We previously reported on the real story in Cleveland, so it was good to see this report of about Cleveland public school teachers rallying at the statehouse with a simple message to the Governor - it's raining in Cleveland.
Previously on JTF we reported on this funding crisis.
From Senate bill 5 and the budget, to the Cleveland plan, it has become impossible to separate politics from education. Who represents us in Columbus is a critical as who sits on a local board of education. Making sure those in Columbus meet their constitutional obligations towards providing a quality public education is essential.
It's a job made more difficult, and perhaps impossible by the redistricting process that has produced State House and Senate districts that meander like snakes, dividing cities, townships and counties alike, in the desperate aim to carve out safe seats.
Politicians are choosing their voters. Creating their very own tenure system, many spend so much time railing against, safe from the democratic process and voter preferences
The process of creating safe, meandering districts this time around was especially seedy
The messages, sent from June to September, show collaboration between the national GOP and state Republicans to redraw Ohio’s maps and thus cement control of both the statehouse and a majority of congressional districts.
In one email, a Republican consultant working on redistricting for the state suggested that the new political maps could save the GOP “millions" of dollars in campaign funds by making districts safer for Republican candidates.
The maps, approved by the Republican-run state legislature in September, favor Republicans in 12 of Ohio’s 16 new congressional districts. And they strengthen the majority of likely Republican supporters in at least 17 state house districts, according to the mapping consultants' own calculations.
A report on this process revealed redistricting officials rented a downtown hotel room from July 17 to Oct. 15 to keep the map-drawing in a clandestine location. In emails, staffers referred to the hotel room as the “bunker” or “off site.”
Now an effort is underway to change this process to become transparent and fair. An amendment that would allow the people to choose their politicians - to put Voters First.
Step one of this initiative is to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the November 2012 ballot. Time is short. In order to qualify for the election this fall, over 386,000 valid signatures from half (44) of Ohio’s 88 counties are needed, by July 4th. If you want to help you can go here.
Without a doubt, having competitive legislative districts will make legislators more accountable (something we know they like to legislate for others!) to cohesive communities and produce better, more civic minded policies that suit their constituents needs, not the needs of some special interests who flood the Columbus statehouse with campaign contributions.
If that all sounds good - get involved, today. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the history of redistricting initiatives.
Governors and presidents are no better suited to run schools than they are to run construction sites, and it's time our education system reflected that fact.
A central flaw of corporate paradigms, as is often noted in popular culture, is the mind-numbing and dehumanizing effect of bureaucracy. Sometimes we are horrified and sometimes we laugh, but arguments for or against the free market may be misguided if we fail to address bureaucracy's corrosive role in the business model.
Current claims about private, public, or charter schools in the education reform movement, which has its roots in the mid-nineteenth century, may also be masking a much more important call to confront and even dismantle the bureaucracy that currently cripples universal public education in the U.S. "Successful teaching and good school cultures don't have a formula," argued legal reformer Philip K. Howard earlier in this series, "but they have a necessary condition: teachers and principals must feel free to act on their best instincts....This is why we must bulldoze school bureaucracy."
Bureaucracy, however, remains an abstraction and serves as little more than a convenient and popular target for ridicule -- unless we unpack what actions within bureaucracy are the sources for many of the persistent failures we associate erroneously with public education as an institution. Bureaucracy fails, in part, because it honors leadership as a primary quality over expertise, commits to ideological solutions without identifying and clarifying problems first, and repeats the same reforms over and over while expecting different results: our standards/testing model is more than a century old.
Public education is by necessity an extension of our political system, resulting in schools being reduced to vehicles for implementing political mandates. For example, during the past thirty years, education has become federalized through dynamics both indirect ("A Nation at Risk" spurring state-based accountability systems) and direct (No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top).
As government policy and practice, bureaucracy is unavoidable, of course. But the central flaw in the need for structure and hierarchy is that politics prefers leadership characteristics above expertise. No politician can possibly have the expertise and experience needed in all the many areas a leader must address (notably in roles such as governor and president). But during the "accountability era" in education of the past three decades, the direct role of governors and presidents as related to education has increased dramatically--often with education as a central plank in their campaigns.
One distinct flaw in that development has been a trickle-down effect reaching from presidents and governors to state superintendents of education and school board chairs and members: people who have no or very little experience or expertise as educators or scholars attain leadership positions responsible for forming and implementing education policy.
The faces and voices currently leading the education reform movement in the U.S. are appointees and self-proclaimed reformers who, while often well-meaning, lack significant expertise or experience in education: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, billionaire Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee (whose entrance to education includes the alternative route of Teach for America and only a few years in the classroom), and Sal Khan, for example.
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Much of the reasons given for policy changes to down grade schools has been as a consequence of a push to make students more "college ready" when they graduate. This, it is argued, means we have to have higher standards.
That won’t do anymore, Gov. John Kasich and education officials say. So they’re overhauling the guidelines of what students should know, writing more challenging tests to assess what they’ve learned, forcing schools to revamp curriculum and grading schools on a tougher scale.
