Dispatch dodge disappoints

The Columbus Dispatch has cheered on the Governor's education "reform" plans every step of the way, from the draconian budget cuts, to SB5 - the Governor has had the full support of the state capital's newspaper of record. A need to improve the quality of Ohio's public education system, challenge the "status quo" has been their rally cry.

We were shocked then, to not read any editorial in this weekend's Dispatch criticizing the Governor for his appointment of an unqualified candidate to the State board of Education.

According to the Dispatch's own reporting, the Governor appointed Stanley Jackson, without ever having seen his resume. The Governor claiming Mr. Jackson's involvement in a charter school was qualification enough, only to discover that the charter school does not yet exist, and before Mr. Jackson can even spend one day on that job, he will resign from his fake school in order to avoid legal complications.

Furthermore, according to reports from NPR,

Kasich spokesperson Rob Nichols said Jackson is currently a candidate for an elected seat on the State Board of Education. Nichols said Jackson’s candidacy was what brought him to the attention of the governor’s office.

However, Jackson has not actually filed to run for state Board of Education, according to the Allen County Board of Elections. The deadline to file is Aug. 8.

StateImpact also reports that Mr. Jackson was an OSU dropout and never obtained his degree.

The State board of education has a full plate of policy to implement and guide, from common core, to teacher evaluations, and a new reading guarantee just for starters - it needs to have qualified people with a deep understanding of the issues in order to be successful, something Mr. Jackson does not posses.

Given these facts, why then has the Dispatch editorial board remained silent? Does their support of the Governor's education policies stop at the waters edge once criticism of their implementation is warranted?

Instead what the Dispatch editorial board decided to publish this weekend was another rehash of the SB5 fight, a sign that the Dispatch cares more about it's partisan politics than policies, even those it allegedly supports.

UPDATE

The ABJ manages to publish an appropriate editorial on this subject.

Local educators counter Romney

Yesterday, Mitt Romney came to town to host a lavish million dollar fundraiser at the New Albany home of Lex Wexner. According to news reports, the gathering was a who's who of Ohio's 1%.

Meanwhile, educators gathered in New Albany to hold a press conference to highlight Mitt Romney's anti-teacher, anti-public education agenda.

After the press conference concluded, a handful of Mitt Romney supporters, recruited from a local equestrian club perhaps, showed up late to counter the press conference.

Bloomberg news reports on the somewhat schizophrenic messaging problem Mitt Romney has

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter. Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.

What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.

Ohio media and now wondering if Ronmey has had similar conversations with Gov. Kasich.

Education News for 06-22-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Kasich lauds his pick of ex-OSU quarterback for state school board (Dispatch)

Gov. John Kasich described his new pick for the Ohio Board of Education yesterday as “a man of great character,” “a man of faith” and a “great addition” to the board. On Monday, Kasich appointed former Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson, 37, to replace Dennis Reardon on the 19-member board and serve the final six months of an at-large term. The Republican governor’s critics raised questions about Jackson’s qualifications for the board and Kasich’s vetting process. Read more...

• Ohio schools must prep for food allergy reactions (Telegraph Forum)

Food allergies are a part of the modern day school room. Ask just about any teacher, principal and of course school nurse (for schools that still have one) and they'll tell you that food allergies are among their many daily concerns when it comes to the well-being of students. Nationwide Children's Hospital estimates that one in 20 children have a food allergy. It's no wonder school personnel must address this very serious health concern. Read more...

Local Issues

• Advocates complain that juveniles in jail aren’t getting schools’ attention (Dispatch)

They’re “off the radar” kids. Special-needs juveniles who are doing time in jails and prisons with adults are entitled to, but often are not receiving, an education behind bars. That’s the thrust of a complaint filed against Columbus City Schools and the Focus Learning Academy by the Children’s Law Center Inc. The 14-page, class-action complaint was filed with the Ohio Department of Education. It is an administrative complaint, not a lawsuit. Read more...

• City schools cut 21 positions, $3M (Dayton Daily News)

DAYTON — Dayton Public Schools approved a budget Tuesday that cuts 21 positions and $3 million for fiscal year 2012, which is slightly more than 1 percent of its projected total expenditures. Those positions are for 12 part-time home instructors, three clerical employees and six high school physical education teachers. The 12 home instructors will be laid off and the other nine employees in the affected positions will be offered employment opportunities within the district, according to spokeswoman Melissa Fowler. Read more...

• Poland board members have their work cut out for them (Vindicator)

News earlier this month that the Poland Board of Education will place a five-year, 5.9-mill additional operating levy on the Nov. 6 ballot has unleashed a tsunami of passionate protest among many in one of most respected and best performing school districts in the Mahoning Valley. Judging by those passions that range from polite questioning to outright outrage and the school board’s 0-3 record of winning additional tax-levy approval over the past two years. Read more...

