Education News for 06-27-2012

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Statewide Stories of the Day

  • Kasich asks agencies not to seek more funds (Dispatch)

    • Those looking for a sign that state agencies will soon see relief from the punishing economic downturn won’t find much to like in Gov. John Kasich’s latest budget move. But those who have observed Kasich’s desire to hold the line on spending should not be surprised that he has asked state agencies to start the next budget process with plans to spend no more than what they are getting in fiscal year 2013, which starts on July 1. Read more...

  • U.S. Department of Education data shows career-training graduates struggle to repay loans (Plain Dealer)

    • CLEVELAND — Students who completed career-training programs at almost 100 institutions across the country, including one in Northeast Ohio, have so much difficulty repaying their student loans that the schools could be banned from offering federal financial aid, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education. The federal agency has put those schools on notice for failing to meet any of the three benchmarks set by its Gainful Employment regulations. Read more...

  • Elida schools to seek earned-income tax (Lima News)

    • ELIDA — Elida school officials said they listened to voters who say they want an alternative to property taxes. Now they hope those voters come through for them. The school board unanimously voted Tuesday to put a five-year, 0.75 percent earned-income tax on the November ballot. It will raise $2.06 million a year for operations and keep the district out of deficit spending, where it is headed in two years. Superintendent Don Diglia said officials talked to a lot of people before deciding to go with an income tax. Read more...

    The Ohio Coalition for Quality Education (Miamisburg) had an exclusive video discussion on education issues with two of Ohio's leading policymakers. You can view this video here…

Local Issues

  • Panel: Delay Columbus schools tax vote until 2013 (Dispatch)

    • A citizens committee urged the Columbus school board not to go to voters in November for a tax increase, but rather wait until next year. The panel voted 8-2 yesterday morning to delay putting new millage on the ballot until either the spring or fall of 2013. While Superintendent Gene Harris offered the committee two options that would have placed an issue on this November’s ballot, the panel shot down those proposals. Each option would have totaled 7.5 mills, adding about $230 in new tax for each $100,000 in appraised property value. Read more...

  • Wickliffe Schools looking into privatized bus service (News-Herald)

    • Tuesday's Wickliffe School Board meeting featured comments from both sides about the possibility of the district switching to privatized school bus services. Matthew Molek, vice president of Ohio Association of Public Schools Employees local 196, which includes district bus drivers, asked the board to hold off on considering privatizing bussing, at least until the union's current contract runs up. "Right now we are right in the middle of our contract," Molek said. "My comment is: Honor the contract until next year, and we'll look at it then." Read more...

  • Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District contracts expire June 30 (Sun News)

    • June 30 is the last day of the current contract for nearly 450 teachers and support staff in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District. And that is a concern for both the unions and their supporters. Those concerns were voiced June 25 when the employees and supporters crammed into the Board of Education building for the regular monthly school board meeting. According to a release from the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff. Read more...

  • Residents urge board to reconsider options (Vindicator)

    • Austintown - Public displeasure continued to be voiced Tuesday over the current busing situation for Catholic students living in the township. A handful of residents, including township Trustee Jim Davis, addressed the Austintown school board during Tuesday’s regular meeting, urging the members to change their minds about cutting busing to Catholic schools outside of the township. The proposal, announced in May, offers public-transit vouchers to private-school students instead of using district vehicles. Read more...

  • Board gives thumbs-up for TPS' top officials (Blade)

    • The Toledo Board of Education gave its top two administrators a vote of confidence Tuesday in midyear evaluations. The board expressed support for both Superintendent Jerome Pecko and Treasurer Matt Cleland after conducting evaluations last week in closed meetings. The evaluation results read publicly Tuesday did not include any rating of performance or specific areas identified by the board as weaknesses or strengths in either man's performance. Read more...

  • Board of Education extends Eric S. Gordon's contract as CEO for 3 Years (WOIO 19 CBS)

    • CLEVELAND - Tuesday night, the Cleveland Board of Education voted to extend Eric S. Gordon's contract as Chief Executive Officer through June 2015. Gordon previously served CMSD as its Chief Academic Officer from 2007 to 2011. After a national search produced three finalists from outside the district in its search for a CEO last year, the Board by-passed the top candidates for CEO and awarded a one-year contract to Gordon in June, 2011. Read more...

