Education News for 01-09-2013

State Education News

• Ohio schools to share $37.9 million in casino taxes (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The state will distribute $37.9 million in casino taxes to more than 1,000 school districts and charter schools across Ohio…Read more...

Local Education News

• Carrollton officials address parents' concerns about school safety (Canton Repository)

Carrollton Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Dave Quattrochi said that parents picked up hundreds of their children and removed them from school…Read more...

• Cuyahoga Heights school district sues to recover over $4 million in stolen technology funds (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cuyahoga Heights school district is suing to get back more than $4 million that a state audit said was stolen by Joseph Palazzo, the district's former technology director…Read more...

• Columbus school board president re-elected (Columbus Dispatch)

Despite state and federal investigations into district data-rigging, the Columbus school board re-elected its president last night to her fifth consecutive term…Read more...

• Fairfield schools struggle to keep up with technology (Hamilton Journal-News)

The same shortage of funds that has caused Fairfield City Schools to forgo some needed repairs and bus purchases, has also made it difficult for the district to keep up with technology…Read more...

• Amherst schools look to prevent $4.7 million in cuts (Lorain Morning Journal)

The renewal of two Amherst school levies set to expire this year will prevent $4.7 million in cuts to programs, staff and services, said Superintendent Steve Sayers…Read more...

• Early-dismissal Wednesdays coming to all city schools (Marion Star)

All Marion City School buildings will be impacted by a plan to dismiss students early on Wednesdays…Read more...

• 3 students join city school board (Youngstown Vindicator)

Three new city high school students have been sworn in as student board members…Read more...

• South Range to offer open enrollment (Youngstown Vindicator)

South Range is combatting dwindling class sizes and declining revenues by offering limited open enrollment in the upcoming school year, officials say…Read more...

Education News for 12-10-2012

State Education News

• What makes a Grade A school? (Cincinnati Enquirer)

As everyone knows, an A on a report card is good. An F is bad. And when it comes to a student’s progress, most parents are comfortable using those grades to determine their child’s academic strengths and weaknesses…Read more...

• Ohio schools face new grading system under proposed legislation (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The House's passage of the latest Republican-backed education bill that implements a more demanding evaluation system for schools, along with other significant changes…Read more...

• Web tool would prescribe specific help for student (Columbus Dispatch)

Reynoldsburg wants its teachers to be like doctors, diagnosing students’ academic ills and prescribing the right treatment…Read more...

• Lack of reading skills ‘alarming’ (Columbus Dispatch)

As many as half of third-graders in some of Ohio’s largest urban school districts aren’t reading on grade level…Read more...

• Historical Society aiding students with documents (Columbus Dispatch)

An educational program unveiled last week by the Ohio Historical Society is meant to help schools comply with a new state law requiring students in grades four to 12 to study the texts…Read more...

• Ohio education reform bills moving this way (New Philadelphia Times)

Two bills making their way through the Ohio Legislature will bring a number of changes to the way schools operate…Read more...

Local Education News

• Canton City schools offer low-cost adult education (Canton Repository)

Tisha Mayle knew her mother was a high-school dropout. At 13 years old, Mayle remembers watching her mom studying and getting her General Educational Development diploma…Read more...

• CPS adds student performance to teachers' grades (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Junior-high math teacher Ken DeMann started doing something new this year for students at Roberts Paideia Academy. He sends home a folder each week updating parents on how well each student did on homework, behavior and participation that week…Read more...

• IRS does not miss a trick (Lorain Morning Journal)

School boards in Columbiana County and around Ohio will soon be requiring the people who work their sporting events be classified as part-time district employees…Read more...

• The quieting effects of phone (Lorain Morning Journal)

A school board member believes they should reconsider a ban on students using cell phones while riding buses to and from games and other events…Read more...

• Technology is put to good use (Newark Advocate)

Chandler Eriksen and Keith Seymour have been preparing to take their classmates on a journey to the planet’s core…Read more...

• So far, so good for technology initiatives at other schools (Newark Advocate)

Ever since all Licking Valley High School students received laptops earlier this year, Principal Wes Weaver has noticed something unexpected…Read more...

• Schools flip for technology (Toledo Blade)

From chalkboards to smart boards, text books to e-books and worksheets to web applications, technology has fundamentally transformed the way teachers teach and students learn…Read more...

• These schools aren’t allowed to fail (Toledo Blade)

The failure of too many at-risk students in low-income schools — in Toledo, in Ohio, and across the country…Read more...

