Education News for 03-15-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Gov. John Kasich rolls out mini-budget with tax, education initiatives taking center stage (Plain Dealer)

    • COLUMBUS - As Gov. John Kasich rolled out a mid-term budget blueprint highlighted by an income tax cut for Ohioans but a hike in oil and gas taxes, the sales job began to skeptical lawmakers. Kasich's pitch to majority-party Republicans: Make sure Ohioans benefit from the oil and gas dollars expected to flow from the shale boom, not those in faraway area codes. "What we're saying is every Ohioan ought to benefit from this wealth," he told reporters at an afternoon news conference to announce his initiatives. Read More…

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture to let schools decide whether to feed pink slime to students (WEWS 5 ABC)

    • CLEVELAND - The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it will allow schools to choose whether to buy ground beef patties made with or without the pink slime making headlines. They said they will make the announcement Thursday that could affect the food in schools. According to them, the pink slime filler is a low cost ingredient made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts and is treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria. Most of us had never heard about this pink slime until weeks ago when some fast food restaurants decided to stop using it. Read More…

  • Superintendents say proposed school grading system gets F (Morning Journal)

    • ELYRIA — The proposed new Ohio school district grading scale isn’t getting enthusiastic support by some local superintendents. “I don’t understand what our state is trying to do to our public schools,” Elyria City Schools Superintendent Paul Rigda said. “What do they want from us?” The new proposed grading scale will grade districts on an A through F scale, as opposed to the excellent with distinction through academic emergency scale in place now. Elyria schools, which were rated as effective, would have received a D under the new grading scale. Read More…

Local Issues

  • City schools to change gifted programs (Dispatch)

    • Many parents are wary of a Columbus City Schools plan to change its gifted and talented program next school year, but others are encouraged that the new format will serve more than double the number of gifted students. Superintendent Gene Harris explained the changes to an overflow crowd of more than 100 parents and district staff members at a meeting last night at the Downtown High School. Read More…

  • Parent posts threat on Facebook (Newark Advocate)

    • BLACKLICK - Licking Heights West has lifted increased security measures it implemented after a parent reportedly threatened a teacher on Facebook. The threat was made Monday night, district officials said, and West responded immediately, implementing its lowest-level security provisions Tuesday. The security provisions continued at the start of the school day Wednesday, but they were lifted by 10 a.m. Read More…

  • After cuts, Lakota focus is severance (Journal-News)

    • LIBERTY TWP. — The Lakota Board of Education, which slashed its budget by $10.5 million and cut 141 jobs Monday, is now turning its attention to severance pay. Individual employees cut for the 2012-13 school year will be based on seniority and licensing, said Treasurer Jenni Logan. “Our hope is to have that process firmed up and to formally take action on all of that at our final board meeting in April,” she said, to give those affected as much time as possible to seek employment elsewhere. Read More…

  • Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board decides not to pursue open enrollment for 2012-13 (Sun News)

    • UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - The Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board recently reached a consensus not to pursue open enrollment as a district policy for the 2012-13 school year. At a work session Feb. 21, Superintendent Doug Heuer presented information to the board about inter-district open enrollment, which allows a student to attend school tuition-free in a district other than where his or her parents reside. He said each year, the district’s administration must inform the Ohio Department of Education what its position will be on open enrollment. Read More…

  • Ax to fall on 16 at East Holmes (Times Reporter)

    • BERLIN — Sixteen full-time teachers or staff members in the East Holmes Local School District are targeted to lose their jobs in the wake of last week’s narrow defeat of a 3.77-mill emergency operating levy. Affected employees formally were notified Wednesday by Superintendent Joe Edinger, with the board of education expected to take action on the recommendation Monday. The 11 teachers, with 75 years of experience, are paid a total of $445,421. The five classified staff, with 15 years of experience, make a combined $42,599. That’s a total of $488,020. Read More…

Editorial

  • Support Reform In Ohio Schools (News-Register)

    • If Ohio Board of Education members are reluctant to take a stand on reforming one of the worst school districts in the state, how likely are they to address less serious but still important problems elsewhere? Gov. John Kasich did something unusual a few days ago. He appealed personally to board members to support a plan by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to improve his city's schools. Board members agreed to discuss the plan next month. For years, Cleveland Municipal Schools have chewed through taxpayers' money at an alarming rate, delivering little in return. Read More…

  • Youngstown schools system can do without disruptions (Vindicator)

    • While we have long URGED com- munity participation in the academic and financial rebuilding of the Youngstown City School District, we are strongly opposed to the threat by a community group to peel away a sizeable number of students just because of a perceived slight. The ongoing effort by many sincere, committed individuals to stabilize the district’s finances and improve its academic performance is too important to be undermined by the Community High Commission led by Jimma McWilson. Read More…

Superintendents say proposed school grading system gets F

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The proposed new Ohio school district grading scale isn’t getting enthusiastic support by some local superintendents.