Editorial

  • What to do with Ohio's extra cash (Plain Dealer)

    • On Saturday, Ohio closes the books on this fiscal year -- the first of two in the Ohio biennial budget -- and opens another check register. Thanks to an uptick in the local economy as well as good management by Gov. John Kasich and the General Assembly, Ohio is, and will stay, in the black. Probably next week, Budget Director Tim Keen will announce final 2011-12 numbers, but some trends already are clear. For the 11 months ending May 31, tax collections were $1.3 billion (7.8 percent) greater than the year-earlier period while spending fell by $130 million (0.5 percent). Read more...

  • More money not sure fix for schools (Tribune Chronicle)

    • Ohio has received high marks from researchers looking into how public education funding is handled. But tell that to officials and taxpayers in financially beleaguered school districts. They understand that good grades in a national study are one thing, but the reality of not being able to balance a district's budget is something else. Just three states - Ohio, New Jersey and Utah - received ''A'' grades for education financing in a study by Rutgers University and the Education Law Center. Read more...

The New Ohio Teacher Evaluation System

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American Society Today has a great post up, that they have kindly allowed us to reproduce. If you're not bookmarking or following American Society Today, you're missing out on some great stuff.

As a result of Ohio House Bill 153, Ohio's budget, the legislature has mandated new standards for teacher evaluations. These new mandates apply to both Race to the Top districts and districts that did not receive Race to the Top funds. The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) was given the task of developing the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES pronounced [ō-tĕs]). Ohio Senate Bill 316, the Mid-Budget Review made some changes to these requirements, so the requirements have continued to change. Despite these changes, there is a framework that has emerged as the basic structure for the system. Here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions about OTES from ODE: FAQs

ODE has recently released some videos on YouTube to help educate people about Ohio's new Teacher Evaluation System. These videos have been embedded below.


Ohio's Teacher Evaluation System-What's Changing?




Evaluation of Teacher Performance-How Will This Work?

 Evaluation of Student Growth Measures-How Will This Work?


In this video he does not talk a lot about the locally determined measures of student growth, which will be the measures used for the majority of teachers. The process that ODE has developed for developing these is known as Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), which he mentions in the video but does not explain. Here is a link to more information about Student Learning Objectives from the Symposium on Teacher Evaluations that ODE provided on May 25, 2012: http://ohioeducatoreval.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/slosymposiumpresentation.pdf
Here is a link to brief explanation of the Student Learning Objective process from ODE: Student Learning Objectives
Here is a link to the template checklist for writing Student Learning Objectives: SLO Checklist

Teacher Ratings -How Will They Be Used?


In this video he does not talk a lot about performance pay or employment decisions, which to many people are the most important topics related to teacher evaluations in Ohio. Ohio HB 153 requires that teachers who are rated "Accomplished" be paid more than teachers who are rated "Proficient." Also, any teacher rated "Ineffective" for two out of three years may not be renewed. Local districts will be developing these new performance pay systems over the next couple of years.

Education News for 06-26-2012

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Statewide Stories of the Day

  • Kasich signs legislation for schools, work force (Dispatch)

    • Gov. John Kasich signed wide-ranging education and work-force development legislation yesterday that will implement a third-grade reading guarantee, a tougher evaluation system for schools starting next year and a requirement that schools provide tutoring and other intervention to struggling readers. The new law also will change the way teachers are evaluated and tested. Kasich signed Senate Bill 316 on location at the Fifth Third Bank Madisonville Operations Center in Cincinnati, surrounded by business executives and lawmakers. Read more...

  • Gov. John Kasich signs third grade reading guarantee bill into law (Plain Dealer)

    • COLUMBUS - Gov. John Kasich on Monday signed a bill that steps up public education standards across Ohio and includes a requirement that some third-graders be held back if they cannot read at grade level. The third grade reading guarantee was the hot-button topic in Senate Bill 316, a multi-faceted education and workforce development bill that the Republican governor signed in Cincinnati. Kasich said he doesn't intend the new law to be a form of punishment for 8- and 9-year-old boys and girls who want to move on to the fourth grade. Read more...

  • Third-graders could be held back (Enquirer)

    • New education reforms Gov. John Kasich signed into law Monday prompted mixed emotions – excitement and apprehension – among Cincinnati-area parents and educators. Senate Bill 316 will, among other things, cause some third-graders to be held back if they cannot read on grade level. The bill also would encourage public schools to adopt more online classes, and cause teachers who have two negative evaluations to get more training and take subject-matter tests to keep their jobs. Read more...