• Deal nears to give parochial students public transportation (Youngstown Vindicator)

The city school district is nearing a settlement with parochial school parents whose children weren’t transported to school last year…Read more...

Editorial

• Dropouts (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Former Assistant Secretary of Education Chester E. Finn Jr. once wrote, “Kindergarten is not too early to address the dropout problem.”...Read more...

• Passing grade (Columbus Dispatch)

A clear commitment by Ohio Senate Republicans that a new school-report-card system will give districts equal credit for preparing kids for careers…Read more...

• Making the grade (Toledo Blade)

Charter schools promise to push traditional public schools to do better. They are designed to give parents a high-quality alternative to schools that are failing…Read more...

• Graduation gap (Toledo Blade)

Ohio has one of the top high-school graduation rates in the nation for white students, but one of the lowest for African Americans. The racial gap — fourth largest among the states — must be closed…Read more...

Are you an entertainer?

As we seeing an explosion of technology both in our personal lives and being pushed into the classroom, studies like these are important, and interesting.

There is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on Thursday.

The researchers note that their findings represent the subjective views of teachers and should not be seen as definitive proof that widespread use of computers, phones and video games affects students’ capability to focus.

Even so, the researchers who performed the studies, as well as scholars who study technology’s impact on behavior and the brain, say the studies are significant because of the vantage points of teachers, who spend hours a day observing students.
[...]
Teachers who were not involved in the surveys echoed their findings in interviews, saying they felt they had to work harder to capture and hold students’ attention.

“I’m an entertainer. I have to do a song and dance to capture their attention,” said Hope Molina-Porter, 37, an English teacher at Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif., who has taught for 14 years. She teaches accelerated students, but has noted a marked decline in the depth and analysis of their written work.

You can read the entire study from Common Sense Media, here, titled "Children, Teens, and Entertainment Media: The View from the Classroom."

Certainly provocative.

Power, Ideology, and the Use of Evidence

Consider the three-decade long, unrelenting promotion of classroom computers and online instruction. A recently mobilized corporate and civic-driven coalition chaired by two ex-state governors issued a report that touted online instruction as a way to transform teaching and learning in U.S. schools. (p. 19 of Digital Learning Now Report FINAL lists corporate, foundation, and top policymakers who participated).

Evidence that regular instructional use of these machines will transform teaching and learning is barely visible. Furthermore, evidence of students' academic achievement gains attributed to online instruction, laptops, and other hardware and software in schools is missing-in-action. And the dream that school use of these machines and applications will lead to better jobs (except in programs where technical certificates can lead to work - e.g., Cisco), well, I won't even mention the scarcity of evidence to support that dream.

So what do these two-governors champion in their Digital Learning Commission report?

"Providing a customized, personalized education for students was a dream just a decade ago. Technology can turn that dream into reality today. The Digital Learning Council will develop the roadmap to achieve that ultimate goal."

Sure, this is an advertisement pushing for-profit online outfits such as for-profit K12 and non-profit projects such as the Florida Virtual School and "hybrid" schools. See here and here. These ex-governors want states to alter their policies to accommodate this "Brave New World" where students get individual lessons tailored to what they need to learn.

Question: After decades of blue-ribbon commissions issuing utopian reports promising "revolutionary" and "transformed" schools, where is the evidence that such futures are either possible or worthwhile?

Answer: When it comes to technology policy, evidence doesn't matter.

[readon2 url="http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/power-ideology-and-use-evidence-national-politics-and-school-reform"]Continue reading...[/readon2]

The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut

Ed Week has a piece on the problems new teacher evaluation systems are going to have on resources, and issue we have discussed before.

Teacher evaluation--with all its multiple facets, blind alleys, disputed data models, technocratic hype and roll-out problems-- is on every principal's mind these days. It would be great to think that principals in states with new evaluation plans are eager to begin this work, now having permission to sink more deeply into their roles as instructional guides, to have productive two-way professional conversations with their teachers, thinking together about improving instruction to reach specific goals.

But no. They're worried about another time suck and avalanche of paperwork on top of an already-ridiculous workload. And--you can't blame them. Being a good principal, like being a good teacher, is impossible. There is no way one single human being can cover all the bases, from keeping the buses running on time to staying abreast of the new math curriculum in grades K through 6. Besides, the new evaluation plans have huge problems embedded, beyond the make-work element.

