Portsmouth, Ohio.

2024 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report cover
Ohio_StateReport_EOS cover
Report
10.2.2024
Governance

The State of Educational Opportunity in Ohio: A Survey of Ohio Parents

We are excited to share the results of a new survey on the state of education opportunity in Ohio. It provides not only a unique window into the opportunities available to families in our state right now but allows us to compare those answers to parents in other states.

Ohio_StateReport_EOS cover
Northridge SoR profile cover image
Report
8.20.2024
Curriculum & Instruction

The Science of Reading in Action: How Northridge Local Schools is changing the way reading is taught

Ellen Belcher

Ohio elementary schools are moving to the Science of Reading, an approach that emphasizes phonics along with vocabulary- and knowledge-rich content. Keen on learning what this transition looks like inside classrooms, we asked Ellen Belcher, a former journalist with the Dayton Daily News, to visit Northridge Local Schools to shine light on their literacy practices. Our latest publication details Northridge's approach to updating their reading curriculum and instruction.

Northridge SoR profile cover image
Off and Running report cover
Report
7.10.2024
Curriculum & Instruction

Off and Running: Ohio’s early implementation of its Science of Reading reforms

Aaron Churchill

Ohio is making bold moves to center its early literacy instruction fully on the Science of Reading. Our latest report examines one of the key implementation steps in the effort: Creating a state-approved list of high-quality literacy curricula and instructional materials.

Off and Running report cover
Ohio charter schools after the pandemic report COVER
Report
6.11.2024
Charter Schools

Ohio charter schools after the pandemic: Are their students still learning more than they would in district schools?

Stéphane Lavertu

One of the most routinely debated questions is whether charters provide a superior education when compared to the district alternative. Just prior to the pandemic, Fordham research showed that students attending brick-and-mortar charters in Ohio made significantly greater academic progress than their peers attending nearby district schools. Our latest research brief provides an updated analysis of brick-and-mortar charter school performance in the years after the pandemic (2021–22 and 2022–23).

Ohio charter schools after the pandemic report COVER
Lavertu charter report cover
Report
3.26.2024
Charter Schools

Did the emergence of Ohio charter schools help or harm students who remained in district schools?

Stéphane Lavertu

For more than twenty-five years, public charter schools have served Ohio families and communities by providing quality educational options beyond the local school district. But it’s no secret that we’ve also had a long-standing debate over whether increasing school choice impacts students who remain in traditional districts. In important—and sometimes impassioned—discussions such as these, rigorous research is critical to ground conversations in facts and evidence.

Lavertu charter report cover
TBFI OEBTN 2024 cover png 3
Report
2.27.2024
Governance

Ohio Education By the Numbers—2024 Edition

Aaron Churchill

In the post-pandemic era, Ohio’s K–12 education system continues to be the source of much debate. A mix of hot-button and bipartisan policies ranging from workforce readiness to early literacy to school funding to quality educational choice are drawing attention at the Statehouse and in communities statewide.

TBFI OEBTN 2024 cover png 3
FSAR 2023 cover
Report
11.27.2023
Charter Schools

2023 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report

Our 2022-23 Fordham Sponsorship Annual Report shares our work during the last school year, overseeing thirteen schools that served approximately 6,000 students in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Portsmouth, Ohio.

FSAR 2023 cover
ohioteacherprep report cover
Report
5.16.2023
Teachers & School Leaders

Do Ohio’s teacher preparation programs follow the science of reading? How stronger teacher preparation and curricula policies can ensure scientifically based reading instruction in Ohio

Shannon Holston

This study takes a look at Ohio's elementary-school teacher preparation programs and the extent to which they're training candidates in the science of reading. Based on analyses of programs' course materials and syllabi, the report identifies exemplary preparation programs that cover the five components of the reading science. Other programs, however, are lagging behind. The report offers recommendations that will better ensure that all incoming teachers are well-trained in the science of reading.

ohioteacherprep report cover
Report
5.2.2023
Charter Schools

Reinventing Ohio’s Charter School Sector, 2015–2023: Ohio’s successful charter turnaround—and what’s needed next

Aaron Churchill

For more than two decades, the charter school movement has aimed to provide parents with more public-school options, empower educators to launch innovative schools, and boost student achievement. This report looks at the progress Ohio is making toward achieving these ambitious goals. It includes an overview of the landmark reforms that state lawmakers enacted in 2015 to strengthen accountability for charter school performance, as well as the improvements the sector has made since then. The report also discusses the large funding disparities that public charter schools in Ohio still face, and how legislators can work to bridge those gaps.

Fordham learning loss 2021-22 report cover
Report
4.18.2023
Accountability & Testing

Will Ohio’s Covid Generation Get Back on Track? An analysis of 2021–22 state test results—and how to accelerate learning

Aaron Churchill

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.

Fordham learning loss 2021-22 report cover
TBFI 2023 OBTN cover big
Report
3.2.2023
Governance

Ohio Education By the Numbers—2023 Edition

Aaron Churchill

Ensuring that all Ohio students receive an excellent education remains an important priority for state and community leaders. As Governor DeWine himself recently noted, a quality education for all is a “moral imperative” for Ohio. Making good on this obligation starts with a solid understanding of the state of K-12 education in Ohio.

TBFI 2023 OBTN cover big