Statewide Education News
- High school courses with weighted grades still spark debate (News-Herald)
- Leaders challenge report on cheating SFlb (Vindicator)
- Group tackles autism awareness, education (News-Journal)
Fast-paced and intelligent discussion centered on the classic novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in Nicole Costigan’s advanced placement English class. Costigan’s class at Kenston High School is one of about 20 at the Geauga County school which offers weighted grades, a system in which higher points are assigned to more challenging courses than those offered in the regular curriculum. For example, a weighted “A” in an advanced placement class might carry five points, whereas a non-weighted “A” in a less difficult class is assigned a standard four points. Read More…
BOARDMAN - Boardman schools Superintendent Frank Lazzeri became irritated when he read an Atlanta Journal Constitution investigation that listed his school district among those suspected of cheating on standardized tests. “I thought it had to be a mistake,” he said. No one from the newspaper contacted anyone in the district administration, he said. The investigation last month flagged Boardman, Youngstown and Warren schools for possible cheating. Read More…
ONTARIO - Members of a Crestline group launched more than 100 glowing balloons Monday night from the parking lot at the Richland Mall to draw attention to the month of April as Autism Awareness Month. The group gives autistic children a voice through the gift of Apple iPads. The computer devices help the children with communication and language skills, according the Cookies for iPads group. In March the group gave away eight iPads and other gifts, said member Reba Hunt, who has sold many home-baked cookies for the project. Read More…
- Vote expected soon by council on mayor's plan to transform Cleveland schools (WEWS 5 ABC)
- PV cuts approved for 5 teachers, 1 secretary in emotional meeting (Chillicothe Gazette)
- Mayor predicts progress in teacher talks (WKYC 3 NBC)
CLEVELAND - Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan to transform the Cleveland Metropolitan School system is a step closer to having city council support. At Monday’s meeting, council had planned to vote on a resolution supporting the plan, but that has been pushed back. “I’ll vote for it,” said Ward 9 councilman Kevin Conwell, when speaking about the resolution. He said he feels any bill taken to the floor has little chance of passing in Columbus. Read More…
BAINBRIDGE - At the end of an emotional one-hour meeting Monday, the Paint Valley Board of Education suspended the contracts of six employees in a move that's expected to save the district $423,000. The board emerged from executive session and passed, by a 4-1 vote, a resolution suspending the contracts of five teachers and the superintendent's secretary. Board member Judy Williamson cast the dissenting vote but declined to explain why. Read More…
CLEVELAND - Tuesday may be a pivotal day in Mayor Frank Jackson's crusade to pass and enact a plan to reform the academics of Cleveland schools, make changes in teacher contracts, and pass a desperately-needed levy. At City Hall, the school reform plan is being called, "a defining moment" for the city. On Tuesday, the mayor, school superintendent and teachers' union leaders will wrestle with the two biggest remaining issues blocking union buy-in into the plan. Read More…
- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson isn't blinking on schools (Plain Dealer)
- Locally and nationally, graduation rates need a big push (Plain Dealer)
For more than two hours last Thursday, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon tried to explain their plan to speed the transformation of public education in the city. They answered questions from the curious and the skeptical: teachers, parents, homeowners and a pair of students from John Adams High School who said they were on their 11th biology teacher of the year. Read More…
A 90 percent high school graduation rate by 2020 for every state in the union may seem impossible. The national rate in 2009 was just 75.5 percent. But it can be done. Wisconsin reached that goal in 2010, and Vermont is close, according to the recent report "Building a Grad Nation," which studied U.S. high school graduation rates between 2002 and 2009. Ohio needs just 15,000 more students to graduate in 2020 to join the exclusive 90 percent club, the report's authors say. Read More…