It was the closing comment of this article that caught our attention

In the end, this will be another issue where outcomes are determined by cost-effectiveness. If it's too expensive for principals to fairly evaluate teachers' instructional efficacy, a cheaper strategy--relying more heavily on test data and technology--will be found. In fact, I'm guessing that any number of education publishers and non-profits are working on it right now.

that seems about right, and likely. However, we wouldn't underestimate the significant costs that test and technology based solutions are going to bring either. However you try to dice it, you arrive at the "unfunded mandate" problem. There's simply too much work, and not enough people or money to do it properly.

Corporate education reformers need to step up to the plate and fully fund their projects.

Education News for 01-23-2012

Statewide Education News

• Mobile technology brings challenges to schools (News-Sun)

Schools are opting for new technology like laptops and tablets over the traditional stationary computer labs. The new technology has many benefits in education but presents problems such as funding new purchases, managing the equipment and supervising student use. At the start of this school year, Springfield City School District purchased 720 iPads at a cost of $473,000, including warranties and protective cases for each device, said Stacy Parr, the district’s technology director. Read More…

• Law now lets public schools donate excess food (News-Herald)

U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette is encouraging public schools throughout Northeast Ohio to donate excess unused food to local food banks and pantries. A recent change in the law gives public schools the same protections as restaurants and caterers that donate to food banks under the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. The food donation measure, which became law in 1996, protects donors to food banks from all liability — criminal and civil — yet did not provide public schools that same protection, said LaTourette, R-Bainbridge Township. Read More…

• How much homework is too much? (Dispatch)

In the four years since Upper Arlington High School reduced homework loads, students have achieved more, in some respects. The rate of students who take at least one advanced course has doubled, to 84 percent. The past two years, scores on college entrance exams have been the highest ever at the high school. Principal Kip Greenhill sees a connection between the students’ success and the school’s target of no more than 21/2 hours of homework a night. Read More…

Local Issues

• Parents shop for school options (Beacon Journal)

North Hill parent Gina Lang shopped for schools for her three children Sunday at an informational fair at the Akron-Summit County Public Library that brought area school districts, charter schools and private schools under one roof. She and her husband, Tony, were looking for an alternative to Akron Public Schools for their three children, who attend or will attend Harris elementary school and eventually, Jennings Middle School. Read More…

• For some, school tax rates rise after home values fall (Newark Advocate)

NEWARK - Some Licking County taxpayers will pay more in taxes this year despite a decrease in home values. Because of overall decreases in values, tax rates for six school districts, including the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County, rose between .02 and .73 mills. Licking Heights residents will see their school taxes rise by 6.1 mills because of a combination of a replacement levy this past May and plummeting home values among the district's Franklin County residents. Read More…

• What has Liberty ‘Learn’ed? (Vindicator)

It's no secret that the Liberty Local School District has been in financial turmoil for the better part of a decade. Voters have rejected five levies from 2001 to 2010. Not even the board of education members knew just how bad the district’s finances were when the state began to probe its books in 2011. Last February, the state announced the financial records were such a mess that an audit on the 2010 budget was impossible. Read More…

• Bullying is a life and death issue, local educators say (Journal-News)

A Middletown teenager ingested household chemicals. A Ross senior posted a video on YouTube where she described cutting and burning her skin with cigarettes. A Talawanda student attempted to break his legs. The students gave authorities the same reason for their desperate acts — bullying. They were bullied by students at school to the point they thought they couldn’t escape it. Read More…

Editorial

• Set the limits (Dispatch)

School officials throughout the U.S. will be very glad if the U.S. Supreme Court opts to hear arguments on an issue that plagues most of them: What they can and should do when students harass teachers, administrators or each other online. Like any form of bullying, cyber-bullying disrupts schools and can cause emotional harm to its victims. But the vast reach of the Internet greatly magnifies the damage when, say, a student creates a fake MySpace profile characterizing the principal as a pervert, or another creates a website portraying a classmate as promiscuous and diseased. Read More…

• For Kasich, a State of the State road trip (Plain Dealer)

A State of the State speech is both a message -- and "a message." So it's notable that Republican Gov. John Kasich will give his 2012 address Feb. 7 not at the Statehouse, but at a high-performing public school in Steubenville -- a Democratic city hard by the Ohio River, and hard-hit by the economy. The constitution requires only that a governor "shall communicate at every session, by message, to the General Assembly, the condition of the state." Read More…