Education News for 04-18-2012

Statewide Education News

• Ohio takes aim at reducing achievement gap (EdWeek)

Estimates in Ohio suggest that at the current rate of progress, black fifth-graders will be reading on par with white fifth-graders in the year 2315. Third-graders they will start to pass reading exams at the same rate in 2102. Read More…

• Schools, teachers seek delay in grading (Columbus Dispatch)

Leaders of teachers unions and education groups urged lawmakers yesterday to delay rolling out a tougher school grading system proposed by Gov. John Kasich, but the administration is not backing down. “We want them (the new rankings) in yesterday,” Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said. “No one is backing away and saying we need additional time. We are not seeking a delay. We want to see this go into effect this year.” The new system for grading schools and school districts will begin with report cards issued by the Ohio Department of Education this summer. Simulations show that most schools will drop a full letter grade, maybe two.Read More…

• CPS to lose fewer students to private schools (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Cincinnati Public schools will lose fewer students than expected next year to private schools and state-funded vouchers, a school official said Tuesday. Only 899 new students applied for new Educational Choice scholarships for the upcoming school year, said Janet Walsh, a Cincinnati Public spokeswoman. That’s down from 1,078 EdChoice applicants from CPS last year and it’s far below the 1,377 students district officials had projected to lose this spring, she said. Read More…

• School-voucher programs prove popular (Columbus Dispatch)

More than 17,400 applications for students to attend private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers were filed for next school year, a slight increase over last year. An additional 1,544 requests for a new special-needs voucher program were made by Sunday’s deadline. Among the 17,438 applications for an Educational Choice Scholarship were 3,814 new applicants. That deadline was Friday. About 17,000 applications were filed last year to use vouchers this school year. Read More…

• Fewer Lima families seeking vouchers (Lima News)

LIMA — For the first time since the state began its voucher program, the Lima City School District is seeing fewer families wanting to leave the district. Twenty-eighty fewer pupils have applied for EdChoice scholarships. The last day to apply for a scholarship for next school year was Friday. Not all of those applying will necessarily get a scholarship. Read More…

• Bill would hold school, government fiscal officers accountable (Columbus Dispatch)

School and government treasurers could be suspended or removed if they don’t keep proper records and spend taxpayer money appropriately, a bill introduced yesterday in the General Assembly says.

The bill was prompted by several high-profile cases of misspending and theft, state Auditor Dave Yost said in introducing the Fiscal Integrity Act. Read More…

• Your guide to how Ohio writes inoffensive test questions (State Impact Ohio)

Tenth graders across the state spent much of their time last month taking tests — the Ohio Graduation Tests to be specific. The OGT’s are given in five subject areas, and some students found one question on the Social Studies portion of the exam objectionable. The question asked: “After the Holocaust, many Jews felt that they needed a state of their own in order to provide security for the Jewish people. In 1948, the state of Israel was formed. Many Arabs disagreed with this action. Identify two perspectives of many Arabs that explain their objection to the establishment of Israel.”

The Ohio Jewish Communities, a registered lobbying group, petitioned the Ohio Department of Education to remove that question, alleging bias that offended some Jewish students. After review, state officials concluded the phrasing was inappropriate and won’t be used again. Read More…

• One big difference between Ohio and Florida Standardized Tests (State Impact Florida)

Our friends at StateImpact Ohio have an interesting look at how Ohio comes up with the wording on its standardized tests. By committee, of course. A controversy over a question about the Arab perception of the creation of Israel prompted concerns that the questions might not be without bias. Read More…

Local Issues

• Teen who cared for mom wins bid to take part in graduation (Canton Repository)

CARROLLTON —Teri Fisher had a goal in mind as she battled Stage IV cancer last fall. She wanted to survive long enough to see her son, Austin, graduate from Carrollton High School. Her cancer went into remission in early March, and her goal will be realized thanks to the power of the Internet and a loyal community. Austin, 17, had been told by school principals that he would not be participating in the commencement ceremony in May because he had 16 unexcused absences in the first semester — two more than the amount allowed by the district.Read More…

• Silent support for “Fish” at Carrollton BOE meeting (New Philadelphia Times- Reporter)

