Education News for 03-01-2013

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State Education News

  • Cleveland schools will fall under state oversight by academic distress commission (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The state will begin overseeing the Cleveland school district now that its report card rating of Academic Emergency is official, according to the Ohio Department of Education…Read more...

  • ACLU wants new limits on seclusion expanded (Columbus Dispatch)

    • New rules limiting how schools can seclude and restrain students in Ohio should be expanded to include charter schools, the American Civil Liberties Union told state education officials…Read more...

  • Magistrate raps Columbus school board on open meetings (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Simply having an attorney in the room does not allow the Columbus Board of Education to close meetings about its ongoing student-data scandal, a Franklin County magistrate ruled yesterday…Read more...

  • Charter schools criticize audit that claims state is owed $860,000 (Dayton Daily News)

    • The Ohio auditor’s office on Thursday again issued findings for recovery involving Dayton’s Richard Allen Academy charter schools, saying their management company, Institute of Management and Resources Inc., owes taxpayers nearly $860,00…Read more...

  • What would you do if an armed intruder came to your school? (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • If an armed intruder were to come to your school or business, what would you do? That question has taken on added urgency for many people since the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown…Read more...

Local Education News

  • APS STEM MIDDLE SCHOOL HAS AN APP FOR THAT (Akron Schools)

    • Students from the Akron Public Schools STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Middle School have won the Verizon App Challenge and were voted best in state…Read more...

  • Hilliard picks new education chief (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Hilliard school-board members opted for a new face yesterday when they chose the district’s next superintendent…Read more...

  • School district among first in area to offer smartphone app (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • Anyone who has a smartphone can now carry Fairfield City Schools in their pocket…Read more...

  • Fairless has two 'Schools of Promise' (New Philadelphia Times-Reporter)

    • Teachers – really doggone good teachers – make all the difference. Just ask Fairless Local. “I tell (the teachers) this often, and I truly mean it,” Fairless Elementary Principal Julie Weyandt said. “I would never trade any of them. I love this…Read more...

  • Cut 15 jobs, Niles schools audit urges (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • A report issued by State Auditor Dave Yost Thursday recommends that Niles City Schools cut 15 full-time positions and increase health care premiums paid by employees to 15 percent of costs to help the district save $1.3 million…Read more...

Editorial

  • Making the grade (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • The release this week of the state school report cards for 2011-12 concludes an experiment in Ohio’s search for an accurate way to convey how well its public schools perform their mission…Read more...

Education News for 02-28-2013

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State Education News

  • IN OUR SCHOOLS: Ohio finally releases report cards (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Ohio’s Department of Education on Wednesday released the rest of its school and district report card data for the 2011-12 school year, six months late…Read more…

  • Ohio schools' report cards shifting to new format (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Solon school district won't be sweating over whether it's rated Excellent or Excellent with Distinction on state report cards anymore.…Read more…

  • Yost slams how schools report data (Columbus Dispatch)

    • State Auditor Dave Yost, whose office investigated data-scrubbing among school districts throughout the state, called on the Ohio Department of Education yesterday to fix the “just-trust-me” system.…Read more…

  • School report cards finally released (Findlay Courier)

    • After a nearly seven-month delay because of a statewide investigation into attendance tampering, the 2011-12 school report cards were finally released Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Official state report cards released (Lima News)

    • The State Department of Education released the final 2011-12 report cards Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Final-Not-Quite-Final Ohio School Report Cards Released (State Impact Ohio)

    • Ohioans finally get to see their schools’ ratings in the nice, clean PDF format they’re used to, instead of the confusing and incomplete spreadsheets the Department of Education released in the fall.…Read more…

  • Ohio Department of Education releases finalized school report cards (Toledo Blade)

    • The Ohio Department of Education released finalized school report cards today, after a months-long delay prompted by a statewide investigation into allegations of data manipulation by school districts.…Read more…

  • Justices’ questions leave fired science teacher hopeful (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Attorneys for Mount Vernon schools fidgeted in their seats and dropped their heads yesterday as they listened to Ohio Supreme Court justices discuss the case of fired teacher John Freshwater.…Read more…

Local Education News

  • Local districts fair well on state report cards (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • The Ohio Department of Education has found that Akron-area school districts performed higher than state performance averages.…Read more…