  • Governor signs education bill (Blade)

    • MADISONVILLE - Gov. John Kasich has signed a sweeping education bill that seeks to strengthen ties between the state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy changes. Mr. Kasich gave final approval to the bill Monday at Fifth Third Bank's operations center in Madisonville. Under the measure, Ohio third graders lagging in reading skills face the possibility of being held back for up to two school years as they get academic help. Read more...

  • Ohio Education Reforms Signed Into Law (ONN)

    • SPRINGFIELD - Gov. John Kasich signed an education bill on Monday that seeks to strengthen ties between the state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy changes. Kasich said the centerpiece of Senate Bill 316 will focus on making sure elementary school kids read at a satisfactory level before they pass to the next grade level, reported ONN's Lot Tan. "The worst thing we can do is to have social advancement because you're stealing a kid's future," said Kasich. Read more...

  • Ohio agency heads told to plan for no growth or a cut in next state budget (Plain Dealer)

    • COLUMBUS - State agency heads will be lucky if they get to keep current funding levels when Gov. John Kasich rolls out the next state budget in the spring. That's the tone being set by a budget guidance document released Monday by Kasich's administration that asks state agencies to plan a pair of scenarios for the 2014-15 budget -- one where they see no growth in funding and a second in which agencies are hit with a 10 percent cut in general revenue funds. Read more...

  • Governor signs education portion of budget update, with his tougher reading (Ohio Public Radio)

    • Now that Gov. John Kasich has signed the idea into law, Ohio schools will be told not to let third graders move onto fourth grade, unless they’ve shown they can read. At a signing ceremony today in Cincinnati, the governor noted the law tells schools to spot non-readers earlier in elementary school and provide tutoring and other special help…to get them up to speed. The new law provides $13 million to local schools to help them pay for special reading programs, but some education activists contend that’s nowhere near enough money. Read more...

Local Issues

  • Rossford board OKs audit to seek ways to save (Blade)

    • Rossford Schools will have a performance audit done by the Ohio state auditor in an effort to find ways to save money. The board of education agreed to the audit last week after hearing a presentation by Derek Merrin, a performance analyst for the auditor's office. Mr. Merrin said the purpose of a performance audit was to find savings for local governments and school districts. Recommendations could be ignored or implemented any way the school board liked. Read more...

  • Granville considers pay-to-participate for school activities (Newark Advocate)

    • GRANVILLE - A pay-to-participate policy for Granville Schools this year might include an increase in the high school student activity fee, the addition of a middle-school activity fee and still another charge for each sport, club or activity. Serious discussion of such a policy, first brought up in March when the board approved a Reduction In Force resolution laying off several staff members, began at Monday night's board of education meeting. No action was taken. Read more...

  • Teachers upset over contract talks swarm Brecksville-Broadview Heights School Board meeting (WEWS 5 ABC)

    • BRECKSVILLE - Teachers wearing red shirts overwhelmed the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Board of Education meeting Monday night. Hundreds of teachers, unhappy with contract negotiations, tried to pack into the board room with a capacity for only 50. They came to show solidarity for their union and to hear the board's financial report. The board was reluctant to move or postpone the meeting, so the fire marshal was called to clear out the standing room only crowd. Read more...

  • Budget situation better for Mansfield City Schools (News-Journal)

    • MANSFIELD - Mansfield City Schools officials hope the district will soon be off the state's financial concern watch list. They believe the district has turned the corner and could be off the list by September. The district was declared in a state of fiscal watch in 2006, meaning financial problems could threaten the school's ability to operate. The designation is the middle marker between caution and fiscal emergency. Read more...

  • Lakota approves open enrollment (Enquirer)

    • The Lakota Board of Education approved at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday the hiring of a new assistant superintendent and a new open enrollment policy, which allows children of Lakota employees who don’t live in the school district to attend Lakota schools. Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia recommended Robb Vogelmann, who was named principal at Liberty Junior School three years ago, for the district’s open assistant superintendent position. Read more...

  • 'Project Love' sees girl graduation success (WKYC 3 NBC)

    • CLEVELAND - Some would have given up on them but not Project Love. Five years ago, then-Collinwood High School Principal Deborah Moore identified the eighth grade girls entering the school at greatest risk for dropping out in the next year. According to the Ohio Department of Education, Collinwood High School had a graduation rate of 52.7 percent in 2009-2010, lower than the overall Cleveland Metropolitan School District average of 62.8 percent. Read more...