CARROLLTON — Many supporters of Austin Fisher came to the meeting of the Carrollton Board of Education on Tuesday night. But they only spoke with their signs. Supporters had been organizing all day Tuesday with hopes that school administrators would change their mind and that Austin Fisher would be able to attend not only his graduation, but also the senior prom, and go on the senior class trip to Cedar Point. Read More…

• Cleveland board votes to trim teaching staff next year (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland school board voted Tuesday to trim an eighth of its teaching staff in the upcoming school year because of budget troubles and a falling number of students. The district will also shorten its school day through eighth grade by 50 minutes next school year and cut the number of music, art, library and gym classes for those students as part of the shuffling of staff to handle the layoffs. The elimination of more than 500 teachers -- all in kindergarten through eighth grade -- through layoffs and a retirement incentive is a major part of district Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon's plan to resolve a $65 million budget deficit for next school year. The layoffs are expected to cover about $40 million of the $65 million. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Apply common sense with the rules (Lima News)

It's likely no one was upset when the Carrollton, Ohio, school district said students who miss more than a certain number of days wouldn't walk in the graduation ceremony. But such rules should come with flexibility for extremely unusual circumstances. A student missing school to care for his dying mother would strike most people as an extremely usual circumstance.Read More…

Education News for 04-17-2012

Statewide Education News

• Reports of Delay on New, Tougher School Rating System May Be Exaggerated (State Impact Ohio)

Last week, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner said schools would likely get “a year’s reprieve” from a tougher school report card system. Those new grades are called for in Ohio’s application to the U.S. Department of Education for freedom from some parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The application says the new grading system would be rolled out in 2011 and 2012. Read More…

• New state report card makes top rating tougher to reach (Delaware News)

New state report cards will make it a lot more difficult for Ohio school districts to earn the top rating. A total of 352 out of the state's 609 districts earned "Excellent" or "Excellent with Distinction" ratings on last year's report cards, which show how well districts meet Ohio Department of Education standards. Read More…

Local Issues

• Fostoria school board seeks waiver (Findlay Courier)

FOSTORIA -- Like many school districts in the area, Fostoria school board on Monday approved a resolution to seek a waiver of the state's body mass index screening requirement for the 2012-13 school year. The state guidelines require screening of kindergarten, third-, fifth- and ninth-grade students prior to May 1. The district received a waiver last school year and this year. After Monday's meeting, Deb Pirolli, director of student services, said procedures for administering the program have not been clarified by the state. Read More…

• School makes $1M in cuts (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

AUSTINTOWN - Tom Sellers acknowledged that he and other district officials were uneasy during most of the school board's meeting on Monday. Before dozens of residents and staff the school board voted to make cuts amounting to about $1 million including $700,000 in transportation - the hardest hit department. Read More…

• “Tribute tree' brings comfort to community in wake of Chardon High shooting (Willoughby News Herald)

Gifts of all types poured into Chardon School District in the aftermath of the February shooting that killed three students and wounded three others. Wagons full of flowers and food were shipped to staff and students from those touched by the incident. But Newbury Township artist Carol Hummel and her daughter Molly Sedensky had a different idea. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Youngstown schools district needs experienced treasurer (Youngstown Vindicator)

Although the Youngstown city schools system shed its state-designated fiscal emergency status more than a year ago, its finances are far from stable. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to describe the future of the urban district as bleak. With the loss of $4 million in funding from the state as a result of more than 500 students departing, major decisions must be made regarding the overall operation. Read More…

Education News for 04-16-2012

Statewide Education News

• State to target achievement gaps among students (Dispatch)

If nothing changes, black fifth-graders won’t be reading on par with white fifth-graders in Ohio for another 303 years, the state estimates. For third-graders, it would be 90 years before black and white students pass reading exams at the same rate. State officials say those alarming estimates show that schools need to act quickly to make sure groups of students who are behind are catching up with their peers. Read More…

• Project learning 101 at Winton Woods (Enquirer)

In classrooms across the country, a pendulum is swinging. On one side is the predominant belief that students learn best through direct instruction – teachers lecturing and students listening, taking notes and proving on tests what they’ve learned. On the other side is what some say is a more progressive form of education, in which students collaborate on projects and problems and learn from each other by asking, doing and exploring. The teacher is merely a facilitator. This “project-based” or “problem-based” learning is where many schools should be heading, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner told The Enquirer last week. Read More…

