OEA urges lawmakers to move quickly to address problems associated with student testing

The following statement is attributed to Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association:

“As Ohio gets ready to implement the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests, a school superintendent recently told the Senate Education Committee what has been apparent to OEA members for some time – ‘Ohio is not yet ready for it.’ Matthew Miller, superintendent of the Mentor Schools in Lake County, described ‘fatal errors’ in the practice run of the PARCC assessments recently conducted at the Mentor Schools.

He said numerous students were booted off the system and ‘could not resume even after refreshing teacher screens.’ He also described bugs in the system that prevented students from submitting their answers even after responding to all the questions. Superintendent Miller told the Committee that if Mentor is having a problem with PARCC – with its ‘robust technology infrastructure’ – then “the rest of Ohio’s schools will be having issues as well.”

Other superintendents pointed to what teachers all across the state have been saying – the ‘lack of timely and firmly established guidance’ from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) in helping districts to get ready for the PARCC exams. Several superintendents agreed with another issue for which OEA has been advocating. It was articulated by Sue Lang, the superintendent of the Wyoming City School District in Hamilton County, who urged the Committee to ‘consider this year as a PARCC transitional year……do not count the PARCC on the state report cards and do not count scores against teachers and students.’

Well before this year’s implementation of PARCC, OEA has been urging state lawmakers to go beyond the ‘safe harbor’ provisions that were signed into law last year that placed a one-year hold on high-stakes decisions based on test scores. It is increasingly clear that ‘safe harbor’ protections must be extended beyond the current school year and should also be granted to students.

The urgency of addressing the problems associated with PARCC is also part and parcel of the need to do something about the overall excessive use of testing in our schools. More and more superintendents are echoing what professional educators in Ohio have been saying for some time – allow more instructional time, and less testing, to drive student achievement. The longer it takes for lawmakers to address the testing issue, the greater the likelihood is that more parents will choose to have their children ‘opt out’ of some of these tests.

The growing number of ‘opt-outs’ puts educators in an untenable situation. Not only could educators see their own evaluations adversely impacted by high-performing students who chose not to take a test, the results of which are a factor in measuring teacher performance, but as the Avon Lake Superintendent told the Senate Education Committee, he doesn’t want to have teachers placed in a position of lying to parents that all this is workable.

Changing the way students are tested and teachers are evaluated in Ohio cannot happen soon enough. OEA will continue to push hard for that to happen.”

The Ohio Education Association represents 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio's public schools, colleges and universities.

Ohio teachers’ union concerned about Kasich’s schools budget

The following statement is attributed to Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association:

“Any effort to increase funding to Ohio’s schools is a welcome development. However, like many lawmakers, we have questions about the basis for determining which districts are ‘needy’ and which districts have the ‘capacity’ to generate more local revenues for their schools. Under this plan, more than half of the school districts would receive less funding than in the previous budget. Additionally, money will continue to flow to charter schools at the expense of local school districts. A recent study estimated that one third of the school districts slated to receive an increase in state funding will see that funding wiped out because of the way the state funds charter schools.

All of this comes at a time when state revenues are growing. This is an occasion to make investments in Ohio’s future, and what could be a better investment than doing more for our students and schools?

As budget deliberations begin, legislators from both sides of the aisle are expressing concerns. These concerns include changes to the state funding formula, a reduction in tangible personal property payments to districts, and changes in transportation funding. We share the difficulty many are having in understanding why seemingly similar districts are treated differently and why the funding for so many struggling school districts is being cut. At this time there are more questions than answers.

OEA is committed to the principle that all children should receive high-quality educational opportunities regardless of where they live. This cannot happen without a school funding formula that provides adequate resources. Ohio's constitution makes it clear that the state has a responsibility to make sure our schools are adequately funded. We call on the governor and members of the legislature to pass a budget that fulfills this constitutional obligation. Furthermore, we urge elected officials to recognize the opportunity we currently have to strengthen our economy and secure our future by investing more in our children and their education.”

The Ohio Education Association represents 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio's public schools, colleges and universities.

Former Charter School Director Charged With Theft Appears In Court

He's accused of stealing thousands of dollars in charter school money from taxpayers, and 10TV reported on Tuesday that he's also charged with breaking into a Columbus family's home.

Andre Rasheen Tucker was already charged with felony theft, accused of stealing thousands of dollars intended for education when a Columbus mother says she found him in her home.

On Wednesday, Tucker appeared in court on that burglary charge from January 19th.

Last year, he was charged with theft, accused of pocketing checks totaling some $7,500.

The money was to go to two charter schools he opened - the Talented Tenth Academies that were housed in the King Arts Complex in East Columbus.

The state closed both schools two months after they opened in the fall of 2013.

(Read more at 10TV)

Tougher rules for Ohio charter schools getting widespread support

A legislative hearing on charter-school law broke out yesterday, but a fight did not.

That’s a big change from the typical Statehouse charter-school debates over the past 15 years.

As opponents become more accepting of the role of charter schools in public education, and supporters face a blizzard of reports detailing bad charter schools and weak laws, both sides are largely coalescing around proposed upgrades in accountability and transparency.

House Republicans have proposed a slew of charter-school law changes in House Bill 2, and Gov. John Kasich has proposed even more in his two-year budget.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Ohio House votes to give students a symbolic "safe harbor" from scores on new Common Core tests

The Ohio House unanimously passed on Wednesday a bill that bans scores from this first year of new state tests using the Common Core standards from being used against students in any way.

House Bill 7 passed the full House 94 to 0, just a day after the House Education Committee backed it 18-0.

It's a mostly-symbolic bill, since the new tests that start being given next week count for little this year. Only high school freshmen could see a tangible impact from tests they need to pass before graduating in four years.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

HEARINGS BEGIN ON FAILING CHARTER SCHOOLS

The Ohio House has launched hearings on legislation to clamp down on failing charter schools.

House Bill 2 would block sponsors of poor-performing charters from contracting for new locations, increase public access to information about school performance and their backers and require more standards in charter agreements.

The legislation, which had its initial hearing before the House's Education Committee Wednesday, is one of several efforts under way to address charter school accountability. The head of the Ohio Senate's Education Committee has said her chamber also is working on the issue, and Gov. John Kasich included charter provisions in his biennial budget proposal.

Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, a primary co-sponsor of HB 2, said charter school enrollment has grown from about 2,200 students at 15 locations in 1999 to 120,000-plus students at 400 charters.

"Although community schools provide an important option for many Ohio students, there is an inconsistency with regard to the overall quality of community schools," he said. "Some of Ohio's community schools are among the highest performing schools in the state, having also received national recognition for outstanding academic performance. At the same time we have seen evidence of poor academic performance and fiscal mismanagement driven in part by poor oversight and a lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities, circumstances that HB 2 is designed to address."

Among other provisions, the legislation would block charter schools that receive failing performance index grades from entering contracts with new sponsors without approval from the Department of Education.

(Read more at Crescent-News