Education News for 08-08-2012

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State Education News

  • School costs rise 6% (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Columbus-based Huntington Bank has released its 2012 Backpack Index, which shows that parents can expect to pay 6 percent more than they did in 2011 for back-to-school supplies…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus schools barely keep C on state report card (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus school district has slipped in its score on this year’s state report card and will barely cling to an overall C grade, preliminary data show…Read more...

  • Attendance scandal: ‘There is no way I would condone this,’ Harris says (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Some Columbus school-district principals might have received financial bonuses by retroactively changing student-attendance records to boost their schools’ state report- card numbers, Superintendent Gene Harris acknowledged yesterday…Read more...

  • Madison School levy fails; personnel cuts likely (Willoughby News Herald)

    • The Madison School District will begin to examine where cuts can be made after voters rejected a 4.9-mill levy Tuesday…Read more...

  • Pay-to-play policy in Poland schools brings minimal downsizing to teams (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Pay-to-participate fees haven’t caused a dramatic drop in participation in fall sports, with the exception of high-school cross country, which was anticipated, the athletic director says…Read more...

Editorial

  • Necessary resignation (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio’s Education Department faces Herculean challenges: Fix school funding, repair a district-accountability system mired in scandal and ensure that third-graders can read, to name a few…Read more...

  • Education official must face penalties for errors (Marietta Times)

    • Many public officials caught in wrongdoing maintain they just didn't know what they did crossed legal and/or ethical lines…Read more...

  • Quitting isn't enough (Toledo Blade)

    • Stan Heffner's departure as Ohio's top education official became inevitable after a state report suggested he had deliberately concealed a major conflict of interest and used public resources for personal business…Read more...

  • Penalize former Ohio school head (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Many public officials caught in wrongdoing maintain they just didn't know what they did crossed legal and / or ethical lines…Read more...

  • Ohio has opportunity to bolster accountability in education (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Rigorous academic standards and high-stakes accountability for schools and educators alike are important for school-improvement efforts…Read more...

10 most inaccurate ed reform axioms

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The Washington post has a list of the 10 most inaccurate and damaging statements that some school reformers toss around.

Here’s the list:

1. High-stakes standardized test data produce the fairest, most reliable, and least expensive evidence of student comprehension as well as teacher ability.

2. High-stakes standardized tests are updated routinely to eliminate confusing and/or culturally biased aspects, and questions on these tests are comprehensible by any child who can read on grade level.

3. Testing anxiety is rare, affects mostly low-achieving students, and has a minimal impact on test results.

4. High-stakes tests do not take an unreasonable amount of time for students to complete and test preparation does not take an unreasonable amount of instructional time throughout the year.

5. We would coddle and ultimately damage kids who receive special accommodations if we taught and/or tested them according to their ability to read and comprehend English. The fairest way to teach and test high-needs kids is in the same classroom, with the same curriculum, and with the same high-stakes tests (in addition to other high-stakes tests) as kids who don’t receive any special accommodations.

6. Poverty and high class size don’t matter when you have high standards.

7. The Common Core State Standards will significantly increase student achievement while saving taxpayer money.

8. Charter schools are more effective at instructing kids than nearby public schools and can do so for less money without putting financial burdens on nearby public school districts.

9. Parents have more decision-making power at charter schools than at public schools and the upcoming feature film, “Won’t Back Down” accurately depicts how parents are empowered to fix failing schools once parent trigger laws are in place.

10. Business leaders should run public schools and school systems because they are usually successful when permitted to apply a corporate model to public education.

August 7th 2012 school levy results

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Here are the results of the August 7th 2012 school levy elections, currently reported.

The passage rate is very similar to those of the 2011 August attempts. August ballots are no place for school levies it seems, unless there's significant urgency.

Meanwhile, as school struggle with the ongoing state budget cuts, Ohio should finish fiscal year 2013 with a $408 million surplus.

New renewal Failed Passed Pass %
New 23 5 17.9%
Renewal 1 6 85.7%
Over all 24 11 31.4%

Here's the full list of results.