“I don’t understand what our state is trying to do to our public schools,” Elyria City Schools Superintendent Paul Rigda said. “What do they want from us?”

It's a good question.Let's take a look at what the state intends to do. The table below analyzes how schools using the current rating system will be allocated new grades. For example, only 94 of 1452 schools currently rated as "excellent" will receive an "A" grade, 4 of them currently rated "Excellent", will receive a "D", which is sure to come as a shock, though perhaps not as shocking as the 2 schools currently rated "Effective" which will receive an "F".

Overall Grade
2011 Performance Rating A B C D F Grand Total
Academic Emergency - - - 40 119 159
Academic Watch - - - 145 58 203
Continuous Improvement - - 72 322 44 438
Effective - 182 464 193 2 841
Excellent 94 1227 127 4 - 1452
Excellent with Distinction 130 186 - - - 316
Grand Total 224 1595 663 704 223 3409

You can view the entire list of simulated school ratings, here (xls).

How does this happen? Well, the state has decided to change not only the grading system, because apparently parents aren't smart enough to differentiate between "excellent" and "Academic Emergency", a move described as "Insulting" by one suprintendent, but to also change how grades are calculated. The new formulation will rely heavily upon test scores.

  • Percentage of State Indicators Met
  • Performance Index (based on test scores)
  • Achievement and Graduation Gap (based on test scores)
  • Value-Added (based on test scores)

As we have talked about at length before, there's a significant element of socioeconomic factors that affect these results.

According to an Excel regression analysis of ODE data on the new system at the district level, demographics (poverty, income, property valuation, teacher salaries, educational attainment levels, etc.) produce an R-squared value of .48 for the new system vs. an R-squared of .45 for the previous system. The closer to 1 (or -1), the stronger the correlation.

Under this new system is it likely that at least 70% of schools will see their ratings drop.

“What system is this,” he said. “What’s the point?”

With the increased focus on school district ratings, he stated it has been some what of an uphill battle to keep teachers and staff focused.

By having to keep the teachers motivated and pumped up, in lieu of increased pressure by the state to perform on standardized test, the district is finding it hard.

He simply tells his staff to look to their students as their motivation.

“They are doing all of this (winning awards and honing their skills and talents) because of their education,” he said. “It’s taking a lot of work to keep them (teachers and staff) pumped up.

Motivating students and staff isn't the only problem. It may also have a deleterious effect on house prices, at a time when prices are already depressed

Obviously no one is arguing that the ONLY reason that people pay 214% more to live in New Albany is because of its schools, but let’s face it, it’s a huge selling point. You’ve seen the billboards advertising otherwise uninteresting, treeless tract houses in recently-converted farmland trumpeting access to “Dublin schools!” That will no longer mean much.

Under the new plan, parents seeking “the best schools” for their kids in Central Ohio would no longer look at Dublin, Upper Arlington or New Albany. In fact, the only top-rated district remaining in the entire region is Granville, 40 miles away in Licking County. Better get ready for a long commute, moms and dads! The same challenges face Cuyahoga county parents. Where home buyers previously had seven “top-rated” districts to choose from, now they only have two. Sorry North Olmsted, sorry Mayfield.

The obvious concern with this plan is the impact it will have on levies. Despite recent success in passing crucial levies, voters might be less inclined to continue to support schools they see as having been downgraded, or not rated "Excellent". When the state is rolling back its financial support for public schools, forcing them to rely more and more upon local sources of funding, this seems counter to that, in effect helping to cut off all sources of money leaving only drastic cuts as a means to balance already broken budgets.

An Unfair Editorial

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The Plain Dealer had a terribly slanted and unfair editorial titled "Cleveland school-reform bill needs teachers' input". From the title it sounded as though some were finally calling for collaboration, before a rush to legislation. Alas, that was not the case, as the editorial demonstrated, first with a straw man argument

When the usually reserved Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says he would trade his office for "quality education for our children," all of the other adults involved in the high-stakes discussion on school reform ought to determine what they would give up as well.

So far, judging from the Cleveland Teachers Union's tepid response to the mayor's Cleveland-only school reform package, the answer appears to be little or nothing.

One should hardly be confused by the empty rhetoric of a politician and then compare it to actual sacrifices working people ought to make on the basis on that rhetoric. So straight away we knew this editorial was headed south.

The mayor says that despite hours of meetings with union representatives, he has received no written reply to his wide-ranging draft legislation on school reform.

The draft legislation was only made available less than 24 hours ago as of the writing of this editorial! People have barely had chance to even read and digest it, let alone craft some policy response document in considered terms.