  • Report cards for Ohio schools unchanged from preliminary results, but Cleveland among districts still (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Your school district's rating on final report cards issued Wednesday hasn't changed since the state released preliminary ratings in the fall.…Read more…

  • Hilliard schools top new state ranking (Columbus Dispatch)

    • For years, Hilliard students consistently have accomplished more than a year’s worth of learning during the school year. …Read more…

  • Linden students collect 750 books for hospital (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • Linden Elementary’s Friday morning book club — The Morning Glories - set out to do something special for the school's participation in the 26 Days of Kindness initiative.…Read more…

  • Ohio releases final school report cards (New Philadelphia Times-Reporter)

    • Sixteen school buildings in the Tuscarawas Valley earned the ranking of Excellent With Distinction in the latest Ohio school report card data released Wednesday.…Read more…

  • No surprises as school report cards are finally released (Newark Advocate)

    • About six months later than usual, the Ohio Department of Education released final school report card data on Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Final school report card results released (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Local school districts maintained their preliminary report card ratings Wednesday when the state released final results for the 2011-12 school year.…Read more…

  • Youngstown schools stay lowest ranked in Valley (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Final school report cards released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Education look a lot like those issued last October.…Read more…

  • ScholArts charter school to close today (Columbus Dispatch)

    • A charter school in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood is giving up its legal fight to stay open and will hold its final day of classes today.…Read more…

  • Sequester could cut local Head Start (Marion Star)

    • As Friday’s sequester deadline looms, 47 children in Marion, Morrow, Crawford and Richland counties remain caught in the cross hairs.…Read more…

  • Clark to hire school deputies (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Clark County commissioners plan to spend more than $96,000 this year and $118,000 next year to hire deputies to boost school security, but concerns have been raised whether the county can afford the program.…Read more…

  • Schools Scramble To Submit School Safety Plans To State After 10TV Probe (WBNS)

    • Three central Ohio schools left to submit their safety plans to the state filed them within the past week after being probed by 10TV’s Jerry Revish.…Read more…

  • CrimeTracker 10 Analyzes School Safety 1 year After Chardon HS Shooting (WBNS)

    • Last year’s tragedy at Chardon High School was a painful reminder of how vulnerable places of learning can be.…Read more…

  • Chardon Healing Fund helps victims' families after school shooting (WEWS)

    • The people of Chardon have opened their hearts to help victims’ families of the Chardon High School shooting. They've also opened their wallets and the generosity has been felt from coast-to-coast.…Read more…

  • Chardon school shooting victims' families suing T.J. Lane, his family (Willoughby News Herald)

    • Families of the three students who died in the Chardon High School shootings filed a wrongful death suit Wednesday against the gunman, his parents and his legal guardians.…Read more…

Survey shows disturbing patterns

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The latest Metlife survey, conducted annually since 1984, shows educators under incredible stress as they cope with large budget cuts coupled with increased demands.

The whole survey is worth a read, but we've pulled out some of the most important findings.

Principals and Teachers Give Positive Ratings to the Job Teachers Are Doing

Nearly all principals (98%) give positive ratings to the classroom teachers in their school. This level is similar to the ratings provided by principals in 1986 (95%). The majority of principals (63%) say that their teachers are doing an excellent job and an additional 35% describe the job teachers are doing as pretty good.

In contrast to teachers’ ratings of their principals, the most experienced principals are most likely to rate their teachers highly. Principals with more than 10 years’ experience as a principal are more likely than those with six to 10 years’ experience or those with five years’ or less experience to rate the classroom teachers in their school as excellent (72% vs. 56% vs. 59%).

Of course corporate education reformers will continue to claim too many teachers are not performing in the classroom, despite all the available evidence.

As a consequence of the relentless teacher bashing, and budget cuts, politicians are causing serious moral problems with the workforce, as is evidenced in the next two findings

Teacher Job Satisfaction Continues to Decline

Teacher satisfaction has declined to its lowest point in 25 years and has dropped five percentage points in the past year alone, from 44% to 39% very satisfied. This marks a continuation of a substantial decline noted in the 2011 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher; teacher satisfaction has now dropped 23 percentage points since 2008.

Stress among teachers has increased since 1985

In 1985—the last time this question was asked and when job satisfaction was also low—more than one-third (36%) of teachers said they felt under great stress at least several days a week. Today, that number has increased; half (51%) of teachers feel under great stress at least several days a week. Elementary school teachers experience stress more frequently.