Editorial

• A new tack on funding California's schools (L.A. Times)

Wouldn't it make sense for education funding in California to be transparent and equitable, with money spent according to students' varying needs? Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing to inject some overdue clarity and logic into the process by allocating to schools a flat amount per pupil, plus a large additional sum for low-income students or those who aren't fluent in English. The governor's plan is far from perfect — it's especially lacking in accountability — and the Legislature appears unwilling to support it this year for reasons both political and philosophical. Read more...

Shaming teachers

The efforts by corporate education reformers to shame teachers by publishing value-add scores and evaluations is coming under mounting pressure. First Bill Gates penned an op-ed in the NYT titled "Shame Is Not the Solution, now comes 2 new pieces. The first is research from the National Education Policy Center, that finds the LA Times controversial efforts to shame California's teachers was grossly error ridden

In its second attempt to rank Los Angeles teachers based on “value-added” assessments derived from students’ standardized test scores, the Los Angeles Times has still produced unreliable information that cannot be used for the purpose the newspaper intends, according to new research released today by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Catherine Durso of the University of Denver studied the newspaper’s 2011 rankings of teachers and found that they rely on data yielding results that are unstable from year to year. Additionally, Durso found that the value-added assessment model used by the Times can easily impute to teachers effects that may in fact result from outside factors, such as a student’s poverty level or the neighborhood in which he or she lives.

“The effect estimate for each teacher cannot be taken at face value,” Durso writes. Instead, each teacher’s effect estimate includes a large “error band” that reflects the probable range of scores for a teacher under the assessment system.

“The error band . . . for many teachers is larger than the entire range of scores from the ‘less effective’ to ‘more effective’ designations provided by the LA Times,” Durso writes. As a consequence, the so-called teacher-linked effect for individual teachers “is also unstable over time,” she continues.
[...]
These failings have rendered the Times’ rankings not merely useless, but potentially harmful, according to Alex Molnar, NEPC’s publications director and a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“The Los Angeles Times has added no value to the discussion of how best to identify and retain the highest-quality teachers for our nation’s children,” Molnar says. “Indeed, it has made things worse. Based on this flawed use of data, parents are enticed into thinking their children’s teachers are either wonderful or terrible.”

“The Los Angeles Times editors and reporters either knew or should have known that their reporting was based on a social science tool that cannot validly or reliably do what they set out to quantify,” Molnar said. “Yet in their ignorance or arrogance they used it anyway, to the detriment of children, teachers, and parents.”

Their full report can be read here. Meanwhile in New York, which has long been at the cutting edge of corporate ed reform efforts has passed legislation that would eliminate this kind of teacher shaming

Senate Republicans agreed to take up Cuomo’s bill on the final day of the session. The bill will make public all teacher evaluations, without names attached. Parents would then be able to obtain the specific evaluations of their own child’s teacher. Assembly Democrats had already agreed to pass it. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says it’s a reasonable compromise.

“It strikes a good balance between parents’ right to know and some form of confidentially,” Skelos said. Some GOP Senators were concerned that the bill would inadvertently result in the disclosure of the identities of teachers in small rural schools.

Senate Education Chair John Flanagan calls it a “work in progress,” and says the message of intent accompanying the bill will attempt to make clear the need to protect teacher privacy. “I’m hoping that if you’re in a small school and they release data by class, subject and grade that there’s some type of interpretation to protect people’s privacy,” said Flanagan.

Ohio's legislature should pass similar efforts in Ohio.

Education News for 06-21-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Ohio’s school funding fares well in report (Dispatch)

As the Ohio House prepares for another series of hearings on the school-funding formula next week, a new report shows that, from a national perspective, Ohio schools are doing better than most financially. When ranked on four criteria relating to how the state allotted and distributed funding in 2009 — the most-recent year of data available — Ohio was one of three states to receive an A in distributing funds fairly among districts of varying income levels. Read more...

• Cleveland schools bill among several sent to Gov. John Kasich for signature (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS — A bill containing Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s schools reform plan is among 16 bills that officially were delivered to Gov. John Kasich Wednesday for his signature. Kasich, a Republican, is expected to publicly sign the Cleveland schools bill in the near future alongside Jackson, a Democrat, in Cleveland. The bills sent to Kasich all were passed last week in a flurry of legislative action before lawmakers went on their lengthy summer break. Read more...

• Summer Reading Program Focuses On State Standards (ONN)

CINCINNATI - The National Underground Railroad Freedom center is one of four organizations hosting the Freedom Schools this summer in Cincinnati. Officials said 50 students are at each school, learning to love a good book. Adonya Streat, 9, will be in fourth grade this fall and enjoys reading Dr. Seuss books, like Green Eggs and Ham. The Children's Defense Fund are running these six week schools which is free for low income students, reported ONN's Lot Tan. Read more...

• Treasurers accused of mishandling $1.4 million (Dayton Daily News)

Two treasurers listed on a state audit released Tuesday of a now-closed local charter school are responsible for a combined $1.4 million in allegedly mishandled public funds, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis. Carl Shye and Edward Dudley were both named in an audit released Tuesday of the Carter G. Woodson Institute, which closed in July 2010. The audit singled out $168,772 in allegedly mishandled public funds in that school’s waning months. Read more...

