As we noted on Wednesday, the state legislature was moving expeditiously to pass a ton of bills, including one that contained measures to deal with Ohio’s “online charter school problem” (yes, that problem).
A-to-F school rating systems have come under fire in Ohio and remain a hotly debated topic elsewhere.
On Saturday, editors in Akron opined on the topic of Ohio’s “online charter school problem” – you know the one they’re talking about – and on the need for legislation to fix it.
State report cards are a hot topic in Ohio, but most of the attention has been focused on the system used for traditional district and charter schools. Many Ohioans are unaware that state law requires the State Board of Education to have a separate report card system for dropout prevention and recovery charter schools (DPRS).
If a little treatment goes a long way, does it stand to reason that more treatment will go even further?
The leader of the newest statewide e-school is introduced in this glowing piece from his hometown newspaper. Awesome. (Delaware Gazette, 6/22/18)
In a pattern now becoming all too familiar, the State Board of Education recently got spooked by the prospect of tougher standards and delayed action on lifting grade-promotion standards under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee for 2018–19.
As predicted earlier this month, Dayton Biz Tech – a dropout recovery charter school sponsored by Dayton City Schools – was this week saved from the chopping block by the school board.
In a recent blog, I described an initiative called New Skills for Youth (NSFY) that aims to help states transform their career-readiness sectors.
Having already had the image of ECOT rising from the dead like Dracula put into our heads this week, I guess you could call House Bill 707 a garlic-crusted-crucifix-sprinkled-with-holy-water-and-attached-to-a-wooden-stake kind of bill.
“K–12 education in America is ripe for real deregulation,” writes Michael McShane in his recent paper on school regulations. Hailing from an organization founded by the famed economist and champion of limited government Milton Friedman, his main argument comes as little surprise.
A blog post by our own Chad Aldis is quoted in this piece looking at the future of funding and accountability for online schools in Ohio. The Education-Related Boogeyman™ that is ECOT’s thoroughly-beaten corpse is invoked here. Think I’m exaggerating this Boogeyman joke?
Some folks are calling foul after the shocking revelation™ that ECOT utilized NDAs with regard to terminated staffers. You know which folks I mean. Our own Chad Aldis weighs in amid the Dispatch coverage of the issue.
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type: Columbus City Schools just bought the former headquarters of ECOT in an auction. District reps call it “a solid investment”. There are still many questions (and many jokes) outstanding.
A new report on the status of Youngstown City Schools’ turnaround efforts was released on Friday. There are some positives, to be sure, but the negatives are kinda big and kinda troubling.
A final batch (one assumes) of graduation-time stories today. Here is coverage of a recent “signing day” for a small group of Akron-area kids going straight from high school to jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Lots of superintendent turnover in Butler County school districts in the last few years it seems. The longest-serving supe is just finishing his third year on the job.
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently added to their trove of teacher preparation evaluations with the 2018 Teacher Prep Review. This year’s study examines 567 traditional graduate, 129 alternative route, and eighteen residency programs across the U.S. (no undergraduate programs were examined).
The Dispatch dug more deeply into the issue of districts across central Ohio dropping GPA and class rankings in favor of the Latin system. Turns out that a 4.0 just isn’t what it used to be and it’s stressing everyone out. Everyone in high end suburbs, that is.
Let’s start the day with a spate of graduation-time stories. First up, yet another Ohio school district is getting rid of “antiquated” class rankings in favor of the Latin system. Future Hilliard grads, you have been warned.
If kicking the accountability can down the road were an Olympic sport, Ohio policymakers would win the gold medal. The latest example comes from the State Board of Education, which recently recommended that the state legislature again push back the overall A–F rating to fall 2019.
In a recent analysis of the Academic Distress Commission (ADC) system currently in place in Youngstown City Schools, my colleague Jessica Poiner shows significant deviations from the six habits<
We're back after a week's break and there's a lot to cover!
It was a busy hearing in the House Education and Career Readiness Committee yesterday. Lots of bills crammed in there. Our own Chad Aldis was on hand to testify on two bills. First up, Senate Bill 216, the education deregulation bill.
NOTE: The Education and Career Readiness Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives today heard testimony on SB 216, a proposal that would make changes to the regulatory burden of Ohio’s public schools.
NOTE: The Education and Career Readiness Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives today heard testimony on HB 591, a proposal that would make changes to Ohio’s school report cards. Fordham’s Chad Aldis was a witness at this hearing and these are his written remarks.
During the recent celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week and National Charter Schools Week, Fordham Ohio staffers shared stories of the teachers, counselors, and schools that made a positive difference in their education and in their lives. You can read about:
Ohio is no stranger to district turnarounds. Back in 2007, academic distress commissions (ADCs) were added to state law as a way for the state to intervene in districts that consistently fail to meet academic standards.
As previously noted here, FutureReady Columbus is once again ready for the present after more than a year of dormancy in the past.
Education is hard, so we should celebrate success at every opportunity. A sky-high graduation rate, for example, should make us smile from ear to ear.