If the Mayor and the Plain Dealer truly wanted teacher input, why didn't they seek it during the crafting of the actual legislation, then they could have rolled it out with a lot more support and a lot less controversy. To now blame teachers, yet again, for his own failing to collaborate with critical stakeholders is very unfair.

Education News for 03-14-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • State education board mum on Cleveland plan (Dispatch)

    • The Ohio Board of Education had no immediate response to Gov. John Kasich’s request that the panel support a controversial plan to turn around Cleveland schools. At its monthly meeting in Columbus yesterday, the board decided to discuss the issue at its April meeting. Traditionally, the board has not waded into political and legislative debates, but on Monday the governor pleaded with members to pass a resolution or provide some sort of backing to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan. Read More…

  • Ohio 3rd-graders who can't read at grade level could be held back under Gov. John Kasich's plan (Plain Dealer)

    • COLUMBUS — Third-graders who are not reading at grade level would be held back a year under a midterm budget plan Gov. John Kasich will announce today. The policy will be part of a handful of education initiatives the Republican governor will unveil, the administration confirmed to The Plain Dealer. Other items in the plan, which would require legislative approval, include revamping teacher evaluation metrics and overhauling the state's school report card because the administration believes it encourages mediocrity. Read More…

  • Gridlock in Congress threatens Ohio programs (Dispatch)

    • Automatic spending cuts triggered by gridlock on a bipartisan congressional “supercommittee” could cost Ohio nearly $313 million next year, with a large chunk being pulled from funds for poor students and those with special needs. The overall reduction in federal funding for the state — 1 percent — might be small, but it would hit certain programs hard. Head Start faces a nearly 9 percent cut. So do special-education grants for K-12 schools, work-study payments for needy college students and extra nutritional aid for low-income pregnant women and children, according to an analysis done last month by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Read More…

Local Issues

  • City, county, schools join in drive to prevent bullying (Blade)

    • Local city, county, and school officials announced a joint public awareness campaign Tuesday to combat bullying. Calling the impact of bullying on communities "devastating," Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak said that children can't be effective learners if they feel threatened in school. "We want to prevent the bullying," Ms. Skeldon-Wozniak said. "We want the schools to feel safe." Students, faculty, and staff of area schools will be asked to sign anti-bullying pledges, where they will vow to monitor for bullying and support victims, among other promises. Read More…

  • Community split on whether Richmond Heights students should wear uniforms (News-Herald)

    • The Richmond Heights community is split on the topic of whether the school district should have students wear uniforms. Interim Superintendent Robert J. Moore, at Monday’s school board meeting, shared the results of a survey sent out to families which showed that almost 50 percent are for student uniforms and 50 percent against. Moore said he plans to revisit the issue and propose a sport coat or jacket with the Richmond Heights logo on it in order to create a sense of unity within the community and district. Read More…

  • Lakota eyeing unemployment claims, severance after cutting 141 jobs (Journal-News)

    • LIBERTY TWP. — The Lakota Board of Education, which approved $10.5 million in cuts and a reduction of 141 positions Monday, is now turning its attention to unemployment compensation and severance pay. Treasurer Jenni Logan said the district wants to make sure to give those employees enough lead time to find gainful employment elsewhere. “Our hope is to have that process firmed up and to formally take action on all of that at our final board meeting in April,” she said. Job cuts for the 2012-13 school year will be based on seniority and licensing, Logan said. Read More…

Editorial

  • Raising the bar (Courier)

    • Whether or not our children decide to compete for a job in another state or country, or stay home, they must have the best education possible. And it must start well before they get to a university, community college or trade school. Signs show good things happening in most schools in Ohio. More than half of the 609 schools that received a state report card for the 2010-2011 school year got "excellent" or "excellent with distinction" marks. And more than a handful of those schools are in our area. Read More…

  • Cleveland school-reform bill needs teachers' input (Plain Dealer)

    • When the usually reserved Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says he would trade his office for "quality education for our children," all of the other adults involved in the high-stakes discussion on school reform ought to determine what they would give up as well. So far, judging from the Cleveland Teachers Union's tepid response to the mayor's Cleveland-only school reform package, the answer appears to be little or nothing. Read More…

Who are the businesses making threats to children?

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Gongwer, March 12th, quoting Governor John Kasich

"I think what's going to happen in Cleveland (if the legislation doesn't pass), I've been told the business community is walking away," Mr. Kasich said. "They're not going to support levies; they're done; they're finished with what's happening there."

These businesses that the Governor references ought to step forward from behind the skirt-tails of the chamber of commerce. People have a right to know who is making threats towards their children's future so they can decide if that's a business they wish to continue to support.