555

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555. That's the new number that Ohioans interested in education policy will need to watch next. H.B.555 is starting life out as a placeholder for the school ratings policy that was stripped from SB316 due to strenous oposition. According to Rep Stebelton, the bill will have substance around imd September, after aseries of meetings with law makers, DOE, school admins and superintendents and OSBA.

H.B.555 is also likely to be piled high with other edcuation policy changes. Report cards for drop out schools, charter schools and peformance standards for eSchools are likely to be included. Gongwer is also reporting that ODE has drafted recommendations it intends to present to the General Assembly, and Rep. Stebelton said H.B.555 could be their destination.

Stay tuned.

School levies on the August 2012 ballot

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Here are the school levies and issues that will appear on the August 7th, 2012 special election ballots.

There are 26 requests for new monies (including bonds) and 9 renewal requests.

There are 2 bond issues, 1 combined bond and tax levy issue, 4 income tax issues, 1 combined bond and income tax issue, 1 combined income and tax levy issue and 26 tax levy issues. That makes a total of 35 school financing issues in total

County District Type N/R
Ashtabula Ashtabula Area CSD Tax Levy New
Ashtabula Geneva Area CSD Tax Levy New
Ashtabula Jefferson Area LSD Tax Levy New
Butler Monroe LSD Tax Levy New
Columbiana Columbiana EVSD Bond New
Cuyahoga Brecksville-Broadview Heights CSD Tax Levy Renew
Darke Tri-Village LSD Tax Levy New
Delaware Buckeye Valley LSD Income Tax & Bond New
Erie Margaretta LSD Tax Levy Renew
Franklin Groveport-Madison LSD Tax Levy Renew
Fulton Swanton LSD Tax Levy Renew
Geauga Chardon LSD Tax Levy New
Greene Xenia Community CSD Income Tax New
Hamilton Lockland LSD Tax Levy New
Holmes East Holmes LSD Tax Levy New
Lake Madison LSD Tax Levy New
Licking North Fork LSD Income Tax Renew
Medina Buckeye LSD Tax Levy New
Miami Bethel LSD Tax Levy Renew
Miami Bethel LSD Tax Levy Renew
Miami Tipp City EVSD Tax Levy New
Montgomery Northmont CSD Tax Levy Renew
Montgomery Vandalia-Butler CSD Tax Levy New
Richland Clear Fork Valley LSD Income Tax New
Sandusky Clyde-Green Springs EVSD Tax Levy New
Scioto Green LSD Tax Levy New
Shelby Jackson Center LSD Income Tax New
Stark Louisville CSD Tax Levy New
Summit Coventry LSD Bond and Tax Levy New
Summit Barberton CSD Tax Levy New
Summit Woodridge LSD Tax Levy New
Wayne Dalton LSD Tax Levy Renew
Williams Bryan CSD Bond New
Williams Edon Northwest LSD Income Tax and Tax Levy New
Wood Lake LSD Tax Levy New

Here are the levy results for the August 2011 special election. 8 of 25 issues were approved. All renewal and replacement requests passed, with just 4 of 21 new requests.

Education News for 06-25-2012

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Statewide Stories of the Day

  • Former-quarterback appointee to quit charter-school effort (Dispatch)

    • Stanley Jackson will resign from the charter school he founded before it ever opens so he can qualify for an appointment to the Ohio Board of Education, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich said yesterday. Jackson, 37, the former Ohio State quarterback whom Kasich appointed to the board on Monday, said during an interview with a radio station yesterday that his charter school was “in place” to open in the fall of 2013. Read more...

  • Driving schools not thrilled with online class option (News-Sun)

    • SPRINGFIELD — Ohio teens taking driver’s education classes will be able to fulfill their 24 hours of classroom requirements online beginning in September, an idea that worries local instructors. The new law, signed by Gov. John Kasich last week, still requires eight hours of in-car instruction for drivers. Local driving school owners expressed concern that online classes may not give drivers who are just learning the roads all the benefits in-class instruction can. Read more...

  • Kasich set to sign education bill here today (Enquirer)

    • MADISONVILLE - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected in Cincinnati today to sign a sweeping education bill that seeks to strengthen ties between the state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy changes. The event will be held at Fifth Third Bank's operations center in Madisonville, 5050 Kingsley Dr. Under the measure, Ohio third-graders lagging in reading skills face the possibility of being held back for up to two school years as they get academic help. Read more...