District County For Against Result N/R
Ashtabula Area City Ashtabula 42.27% 57.73% Failed New
Barberton City Summit 42.93% 57.07% Failed New
Bethel Local Miami 57.00% 43.00% Passed Renewal
Bethel Local Miami 52.00% 48.00% Passed New
Brecksville-Broadview Cuyahoga 73.89% 26.11% Passed Renewal
Bryan City Williams 36.53% 63.47% Failed New
Buckeye Local Medina 62.82% 37.18% Passed New
Buckeye Valley Local Delaware 27.94% 72.06% Failed New
Chardon Local Geauga 39.90% 60.10% Failed New
Clear Fork Valley Local Richland 52.54% 47.46% Passed New
Clyde-Green Springs Sandusky 43.07% 56.93% Failed New
Columbiana EV Columbiana 30.72% 69.28% Failed New
Coventry Local Summit 46.71% 53.29% Failed New
Dalton Local Wayne 55.95% 44.05% Passed Renewal
East Holmes Local Holmes 36.02% 63.98% Failed New
Edon Northwest Local Williams 38.01% 61.99% Failed New
Geneva Area City Ashtabula 39.59% 60.41% Failed New
Green Local Scioto 47.38% 52.62% Failed New
Groveport-Madison Franklin 70.59% 29.41% Passed New
Jackson Center Local Shelby 49.89% 50.11% Failed New
Jefferson Area Local Ashtabula 18.81% 81.19% Failed New
Lake Local Wood 52.39% 47.61% Passed New
Louisville City Stark 39.82% 60.18% Failed New
Madison Local Lake 27.63% 72.37% Failed New
Margaretta Local Erie 53.92% 46.08% Passed Renewal
Monroe Local Butler 48.18% 51.82% Failed New
North Fork Local Licking 28.14% 71.86% Failed Renewal
Northmont City Montgomery 68.18% 31.82% Passed Renewal
Osnaburg Local Stark 14.12% 85.88% Failed New
Swanton Local Fulton 54.17% 45.83% Passed Renewal
Tipp City EV Miami 37.00% 63.00% Failed New
Tri-Village Local Darke 33.88% 66.12% Failed New
Vandalia-Butler City Montgomery 44.21% 55.79% Failed New
Woodridge Local Summit 48.65% 51.35% Failed New
Xenia Community City Greene 26.27% 73.73% Failed New

Education News for 08-07-2012

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State Education News

  • Heffner lost job over bill's provision (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Tucked in the 3,262 pages of last year’s state budget bill is a provision that cost state schools Superintendent Stan W. Heffner his job...Read more...

  • Ohio Superintendent Resigns Following Ethics Report (Education Week)

    • Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner has announced his resignation following a report that identified his apparent conflict of interest...Read more...

  • Voters To Decide On School Issues (ONN)

    • On Tuesday, more than 30 school districts will be asking voters to pass levies. Special elections are being held in 31 counties across the state...Read more...

  • Ohio Dems decry lack of charges in scandal (Toledo Blade)

    • Democrats said Monday that Ohio's top education official should not be allowed to simply walk away from his job...Read more...

  • Back to School: New rules for lunch (WKYC)

    • For the first time in 15 years, school lunches are going to look and taste differently. New federal guidelines are now in effect for schools across the country...Read more...

  • Attendance data not likely to be rigged (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • While a statewide investigation examines data rigging in school attendance reporting, Mahoning Valley school officials believe safeguards are in place...Read more...

Local Education News

  • Dragonfly director resigns following release of ODE review (Canton Repository)

    • Brianne Bixby-Nightingale resigned Monday as executive director of Dragonfly Academy. The school’s board of directors accepted her resignation effective immediately, according to Ben Weisbuch, Dragonfly’s attorney...read more...

  • Getting the school year off to a healthy start (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Summer is winding down, and the school year is quickly approaching...Read more...

  • 11 Rossford school officials make concessions (Toledo Blade)

    • Administrators in the Rossford school district have volunteered to freeze their wages, pay more of the cost of their medical insurance, and forfeit a personal day for savings...Read more...

Editorial

  • Departure time (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Stan Heffner quickly apologized “for my lack of judgment.” His words came in response to a report delivered Thursday by the state inspector general...Read more...

  • Youngstown schools district not off hook with resignation (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Youngstown city schools of- ficials should not take comfort from the resignation of the state’s education chief, Stan Heffner, because the future of district ultimately rests with Republican Gov. John Kasich...Read more...

The Long-Run Impact of the Reduction in Classroom teachers

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A recent study, by The Hamilton Project, looked at the impacts of cuts to government employment rolls, including educators. Their findings should open a lot of eyes.

One area where there is a sound body of literature to draw upon is the returns to education – specifically, the impact of class-size on student achievement and lifetime earnings. Drawing on this evidence, we quantify the impact of reductions in the number of public school teachers on our country’s future.