They are more likely than middle school or high school teachers to say they feel under great stress at least several days a week (59% vs. 44% vs. 42%). The increase since 1985 in the number of elementary school teachers who experience great stress at least several days a week is also noteworthy—59% today compared to 35% in 1985

Corporate reformers are also having negative impacts on Principals too

Most principals say that their responsibilities today have changed compared to five years ago and that the job has increased in complexity

Moreover, three-quarters (75%) of principals agree that the job of the principal has become too complex, a view shared by principals regardless of demographic characteristics such as school level, school location, the proportion of low-income or minority students, or the proportion of students performing at or above grade level in English language arts and math.

Half (48%) of principals feel under great stress several days a week or more. This finding is perhaps not surprising given the previously cited results that most principals feel their jobs are too complex, their responsibilities have changed during the past five years, and that they have a high degree of accountability with varying levels of control over decisions

The ever increasing Rube Goldberg machines being constructed by corporate education reformers is making the job of principal all but impossible. The survey notes

It is important to note that as educators begin to implement new, higher standards, many face other competing mandates related to teacher and student assessment as well as decreasing teacher morale,and reductions in budgets and other resources such as staff, professional learning opportunities, and time for collaboration.

When asked about limited resources and what would help them most in addressing the needs of diverse learners, majorities of teachers consistently say other teachers. In 2009, nine in 10 teachers agreed that other teachers contribute to their success in the classroom, including 51% who strongly agreed. Most teachers and principals also said that greater collaboration among teachers and school leaders would have a major impact on improving student achievement.

Given limited resources, teachers believed opportunities for collaborative teaching would have a major impact on their ability to address different learning needs of individual students.

Yet most teachers continued to report that their time to work with other teachers remained the same or had been reduced.

On top of these strains being faced by teachers, the strains being felt by principals is leading to teachers taking on additional leadership roles

As the job of the principal has become more complex with the need to balance instructional leadership, high-stakes accountability, and non-academic management, the survey has documented the emergence of teachers more prominently as leaders in their schools, districts and beyond. The voice of the teacher as an educator has also become a voice of leadership in education.
[…]
Teachers Are School Leaders; Many Have a Formal Leadership Role in Their School Half (51%) of teachers currently have a formal leadership role in their school, such as department chair, instructional resource, teacher mentor, or leadership team member. Teachers who have a formal leadership role are more experienced; they are more likely than other teachers to have at least six years of teaching experience (86% vs. 73%). These teacher leaders are also more likely to report that their school’s budget has decreased during the past 12 months (60% vs. 51%), perhaps reflecting a greater need among these schools to have teachers take on more responsibilities.
[…]
In the context of additional challenges for leading schools toward greater improvement, the continuing decline in teacher morale identifies itself as an urgent priority. During a time when expectations and standards are increasing for effective teaching and learning, teacher morale is yet another declining resource, one that is associated with schools with diminished budgets and other resources, fewer students meeting standards and fewer colleagues highly rated for how well they are doing their job. Teacher leadership emerges as a potential resource for translating big challenges into opportunities, served by hybrid roles for teachers as leaders and as a method for addressing professional growth and satisfaction.

It's time that politicians began to properly value and respect their most valuable asset the education system has - the educators who work in it.

Education News for 02-27-2013

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State Education News

  • School-funding tweaks possible, Kasich adviser says (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Legislators got another tutorial on Gov. John Kasich’s school-funding plan yesterday, but the additional details failed to alleviate many concerns about how state aid will be distributed…Read more...

  • State education department probes data ‘scrubbing’ by schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Columbus City Schools and eight other Ohio districts are now under investigation by the Ohio Department of Education for misrepresenting student enrollment data, meaning they could lose funding and educators…Read more...

  • Schools getting ready for state testing in March (Newark Advocate)

    • From March 11-15, the high school will start on a two-hour delay schedule because of the Ohio Graduation Tests. Buses will run on their normal schedule. All sophomores, and any upperclassmen who need to retest, need to arrive at 7:30 a.m…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus school board well-trained in policy governance (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Keeping your nose out of the CEO’s business doesn’t come cheap. The Columbus Board of Education has spent almost $100,000 for training in “policy governance” since it adopted the management model…Read more...