Local Issues

• Special ed spending soars in some districts (Hamilton Journal News)

In the past decade, the cost of educating special needs children has skyrocketed while the numbers of children with disabilities have shown only modest increases. An analysis of data from the Ohio auditor and the Ohio Department of Education shows that Butler County public school districts spent 158 percent more on special education between 2001 and 2010 while the number of special needs children has risen by 14 percent. Read More…

• Cleveland mayor takes on teacher union over reform (Associated Press)

CLEVELAND - The mayor wants to give his hand-picked superintendent the power to reassign bad teachers, reshape failing schools and stagger class times without union contract barriers. Mayor Frank Jackson, the only Ohio mayor who controls schools through an appointed board, angered fellow Democrats and the party's labor allies by challenging timeworn teacher union contracts. "What we will not accept is incremental change or the belief that everything is OK and we should continue down the same path," he said in a city hall interview. "That is not acceptable to us." Read More…

• Future cloudy for alternative school existence (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE -- The Ross-Pike Educational Service District might shutter its alternative school after Ross County's school superintendents said they're unlikely to send students there in the future. "It's a possibility," Ross-Pike ESD Superintendent Steve Martin said of the rumored closure. "It's a possibility every year." Martin confirmed, at a recent meeting, the superintendents indicated they probably would stop using the alternative school as a disciplinary tool for disruptive students beginning with the 2012-13 school year. Read More…

• Westfall discipline case raises questions about public files (Chilicothe Gazette)

WILLIAMSPORT -- A principal is without a job and a teacher is on thin ice after a recent personnel investigation at Westfall High School that was conducted mostly behind closed doors. Tom Lehman, the school's principal since August 2008, agreed to resign April 5, ending an investigation that began in February with questions about his professional conduct. Superintendent Cara Riddel said she often had clashed with Lehman since joining the district in summer 2011, but it was his violation of part of the Licensure Code of Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators that led to his suspension Feb. 21 and ultimately his resignation. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Hold charter schools to task (Warren Chronicle Tribune)

Charter schools - private institutions operating with subsidies from the government - can provide invaluable alternatives to public education in some areas. But they have to play by the rules, too. That has not been the case in Ohio for many years, to judge by revelations about financial mismanagement at some charter schools. Read More…

Education News for 04-13-2012

Statewide Education News

• Schools may get reprieve on new rating system

State ed leader says tougher system may not be ready in time
Ohio public schools will likely get a year’s reprieve from a tougher academic rating system on annual report cards, a state education official said Thursday. Instead of grading schools from A to F on school report cards this August, as planned, Ohio may delay the new grades by a year, said Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction. He said the new grading system may not receive state and federal approval in time. Read More…

• Districts See Problems With Teacher Evaluations (NBC-4, Columbus)

School districts are scrambling now to figure out how they can change the way they evaluate teachers. It's all because of Ohio House Bill 153, which requires school districts to evaluate every teacher every year. And it's not a simple process. Read More…

• Computers Can Score Student Essays As Well As Humans, Study Finds (State Impact Ohio)

Chess enthusiasts watch World Chess champion Garry Kasparov on a television monitor as he holds his head in his hands at the start of the sixth and final match in May1997 against IBM’s Deep Blue computer in New York. Sure, Deep Blue beat Kasparov, but can a computer score an essay as well as a human? A new study shaped by the two groups that are leading the development of new online tests suggests the answer is yes: Read More…

Local Issues

• Many Valley workers lack skills for growing manufacturing jobs (Vindicator)

A lack of skilled manufacturing workers could slow the progress the Mahoning Valley is making in economic development. The Oh-Penn Interstate Regional Manufacturing Workforce Summit at Youngstown State University on Thursday focused on problems facing the local manufacturing base in finding qualified workers. The Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition sponsored the event. Read More…

• Parents hear pitch for open enrollment (Dispatch)

Reynoldsburg parents got their first chance last night to ask questions and offer thoughts on a proposal to admit students who live outside the district to the city’s schools. To help answer their questions, the district had officials from suburban districts in Ohio with open-enrollment policies share their stories. Read More…

