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Civics lesson
Last month, the Washington Post's David Broder wrote a column trumpeting the value of teaching civics to American students.
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Hope for America's Schools: Lessons for Ohio
This essay is authored by Kati Haycock, director of Education Trust, and presents an overview of the themes she will discuss on May 10 at her an address in Columbus. The event, which is open to the public, is sponsored by KidsOhio.org. To register, click here.
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Can Ohio Handle Union-Sponsored Charter Schools?
Both the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) and the Ohio Education Association (OEA) have hinted in recent weeks that they are going to work to unionize charter school teachers. The move is not unique to Ohio. The American Federation of Teachers, for example, now represents teachers in 30 charter schools scattered across ten states.
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Road trip
Students at Bonham elementary school in Abilene, Texas, faced a serious problem last week when the school's toilets stopped working. Principal Diane Rose acted quickly and smartly. Instead of preparing mops and buckets, she called in the buses.
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Ohio Speaker of the House on the School Trail
Ohio Speaker of the House Jon Husted (R-Kettering) took over four hours out of his very busy schedule Monday and visited two charter schools in Dayton, and plans more school visits across the state in the near future.
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Hope for America's Schools: Lessons for Ohio (May 10, 2006)
KidsOhio.org and the Columbus Metropolitan Club will be hosting national educational policy expert Dr. Kati Haycock in Columbus to discuss her hope for America’s schools. Register here to attend.
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Can Ohio's Districts Embrace Choice through Portfolios of Schools?
What’s the new vocabulary word for the week in school districts? “Portfolio diversification.”
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Breaking Ranks in the Middle: Strategies for Leading Middle School Reform
National Association of Secondary School Principals2006
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The 65 percent solution silver bullet or fool’s gold?
As the race for governor in Ohio heats up, so too has the interest in candidate Ken Blackwell's "65 Cent Solution," which would require every Ohio school district to spend at least 65 cents of each education dollar on "classroom instruction." The proposal clearly has political appeal.
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Pi gaffe
Fifteen-year-old Gaurav Rajav will not be receiving an Xbox 360 video game console this month. That's because the high school student, who hoped to recite 10,790 digits of Pi, and whose parents promised him the Xbox if he met that goal, could muster only enough intellectual stamina to correctly recite 8,784 numbers.
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Learning on the Job: When Business Takes on Public Schools
Steven F. WilsonHarvard University Press2006
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Ohio Charter School Accountability
At the State Board of Education’s February 13-14 meeting, an Ohio Department of Education official testified that the board has no clear authority, under current state law or board rules, to evaluate, intervene in, or sanction the state’s original 59 community (a.k.a. charter) school sponsors.
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Expanding School Choice in Ohio for Children with Disabilities
I have introduced legislation in the Ohio House that will improve school choice for Ohio’s disabled students. House Bill 431 , if enacted, would expand the Autism Scholarship Program (ASP), which currently benefits 450 children in Ohio by providing scholarships worth up to $20,000 for educational services, either public or private, to include all disabled children.
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Paying Charter Schools Their Due: Is the Fox Guarding the Henhouse?
Some, if not most, Ohio school districts believe that public charter schools are draining funds from their coffers, but it may be the other way around. Through a little-known process called “flagging,” districts can tie up indefinitely money owed to charters schools for educating the children who choose to be educated there.
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The Charter Landscape - Updated data on Ohio's Charter Schools
The Fordham Institute has released new data on charter schools in Ohio, including their enrollment numbers, operating budgets and contact information. Summary information provides insights into where Ohio’s charters are located, the types of students they serve, the types of school operators in the state, and what types of organizations sponsor charter schools.
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Gadfly misses on new Ohio voucher program
Last month, in a recommended reading entitled "No Voucher for You!" (December 22, 2005), the Gadfly was critical of Ohio's new voucher program (Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Program, a.k.a., Ohio EdChoice).
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Looking Ahead: Ohio's Educational Forecast for 2006
There have been big changes in Ohio's education landscape over the past several years, and the flurry of activity won't be slowing in 2006. So, what's in the crystal ball for the upcoming year in education, and how will it affect you? Gadfly presents four education issues to keep an eye on this year.1. Increased accountability for charter schools and their sponsors
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Student Achievement in Private Schools: Results from NAEP 2000-2005
U.S. Department of EducationDecember 2005
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Ohio Science Standards Deemed High
A distinguished panel of scientists awarded Ohio's K-12 science standards a "B" in a new nationwide review of state academic standards for primary-secondary school science released today.
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Frustrate Ohioans shoot down school levies
The previous Ohio Gadfly raised an alarm about citizens' dissatisfaction with their public schools. As Halfway Out the Door reported, 59 percent of those surveyed don't think they are getting their money's worth out of public schools.
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Excellence in Ohio Charter Schools
How do we foster excellence in Ohio charter schools? That's the key question facing some 250 panelists and participants in the forthcoming "summit," Excellence in Ohio Charter Schools: What it will take and how to get there. The meeting is set for November 17 in Columbus and will be hosted by the governor, senate president, house speaker, and state superintendent.
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Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Halfway Out the Door
What do ordinary Ohioans think about the myriad education reforms enacted in the Buckeye state over the last half-decade? How do parents, taxpayers, and citizens view public schooling in 2005? Do they like these reforms? Seek more or less of them? Have confidence that they'll succeed? Fordham decided to enlist veteran analysts Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett to examine the attitudes of Ohio residents toward their public schools. The results? Ohioans are frustrated with their K-12 education system on a number of fronts, and feel the state is in dire need of stronger, better leadership when it comes to education. Policymakers would do well to pay attention.
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POLITICOS BEWARE! Ohioans are 'Halfway Out The Door'
Nobody doubts that the "powers that be" in Columbus have been busily tinkering with the K-12 education system. Over the past half-decade legislative changes have come on six fronts:
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Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools
School Performance in Ohio's Inner Cities: Comparing Charter and District School Results in 2005
How are charter schools in Ohio truly performing when compared to their district counterparts? The latest Fordham Foundation report, School Performance in Ohio's Inner Cities: Comparing Charter and District School Results in 2005 provides a rare apples-to-apples comparison of charter school and district school achievement in four of Ohio's cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton. The results reveal that the performance of charter pupils isn't as dismal as Ohio's charter opponents want you to believe. However, the findings also illuminate the larger problem: ALL public schools in the Buckeye State still have a long way to go to reach academic success.
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Quotes here! Got your quotes here!
Jay Mathews's weekly online column "Class Struggle" looks inward this week in response to the release of a report from the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute that analyzes the content of education news stories in the state of Virginia.
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The shape of things to come
Regarding Checker's predictions of trends/factors/events that will have a significant impact on the substance and delivery of educational offerings in the next five years (see "The shape of things to come"): I second his insights on the changing nature of teaching and learning.
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Ohio options - new and improved!
It's official! Late last week, Governor Bob Taft signed the Buckeye State's biennial budget into law, including a significant statewide voucher program known as the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program (see here for previous discussion of the program).
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Setting the record straight on Ohio charter schools
Charter schools in the Buckeye State face a well-financed and well-coordinated assault. These attacks are playing out in the General Assembly, in state and federal courts, and in the court of public opinion. Charter foes, led by the state's two teachers unions, are spending big bucks.
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Compulsory African history?
Philadelphia's public school system, under the leadership of Paul Vallas, has been making so much progress on so many fronts that it's a special disappointment when they blunder. But blunder they are doing.
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