  • Ignoring mayor, school board plows ahead with superintendent search (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman and members of his Education Commission demanded this month that the city school district drop plans to hire a full-time superintendent by April…Read more...

  • TPS board delays vote to extend pacts for 4 in cabinet (Toledo Blade)

    • The Toledo Board of Education delayed a vote Tuesday on contract extensions for most members of the superintendent’s cabinet, but board members claimed their actions were not an indication of a lack of board support…Read more...

  • Newark School Committee Discusses Arming Teachers To Improve Security (WBNS)

    • After the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Newark City Schools formed a safety committee which held its first meeting on Monday. Among the safety suggestions that were discussed was the idea of arming teachers…Read more...

  • Chardon reacts to T.J. Lane's guilty plea as it remembers school shooting (Willoughby News Herald)

    • People heading to a Chardon High School concert on Tuesday night had a variety of opinions on Thomas Lane III's guilty plea earlier the same day…Read more...

Editorial

  • A word of caution to CCS (Canton Repository)

    • Canton City Schools Superintendent Adrian Allison rightly feels a sense of urgency about restructuring the district’s schools…Read more...

  • For Chardon, an anniversary and a guilty plea (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • A shaken 200-pound Chardon High School football player walking down the hall wrapped in a Linus blanket…Read more...

Education News for 02-26-2013

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State Education News

  • Head Start could see cuts (Canton Repository)

    • If a budget compromise among lawmakers in Washington D.C. remains elusive, spending cuts totaling $85 billion will begin Friday…Read more...

  • Attendance 'scrubbing' study continues (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • The Ohio Department of Education has officially opened its investigation into the nine school districts, including Cincinnati and Winton Woods, cited this month by the Ohio auditor for evidence of “scrubbing…Read more...

  • High-school dropouts costly, report says (Columbus Dispatch)

    • High-school dropouts are costing about $1.8 billion in lost tax revenue every year, education advocates said in a report released yesterday…Read more...

  • Panel selects 4 state superintendent finalists (Columbus Dispatch)

    • A State Board of Education subcommittee yesterday named four finalists for state school superintendent…Read more...

  • Bills seek to remove stigma from workforce development centers (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • Workforce One Butler County provided job assistance to nearly 20,600 last year and could probably have helped thousands more, officials said. But the Fairfield agency’s services…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Chillicothe board approves $640,000 in cuts, closure of sixth-grade building (Chillicothe Gazette)

    • Chillicothe’s current crop of fifth-graders will be staying put this fall. The Board of Education on Monday approved more than $640,000 in budget reductions that include the closure of the Western…Read more...

  • Clear Fork schools ponder drug test policy (Mansfield News Journal)

    • The Clear Fork Board of Education plans to consider drug testing of student-athletes and drivers at its next meeting…Read more...

  • Licking Valley High School teen creates anti-bullying blog (Newark Advocate)

    • Haley Smith knows what it feels like to be bullied. When she was in elementary school, kids used to tease her about her red hair and freckles and even stole her glasse…Read more...

  • Some districts on ballot show spending hikes (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Eighteen area school districts have levies on the ballot May 7, and all of them have made budget cuts of some type in the past few years…Read more...

  • Latest round of negotiations ends with no settlement as Strongsville teachers prepare for strike (Sun Newspapers)

    • With a potential teacher strike less than a week away, a four-and-a-half -our negotiation session between the Strongsville teachers union and the school district…Read more...

  • Sylvania council votes to terminate director of food service (Toledo Blade)

    • The Sylvania City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to terminate the district's director of food service for allegedly misreporting the number of free or reduced meals…Read more...

  • Austintown teachers reach tentative deal with board (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • A tentative deal was reached late Monday between a teachers union and the Austintown school administration…Read more...

Editorial

  • Adequacy gap (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • When John Kasich met with superintendents the day he unveiled his new funding plan for public schools, he hardly could have been more emphatic. He declared: “If you’re poor, you’re going to get more. If you are richer, you’re going to get less…Read more...

  • Youngstown schools cannot afford to lose superintendent (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • When the restructuring plan for the Youngstown City School District is unveiled to the public March 6, the community will realize how important it is to have the right person in charge to ensure a successful transformation…Read more...