• Boundary lines drawn for three-school elementary plan (Canton Repository)

Boundary lines were finalized this week for the city schools’ elementary buildings. The boundaries for Franklin, Gorrell and Whittier take effect this fall and apply to students in the kindergarten through third grades. According to Superintendent Rik Goodright, the new lines were drawn to help properly balance the number of students attending each building and were drawn with the expectation that they would be in place for years to come. Read More…

• Cleveland Teachers Union and Mayor Frank Jackson reach deal on mayor's school plan (Plain Dealer)

Mayor Frank Jackson and theCleveland Teachers Union today reached a deal on the final disputed provisions of Jackson's schools plan, clearing a major obstacle for state legislators who will begin their deliberations as early as next week. The compromise struck by the mayor and union after several weeks of marathon negotiations, will bring major changes to the contract rules governing teacher assignments, seniority, pay, evaluation, layoff and recall that give the district more flexibility as it tries to improve schools. Read More…

• Proper breathing, diet among test-taking tips (Findlay Courier)

For many students, standardize tests usually come hand-in-hand with stress and anxiety.
And with the upcoming Ohio Achievement Assessments later this month, local motivational speaker Bruce Boguski is hoping his knowledge and tips will make life a little bit easier for Glenwood Middle School's students. Boguski was brought in to speak to the pre-teens to offer advice and tips on handling stress and improving memory in preparation for the annual tests, said Barbara Duval, a seventh grade reading intervention specialist. Read More…

• Tablet boosts business and school productivity (Hamilton Journal News)

Low-cost systems are far more efficient than costly ones they replace.

Delivering food to the table or pouring a cup of coffee is about the only thing it can’t do. The iPad takes an order, sends it to the chef and lets the waiter know when it’s done at the Florentine Restaurant. And forget about paper. At True West Coffee, a customer’s receipt is sent by text to their phone. Read More…

• County has more kids than child-care slots (Dispatch)

Good-quality child care can be difficult to come by in Franklin County. For every available slot at a child-care center here, there are three children, according to a report being released today. In parts of Columbus — the Northeast Side, for example — there are about five children for every available space. Read More…

• Clark Co. to house ag STEM school? (Springfield News Sun)

Ohio State University — the state’s only university with a college dedicated to agricultural sciences — has been a part of talks about a proposed agricultural science STEM school. “We’ve been certainly talking with them.” said Herb Asher, counselor to the president at OSU, noting that the school’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences makes it a logical piece of the conversation. Read More…

• Ryan Takes ‘Mindfulness’ to Inner-City Schools (Youngstown Business Journal)

It’s mid-afternoon and a student in Mrs. Evelyn Fisher’s kindergarten class at Williamson Elementary School walks quietly to a corner and begins to cry. Within seconds, five other students surround her. “Breathe in, breathe out,” they coach, as they try to console their classmate with gentle pats on the back. A minute passes, her distress evaporates, and she returns to her desk to wait for the next lesson. Read More…

• Middle School Students Spreading Random Acts of Kindness (WKRC-Cincinnati)

Many teens find themselves being bullied over the internet but one Tri-State school is looking for a way to counteract that. Students at Woodland Middle School decided to use social media to spread random acts of kindness this week. Local 12's Angela Ingram talked with students about how they are using electronic media to share positive messages. The school's principal says kids are constantly using Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. So, why not take something they love to use - and have them do something helpful for others? Read More…

Education News for 04-12-2012

Statewide Education News

• School achievement tests to get tougher in 2014 (Newark Advocate)

The tests Ohio's third- through eighth-graders are preparing to take later this month will look vastly different in a few years. No. 2 pencils and bubbled sheets will be replaced with computers; simple multiple choice questions will be replaced with questions requiring more thought. The tests also will be more difficult. Much more difficult. Read More…

• Ohio Continues to Fall Short on Providing High-Quality Preschool (State Impact Ohio)

Ohio isn’t doing a great job of getting children, particularly low-income children, into good, state-funded preschool programs. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s been true for several years running. Steven Barnett is the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research. His group’s new annual report on the state of preschool doesn’t do Ohio any favors. Read More…