In 2011 there were over 220,000 fewer teachers in America’s classrooms than in 2009, a reduction accounting for nearly forty percent of the decrease in public-sector jobs during this period. This decline in the number of teachers increased the student-teacher ratio by 5.9 percent.

To determine the consequences of these reductions, we assumed that class-size increases were applied equally across all grades in K-12 schools. We then drew from recent research that links future earnings with class size to assess the wage impacts for today’s children, when they become working-age adults.1 All of this is explained in more detail here, but the bottom line is that this research suggests that the Great Recession will live on for decades through the lower future wages for our children.

Of course, an important test for the efficiency of government spending is whether the benefits exceed the costs. The savings from these cuts, in terms of teacher salaries and benefits, are $11.8 billion per year nationwide. While a significant figure, it is substantially smaller than the estimated present value in foregone earnings of $49.3 billion dollars for the children, whose education is affected by larger class sizes. To put a fine point on these findings, this translates into a per-student, per-year loss of nearly $1,000 in future earnings. In summary, the foregone benefits are more than four times larger than the current budget savings!

Investing in classroom teachers then, not only improves the economy today, but vastly improves the economy of the future. There's hardly a better return on investment that can be made. Someone ought to tell columbus lawmakers.

Education News for 08-06-2012

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State Education News

  • Official Seeks Meeting About Ohio Schools Chief (Associated Press)

    • A member of the Ohio Board of Education called Friday for an emergency meeting to be set for the panel to address findings of wrongdoing against Superintendent Stan Heffner by the state watchdog. Read more...

  • Leader of Ohio schools resigns (Associated Press)

    • Ohio's top education official resigned Saturday amid ethics questions about his work for an educational testing contractor. Read more...

  • Ohio school chief quits (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Ohio’s top education leader announced his resignation Saturday, just two days after facing accusations of misconduct and ethics violations in office. Read more...

  • Ohio schools chief Stan Heffner resigns under fire for conflict (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Ohio Schools Superintendent Stan Heffner resigned on Saturday, under fire after the state inspector general found he lobbied improperly for a private education company he planned to work for. Read more...

  • State schools superintendent resigns amid ethics fallout (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner announced his resignation this afternoon amid the fallout accompanying an ethics scandal. Read more...

  • Schools’ rigging was on the wall (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Although the state auditor’s office and the Department of Education launched investigations this summer into potential data-rigging at school districts across Ohio, the warning lights have been flashing red for years. Read more...

  • School attendance manipulation called ‘unfathomable’ (Lima News)

    • LIMA — When Jill Ackerman found out about public schools throughout the state likely manipulating attendance records to boost standardized test score averages, she was shocked. Read more...

  • Locked Away: How Ohio Schools Misuse Seclusion Rooms (State Impact Ohio and Columbus Dispatch)

    • Some Ohio children with disabilities are regularly isolated in cell-like rooms, closets or old offices when they behave badly. Read more...

  • Locked Away: New Policy Would Limit Use of School Seclusion Rooms to Real Emergencies (State Impact Ohio and Columbus Dispatch)

    • A 17-year-old Ohio girl died in 2008 in a home for troubled children after her caretakers pinned her face-down on the floor. Read more...

Local Education News

  • CPS superintendent can stay in suburbs (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Cincinnati Public Schools superintendent Mary Ronan’s new three-year contract no longer requires that she live in the district… Read more...

  • Districts hope to cut cost by sharing subs (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • A newly formed partnership between Butler and Warren counties’ Educational Service Centers, will allow 13 school districts to draw from a central pool of substitute teachers. Read more...

  • Investing in Ohio Schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • There will be no more classes in the parking lot, no more mysterious walled of hallways. When 1,500 Licking County students return to Newark High School this month, most construction on their once disjointed campus will be complete. Read more...

  • School facilities commission continues past halfway point (Dayton Daily News)

    • The Ohio School Facilities Commission has reached the halfway point of its mission to upgrade school buildings throughout the state at a cost of more than $10 billion, but faces a future in which its source of funding is no longer clear. Read more...

  • Skill training is 'win-win' (Marion Star)

    • ...To make sure they can find people who possess the talents needed to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them, employers do what they can to foster such skills in the prospective workforce. Read more...

Editorial

  • Marrison: We'll keep on digging into school records case (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The developing scandal over school-attendance records is growing more odd. And disappointing… Read more...

  • Don’t allow schools to cover it up (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • It has been said that the coverup is worse than the crime. Well, what about a coverup of a coverup? That may well be happening in one of Ohio's largest school districts. Read more...