Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/2/22—Before the roadshow
Unnecessarily cranky headline here, if you ask me, but a generally even-keeled story on Ohio’s so-called “backpack funding”
Topics
Commentary
Governance
Ohio should follow Maryland’s lead on spending federal Covid relief dollars
Over the course of the pandemic, the federal government has sent billions of dollars in emergency funding to states via three separate relief acts. A large portion of the appropriated funds within each act were earmarked for K–12 education, with the largest available funding stream being the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Grade promotion standards and the Third Grade Reading Guarantee
Reading is essential to functioning in today’s society. Job applications, financial documents, and instruction manuals all require basic literacy. Above that, our lives are greatly enriched when we can effortlessly read the printed word.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/28/22—The network broadens
Following up from our Youngstown bombshell on Friday, current CEO/future superintendent Justin Jennings says he is excited for the work ahead.
Commentary
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/25/22—Stable, structured, and accountable…to us
We’ll start today’s clips with what might seem at first to be a bit of a shocker: Current CEO Justin Jennings has been chosen by the elected school board as the su
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/23/22—Not crazy
We’re back from vacation and snarkin’ about pieces from 2/17 – 2/23. Glad you’re still here reading it all!
Commentary
Private School Choice
The hypocrisy of school districts saying they’re “open to all”
Earlier this year, a coalition of traditional public school districts filed a lawsuit that they hope will spell the end of EdChoice,
Commentary
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/16/22—“It takes upscaling the workforce”
Gadfly Bites is on vacation Friday and Monday. We’ll be back on Wednesday, February 23 with however much snark you can stand.
Commentary
School Finance
Ohio’s enrollment slump, and what that means for policymakers
Over the past two decades, student enrollment has gradually declined across Ohio, reflecting demographic changes and out-migration that have reduced the overall childhood population
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
A window on teachers’ hybrid work experience in the first phase of the pandemic
Just like the term “virtual schooling,” the moniker “hybrid learning”—which came to the fore at the start of Covid disruptions—does not denote one educational model.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/14/22—You can just feel the love for students and families, can’t you?
An opinion piece posted in the Dispatch late on Friday is ad
Commentary
Charter Schools
Finding the best fit: School choice data from London show more of what parents know
Since the 1980s, parents in London, England, have been guaranteed the right to choose a state-funded school for their children, with capacity being the only barrier. Since 1996, school performance tables have been made publicly available to aid them in sorting through what can be a wide array of options.
Commentary
Commentary
Private School Choice
Gadfly Bites 2/11/22—Who can vouch for vouchers?
It’s an all-voucher issue of the Bites today. And it’s gonna get crazy. First up, I don’t know what an “opinion reporter” is, but the independent news outlet run by students at the University of Cincinnati has one of those.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
State Board of Education is on the right track with report card implementation
Last June, Governor DeWine and the General Assembly enacted important reforms to Ohio’s school report cards in House Bill 82 (HB 82).
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/9/22—Down to the penny
Here’s a long piece from the Columbus Dispatch—there are other localized versions in other outlets across the state also—
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Federal school identification and accountability is back. Here’s what that means for Ohio.
After a two-year break—one when state assessments were cancelled entire
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/7/22—Love/Hate
A subset of northeast Ohio teachers and other school staffers speak out in this piece, no one holding back about why they are all s
Commentary
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/4/22—From lake to shining lake
In case you might have missed it since it’s not strictly an education story, Intel recently announced it was going to build an enormous silicon chip production facility in exurban central Ohio, promising thousands of good new jobs to the region.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 2/2/22—The kids WILL be all right…won’t they?
Yesterday, the Dayton Daily News published an op-ed in support of the EdChoice voucher program<
Commentary
School Finance
Ohio needs to better leverage state dollars to support low-income students
For decades, analysts have observed large achievement gaps between low-income children and their peers, disparities that have only widened due to Covid.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Digging in to public school choice in Detroit
After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, school desegregation efforts in Detroit followed a familiar pattern: Busing of students to achieve racial balance was proposed, resistance and White flight occurred, and somebody sued. Milliken v. Bradley was finally decided in the U.S.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 1/31/22—All night long
As we have noted here many many times, state fiscal intervention in school districts is literally exactly the same as Academic Distress Commissions with regard to academics. Why, I ask you for the millionth time, is the district response always different?
Commentary
Private School Choice
The anti-voucher lawsuit misleads when it comes to segregation
In the early days of January, a coalition of traditional public school districts filed a lawsuit aimed at striking down
Commentary
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 1/28/22—Newsworthiness is in the eye of the beholder
I was a little flippant about the ADC district audit story on Wednesday (how not unusual, I hear you all cry), so I decided to look at the media coverage a little more closely today.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 1/26/22—New elected board present, same as the last two
It is, purportedly, a new day in the three Ohio school districts still nominally overseen by Academic Distress Commissions.