Local Issues

• Probe might hinder Columbus schools’ levy (Dispatch)

A citizens committee is leaning toward recommending that Columbus City Schools place no levy on the ballot in November, saying that voters might not see past the cloud created by an investigation into why district employees changed thousands of student-attendance records. Eight of the 11 members who were present yesterday on the 14-member panel said they favored or leaned toward delaying a levy request until at least spring. Three other members wanted to go forward or appeared wary about waiting. Read more...

• Board approves increase in insurance premiums (Vindicator)

Canfield - School board members approved a 5 percent increase in medical-insurance premiums for the upcoming school year. They approved the increase during Wednesday’s meeting where four of the five board members were present. Three voted yes with board President Adrianne Sturm abstaining because she purchases the district’s insurance. Sturm said it’s standard for premiums to increase each year, and a 5 percent increase is fairly low. Read more...

• Reynoldsburg may shut charter school (Dispatch)

A local charter school could be suspended next week for suspected nepotism and a poor financial outlook. Reynoldsburg school board members voted Tuesday to suspend operation of Virtual Community School of Ohio, the online charter school that the district sponsors. To keep the school open, its officials must prove it was legal to hire relatives of the superintendent and that the school can make financial ends meet. Read more...

• Lakota losing principals at high rate (Enquirer)

LIBERTY TWP. — The financial woes of one of the area’s highest-rated school districts has helped drive away more than half its principals in the last two school years. Of Lakota Schools’ 20 building principal positions, seven – 35 percent – have recently resigned due to retirement or other jobs. That follows the 2010-11 school year, which saw four principals depart, leaving Lakota with a 55 percent turnover rate among its school building leaders since spring 2011. Read more...

• City school students may get free lunches this fall (Vindicator)

Youngstown - It turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch. All city school students will get a free lunch beginning this fall if the district’s application for a new program is approved. The Community Eligibility Option provides free reimbursement to districts for all students if the district includes 62.5 percent students who are directly certified as eligible through food stamps. In the city school district, 76 percent of students are directly certified while 93 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches under federal guidelines. Read more...

• Proposed bond issue for Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools' master facilities plan reduced to 5.9 mills (Sun News)

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - It appears the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board is moving forward with Plan C, the comprehensive master facilities plan that would require a bond issue on the November ballot. Steve Shergalis, the district’s director of business services, presented a list of funding options for the plan to the board at a work session June 18 at Wiley Middle School. The primary expense is a proposed 5.9-mill bond issue that would generate $137.2 million over a 37-year period. Read more...

Editorial

• Gone studyin’ (Beacon Journal)

The Ohio House Finance Committee spent the spring brushing up on the basics of the school funding system. The House plans several regional hearings on the issue during the summer break. When it comes to funding public education, it is hard to say Ohio legislators have not done due diligence in one aspect: studying the issue. Since the Ohio Supreme Court first ruled the state’s funding system unconstitutional, a succession of governors and legislators have promised earnestly to come up with a plan that would fix funding inequities. Read more...

• Teacher prep (Chicago Tribune)

The best way to boost public education in Illinois is to make sure only the best teachers lead classrooms. Two years ago, Illinois took a huge stride toward that goal: The Illinois State Board of Education dramatically lifted standards for college students who want to become teachers. The board required college students to correctly answer about 75 percent of questions on a basic skills test in math, reading and language arts — as well as master a writing test — before they can be admitted to their colleges' teacher prep programs. Read more...

Education News for 06-20-2012

State Education News

• Ex-OSU quarterback needs no resume for state post (Columbus Dispatch)

Gov. John Kasich didn’t get a look at former Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson’s playbook before he appointed him to the state Board of Education. Read more...

Local Education News

• Cleveland School District plans to move STEM high school students (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cleveland School District's MC²STEM high school for science, technology, engineering and math plans to move its juniors and seniors to Cleveland State University. Read more...

• Charter-school treasurer’s accounting questioned in state audit (Columbus Dispatch)

The state auditor says another charter-school treasurer is responsible for misspending about $170,000 in taxpayer money and has committed ethical misdeeds. Read more...

• Streetsboro schools receive $80,000 grant to improve online classroom (Ravenna Record-Courier)

Streetsboro -- The Streetsboro City School District plans to purchase 30 new computers plus a SMART board with money from an $80,000Blended Learning grant that was awarded to the school system by the Ohio Etech Commission. Read more...

• Summer Meals Program Underway In Mansfield (WMFD)

The Mansfield City Schools will again be the vendor for the Ohio Summer Food Service Program in the city. Read more...

Editorial

• A full accounting (Columbus Dispatch)

If an investigation proves some Columbus City Schools officials are falsifying student-attendance records to make schools’ performance ratings look better, the district should come clean with the details, however embarrassing. Read more...

• State needs to back education mandates with dollars (Marietta Times)

Children who don't learn to read at an early age often lag behind their peers throughout school. In extreme cases, they become so frustrated by failure they either stop trying to succeed in the classroom or drop out of school. Read more...