  • Educators debate when kids should start school (Dayton Daily News)

    • While most parents send their child to kindergarten when he or she is 5 years old, some people delay their child’s entry to give them an academic, social or athletic advantage. About 9 percent of U.S. kindergartners are purposefully held back, or academically redshirted, each year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This practice of delaying an age-appropriate child’s entry into kindergarten is debated by educators and parents. Some say it can lead to academic success and confidence, while others contend it can cause alienation and behavioral problems. Read more...

Local Issues

  • Reynoldsburg's student grouping shows evidence of progress (Dispatch)

    • Meet Elijah Carter, Taylor Kendrick and Quinaya Moore. The Dispatch followed the students through their sixth-grade year at Reynoldsburg’s Hannah Ashton Middle School, which has taken a radical approach of teaching students in one of three groups based on their ability. Advanced students such as Taylor are grouped together in C.R.E.W., struggling ones such as Elijah in Contenders and those in the middle such as Quinaya in Navigators. Hannah Ashton also allows students to move up or down through the groups, depending on their needs and abilities. Read more...

  • Painesville Schools refinance bonds, which is expected to save taxpayers $1 million (News-Herald)

    • Painesville City Schools recently refinanced some outstanding bonds, resulting in savings of more than $1 million for tax payers. The district refinanced parts of its outstanding school construction bonds that were issued in 2004. The bonds provided the district with $31 million that helped create five new school buildings. The school board achieved the savings by approving the issuance of an $8.4 million construction bond, district Treasurer Rick Taylor said. Read more...

  • Few local districts fiscally red-flagged (News-Sun)

    • Twenty-seven public school districts across the state are in either fiscal caution, fiscal watch or fiscal emergency, according to the Ohio Department of Education. “That number might be a few districts low (on average), but the numbers are pretty typical,” said Roger Hardin, who oversees the fiscal oversight program for the ODE. “It’s a fluid list, and districts come and go.” Most importantly for the Springfield area, no local districts made the list, which was released last week. Read more...

  • Schools pruned records, four say (Dispatch)

    • A team of data-processing workers inflated Columbus schools’ attendance figures by routinely and purposely removing large numbers of absent students from the rolls, four former district data analysts told The Dispatch. At the same time, district administrators summoned school principals to the Kingswood Data Center. There, they were schooled in how to alter other students’ attendance data to improve the schools’ academic standing. Read more...

  • Cost savings, convenience among points of contention in new Zane Trace busing plan (Chillicothe Gazette)

    • Not everyone is on board with Zane Trace's new busing plan. A dual-route approach, which is set to be implemented in August, staggers school hours and puts students in grades six through 12 on separate bus routes -- an hour earlier -- than students in kindergarten through grade five. A number of bus drivers, some of whom lost their jobs this past week as a result of the switch to dual routes, have criticized school Superintendent Richard Spindler and the board of education for hastily approving a plan the drivers said might not necessarily save the district money. Read more...

  • 14 Monroe district accounting errors (Journal-News)

    • The state auditor’s office reported 14 accounting citations in the Monroe Local School District’s latest audit report. “There is usually not anything listed on the audit report,” said Monroe treasurer Holly Cahall, who was not the treasurer during the time of the fiscal 2011 audit. “But 14 (incidences) would seem like a significant number.” Asked about the number of infractions the audit report listed, state auditor spokesman Mike Maurer said 14 is a higher than normal number. Read more...

Editorial

  • States Raise the Bar With Standards Implementation (Education Week)

    • This month marks the two-year anniversary of the release of the Common Core State Standards, a set of rigorous academic expectations for English/language arts and mathematics that were envisioned, developed, and now adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia. The most telling shift in K-12 public education in recent history is that virtually every state has set new college- and career-ready standards—common-core or state-approved. Read more...

  • Start fiscal restraint at the top (Plain Dealer)

    • When the economy turns sour and public-sector employees are asked to accept pay freezes or cuts, it's only fair to expect that their leaders should have to submit to financial limits, too. That seems to have happened in the case of hardworking Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon, once again willing to accept a stripped-down contract. Yet some public boards of trustees seem tone-deaf in tough times, risking the wrath of employees and taxpayers alike. Read more...

  • Voice questions (Beacon Journal)

    • John Kasich tapped Stanley Jackson last week to fill a vacancy on the Ohio Board of Education. The governor described the former Ohio State quarterback as “a man of great character” and “a man of faith.” That may be so. The state Senate has the task of confirming the choice. Senators would do well to look more closely at Jackson’s qualifications and preparation for the job. The Columbus Dispatch went searching for the charter school that Jackson supposedly founded. The newspaper discovered the school does not exist. Read more...