“The current system is letting kids down,” state Superintendent Stan Heffner said. Instead of focusing on getting students ready for college, it asks them to meet a minimum standard, a low bar, he said. “Let’s make sure they have a diploma worth owning.”
The entire Dispatch article is worth reading to get an idea of the scope of the changes expected to happen over the next year or two. Also worth reading is this new report from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, titled "College Readiness: A Guide to the Field".
Considering the rapid emergence and growth of the field, as well as the numerous players involved, keeping abreast of relevant policies and initiatives is both a challenge and a necessity. A scan of the college readiness field can highlight successful strategies for increasing readiness, as well as gaps in research, policy, and practice, and can point to important roles for community, business, and phil- anthropic partners to play in developing a coordinated approach to college readiness.
Researchers at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University (AISR) have under- taken to develop a brief guide to this burgeoning field, as part of the College Readiness Indicator System (CRIS) initiative
Here's the report. It is quite brief and worth the time to read it, if college readiness is a subject area you are interested or involved with.
Statewide Education News
Every year 500 families are wait-listed for a preschool spot in Cincinnati Public Schools. Unfortunately, when a 3-year-old’s brain is ready to learn, it really can’t wait. You can’t hold it in abeyance, even if you’re Ohio, the state that has slashed $13.3 million from preschool education over the last three years and now ranks dead last of 39 states that offer state pre-K support. Read More…
Lynn Elfner, CEO of the Ohio Academy of Science, will retire at the end of this year. By late Saturday afternoon, more than 1,200 students will have packed up their experiments, folded their poster boards, gathered their ribbons and trophies if they won them and headed back to all points across Ohio. Another year, another Ohio State Science Day. Read More…
Work continues on Columbus’ casino, expected to open later this year and generate millions in state and local revenue. Ohio will reap hundreds of millions of dollars a year after casinos start opening in May. Even more will pour in if horse-racing tracks withstand a court challenge and open lottery-run slots parlors in coming years. Read More…
Teachers may have to work longer and pay more into their pension system if a proposal to the Ohio Legislature is accepted. The Legislature is moving on public pension reform, and three of the funds have updated their proposals. The most significant updates are in the State Teachers Retirement System, or STRS. Read More…
Groveport Madison High School teacher Jack Wills plays a small blues concert on his guitar for students each year before final exams. Wills, who teaches Chinese, will perform his last show this year. He decided last month to retire at the end of the school year, joining the larger-than-anticipated number of educators heading to the exits. Read More…
Local Issues
Tech prep partners are working to make sure students can get skills needed in the workforce. Funding cuts have forced those helping in this effort to consolidate and streamline services. The cuts come as schools face increased requirements. The end game remains the same: making sure high school tech prep programs meet state requirements and giving students an opportunity to continue their education beyond high school. Read More…
Environmental sciences teacher Tracy Burge remembered the first time she tried getting her Loveland High students interested in recycling two years ago. As she dug in cafeteria trash bins, “up to my elbows in spaghetti,” pulling out soda cans and other materials, “they all stood back and watched me,” she said Monday. “Then as I continued to do it, one or two brave souls joined me.” Read More…
Some charter school backers say the Cleveland school reform legislation would unfairly limit school choice options in the city and are taking their concerns directly to state lawmakers. The plan would allow Mayor Frank Jackson to appoint a Transformation Alliance panel that could block future charter schools from opening in the city unless they meet a set of academic criteria the panel would later develop. Read More…
Area educators will spend their summer brainstorming how to adjust their teaching style to improve student engagement. Teachers from Lake County schools as well as officials from area colleges and local businesses will work together, specifically in the area of math and science, to construct a teaching model that gets students thinking and incorporates necessary skills from the working world. Read More…
Energy efficiency, zero waste programs in their food service operations and community eco-friendly gardens that support local charities are all features that describe Ohio's Green Ribbon School state awardees. These include Berkshire Schools in Geauga County and Mayfield Schools in Cuyahoga County, which received honorable mention in the recognition program. Read More…
Charter schools were once the bad guys in the minds of school district officials, who considered them a horde of profiteers out to pillage students and dollars from traditional public schools. Not anymore. At least not when it comes to the Cleveland school district and its chosen charter partner, Breakthrough Schools. Read More…
The legal fees incurred trying to terminate the contract of a Kettering Fairmont High School English teacher have cost the school district more than $70,000 in the last year. And, according to Michael Togliatti’s lawyer, John Doll, the case is “far from over.” Read More…
Two-thirds of the elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati operated at a deficit last year, spending $1.15 for every $1 they raised, the archdiocese reported in its first-ever financial study. At least 61 of 80 reporting grade schools had operating losses averaging about $239,000 each. The total shortfall for all 80 schools was $15 million. (Ten elementary schools and the 23 high schools were not in the report.) Read More…
Most students today are too young to remember the killing spree in Littleton, Colo., that changed the way the American education system looks at violence in schools. The attitude of "it can't happen here" disappeared April 20, 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris walked into Columbine High School and took the lives of 12 students and a teacher, wounded 24 others and then took their own lives. Read More…
“The more things change, the more they stay the same” is the popular government maxim. It’s especially true of the Local Government Fund — a chunk of state tax funds given to counties, cities, townships and villages throughout Ohio — and how it’s divvied up once it gets to Mahoning County. Read More…