• Test question raises concerns among Jews (Cleveland Jewish News)

An Ohio Graduation Test question asking for the Arabs’ perspective on the founding of the state of Israel has raised concerns among members of the Jewish community. Objections range from bias to over-simplification of history. Tenth-graders in public and private schools across Ohio took the OGT March 12 to 16 in five subject areas. Makeup testing took place the following week. Read More…

Local Issues

• ‘Realistic’ financial projection requested by Liberty schools panel (Vindicator)

The fiscal commission prodded and picked at the latest revision of the Liberty school district’s five-year forecast Wednesday, telling the district’s treasurer it wants a more-detailed projection to ensure it is receiving adequate information for future cuts. Roger Nehls, chairman of the fiscal commission charged with guiding the district out of fiscal emergency, said districts sometimes will use the forecast as a budgetary planning tool. Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Complex evaluation (Akron Beacon Journal)

Public schools are a favorite target of politicians fixed on accountability, on showing the worth of money spent. Last year, Ohio lawmakers approved in the budget bill provisions that require the State Board of Education to develop a new framework for evaluating teachers. The new assessment will apply, beginning in 2013, to school districts, plus charter schools participating in the federal Race to the Top initiative. Read More…

• Raise the bar

State Auditor Dave Yost is right that Ohio needs higher standards and stricter accountability for charter-school treasurers. As some recent high-profile cases involving ruined schools and misspent tax funds make clear, it’s easy for hundreds of thousands of dollars to be lost before corrective action takes place. Read More…

Education News for 04-11-2012

Statewide Education News

• Schools expected to receive portion of casino taxes (Newark Advocate)

Licking County schools could receive $2.6 million in casino money in 2014, but treasurers are hesitant to count on it. The money -- which ranges from $129,000 for Northridge to $663,000 for Newark -- is based on estimated casino tax revenue and current enrollment of the districts. "We've not planned for it yet," said Heath Treasurer Brad Hall, whose district could see $170,000 in revenue. "It's not like you don't think about it." Read More…

• State Board of Education urges collaboration, but stops short of endorsing Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's school plan (Plain Dealer)

A divided state Board of Education on Tuesday rejected Gov. John Kasich's request to endorse Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's school reform plan. Instead, the board united around a watered-down resolution urging a collaborative process for reforming the schools. Read More…

• Drop in public preschoolers in Ohio is biggest in nation (Dispatch)

Ohio had about 18,000 fewer 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in high-quality public preschools last school year than a decade ago, the biggest decline of any state with public programs. And although the state didn’t lose ground in preschool enrollment between 2010 and 2011, enrollment didn’t grow, either, according to a report released yesterday. Read More…

• Ohio worst in nationwide preschool study (Dayton Daily News)

A new study of state-funded preschool education, based on state policy, ranked Ohio last out of 39 states evaluated. According to a study released Tuesday by the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research, Ohio met the fewest benchmarks for quality preschool standards of any state offering state-funded preschool last year. Read More…

• ‘Friends’ & teachers? (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

When Facebook and other social networking sites first took off several years ago, local educators said drafting policies to govern how teachers and other school staff used the forums wasn't a top priority. "But times have changed and Facebook in particular has become bigger as more and more people use it," said Richard Buchenic, Hubbard Local Schools superintendent. "It needs to at least be discussed and given a closer look." Read More…

Local Issues

• Euclid, South Euclid-Lyndhurst school districts eye new learning methods (News Herald)

Euclid City Schools and the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District have partnered in an effort to earn each district $130,000 in grant money to fund a blended learning program next year. Schools will choose a particular model of blended learning from six options. One school will be awarded for each model, meaning six districts out of 92 that applied for the grant will receive it, Euclid Curriculum Director Ted Lisiak said. Read More…

• National union: CPS exaggerated teacher cuts (Enquirer)

One of the nation’s largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, says Cincinnati Public Schools over-projected its expenses and doesn’t need to cut up to 225 teaching jobs as planned next week. The AFT reviewed Cincinnati Public’s budget forecast at the request of the local teachers’ union president, Julie Sellers. The AFT represents 1.5 million teachers nationwide and routinely does such analysis for its affiliates, including the 2,500-member Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. Read More…