Bioscience companies are coming to Ohio expecting to find qualified workers, and industry advocates are working to keep pace with their growing demand. From 2004 to 2010, more than 400 biology, medicine or science-related companies began operations in the Buckeye State. Read More…
Burt Lancaster won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Elmer Gantry, the con man-turned-evangelist whose fiery oration whipped tent crowds into a frenzy. He could have taken a few pointers from Cheryl Carter, director of the North Central State College Urban Center in Mansfield. Carter had more than 700 Malabar Intermediate School students on their feet Friday morning, cheering, applauding and shouting a pledge to bring their "A game" to three days of Ohio Achievement Assessment testing next week. Read More…
Students in two Dublin high schools will take a test next month to compare their math, reading and science skills with those of students in other countries. Dublin Jerome and Scioto high schools were selected among 100 high schools in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to take an early version of the PISA-based Test for Schools. The test is made by the same group that created the Programme for International Student Assessment, a test given every three years to a sample of schools around the world to compare scores among nations. Read More…
Chardon High School students will be rockin’ out in style at their prom May 5 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Not only was the school voted the winner of a contest for a $5,000 prom package, but numerous additional donors have come forward, ramping up the value to about $150,000, according to Matt Radicelli, founder and owner of Rock the House Entertainment Group. Read More…
Yes, their school buildings are closing. But for the kids at Moler Elementary, and some from Heyl Elementary, there are perks, too. Because they’re being moved this fall to a middle-school building — Southmoor, which is being closed as a middle school — they’ll enjoy a gymnasium. They’ll have a separate cafeteria, music and art rooms and an auditorium with a nice, big stage. Columbus’ elementary buildings typically have combination gyms/lunchrooms/auditoriums. Read More…
Editorial & Opinion
The concerted push on the part of politicians, school officials and some parents to get students to eat more-healthful meals has run into resistance: It turns out that some kids just don’t want what they’re selling. Like other school districts around the country, several suburban districts in central Ohio have seen lunch sales fall after instituting lower-fat and reduced-calorie menus. Read More…
A relatively consistent legislative framework for teacher evaluation has evolved across states in the past few years. Many of the legal concerns that arise do so because of inflexible, arbitrary and often ill-conceived yet standard components of this legislative template. There exist three basic features of the standard model, each of which is problematic on its own regard, and those problems become multiplied when used in combination.
First, the standard evaluation model proposed in legislation requires that objective measures of student achievement growth necessarily be considered in a weighting system of parallel components. Student achievement growth measures are assigned, for example, a 40 or 50% weight alongside observation and other evaluation measures. Placing the measures alongside one another in a weighting scheme assumes all measures in the scheme to be of equal validity and reliability but of varied importance (utility) – varied weight. Each measure must be included, and must be assigned the prescribed weight – with no opportunity to question the validity of any measure. [1]Such a system also assumes that the various measures included in the system are each scaled such that they can vary to similar degrees. That is, that the observational evaluations will be scaled to produce similar variation to the student growth measures, and that the variance in both measures is equally valid – not compromised by random error or bias. In fact, however, it remains highly likely that some components of the teacher evaluation model will vary far more than others if by no other reasons than that some measures contain more random noise than others or that some of the variation is attributable to factors beyond the teachers’ control. Regardless of the assigned weights and regardless of the cause of the variation (true or false measure) the measure that varies more will carry more weight in the final classification of the teacher as effective or not. In a system that places differential weight, but assumes equal validity across measures, even if the student achievement growth component is only a minority share of the weight, it may easily become the primary tipping point in most high stakes personnel decisions.
Second, the standard evaluation model proposed in legislation requires that teachers be placed into effectiveness categories by assigning arbitrary numerical cutoffs to the aggregated weighted evaluation components. That is, a teacher in the 25%ile or lower when combining all evaluation components might be assigned a rating of “ineffective,” whereas the teacher at the 26%ile might be labeled effective. Further, the teacher’s placement into these groupings may largely if not entirely hinge on their rating in the student achievement growth component of their evaluation. Teachers on either side of the arbitrary cutoff are undoubtedly statistically no different from one another. In many cases as with the recently released teacher effectiveness estimates on New York City teachers, the error ranges for the teacher percentile ranks have been on the order of 35%ile points (on average, up to 50% with one year of data). Assuming that there is any real difference between the teacher at the 25%ile and 26%ile (as their point estimate) is a huge unwarranted stretch. Placing an arbitrary, rigid, cut-off score into such noisy measures makes distinctions that simply cannot be justified especially when making high stakes employment decisions.
Third, the standard evaluation model proposed in legislation places exact timelines on the conditions for removal of tenure. Typical legislation dictates that teacher tenure either can or must be revoked and the teacher dismissed after 2 consecutive years of being rated ineffective (where tenure can only be achieved after 3 consecutive years of being rate effective).[2]As such, whether a teacher rightly or wrongly falls just below or just above the arbitrary cut-offs that define performance categories may have relatively inflexible consequences.
The Forced Choice between “Bad” Measures and “Wrong” Ones
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