Ed News
In protest of the Common Core educational standards, some parents in Tri-Valley School District are opting their kids out of state testing en masse.
Of the district's 3,100 students, 365 have already opted out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing, compared to two at Zanesville City Schools, 12 at West Muskingum Local Schools and 18 at Maysville Local Schools.
(Read more at Times-Recorder).
The Springfield Board of Education voted Thursday night to apply for a waiver to opt out of most state and federal testing requirements.
The district is a part of the Innovation Lab Network, a group of schools that experiment with new student centered learning techniques. Recently a law went into effect that gives the group permission to apply for the waiver.
If Springfield’s waiver is approved by the state, the wave would exempt students from different tests in third grade all the way up to the high school.
Superintendent Dr. David Estrop says some of those mandated tests are redundant and his teachers spend more time preparing the students for tests rather than teaching.
(Read more at wdtn.com).
More area school parents are taking a "none of the above" stance and yanking their kids from what they say is excessive new testing.
And some area school superintendents are joining them by taking rare, public positions in opposition to state education officials' backing of new Common Core-inspired testing for grades three through 12 in Ohio.
The tests, which are new this school year, have triggered various objections. Some parents worry about the new exams' frequency, complexity and what they see as lack of educational value. Others fear schools will share data about their child's performance. Still others worry about the shift away from pencil and paper to using computerized exams.
But the most common complaint is that local school districts are losing their autonomy to state, federal officials and private corporate backers of Common Core, a sweeping set of education reforms that have drawn both strong supporters and opponents in recent years.
Common Core backers tout the new academic standards' uniformity - to various degrees the reforms were adopted by all but four states - and its extensive testing as adding accountability to American student achievement assessments.
Many Greater Cincinnati districts are now putting thousands of students through the new exams that are drawing complaints and accusations of unduly pressuring students.
(Read more at cincinnati.com)
A war of words appears to be brewing between Gov. John Kasich and Fairbanks Superintendent Bob Humble.
It started when Humble offered his thoughts on Kasich’s school-funding proposal, which takes into account a district’s ability to fund its operations based on income and property value per student.
“This is absolutely the craziest, most-goofiest formula I’ve ever seen,” Humble said. “How can a state in the best financial state it’s ever been in be cutting funds to any district?”
Fairbanks in Union County is slated to lose about 6 percent, or $314,000, in state funding over two years under Kasich’s plan.
Humble was dumbfounded by the district’s capacity measure — its ability to pay for its schools — under Kasich’s plan. Fairbanks’ measure ranked above capacity in the New Albany and Olentangy school districts, which have higher median incomes than the mostly farming community. Fairbanks’ figure is just below Upper Arlington’s and Grandview Heights’.
Kasich responded just as harshly, calling out educators for what he said is their “irresponsible” reactions to his plan.
“We need more superintendents who are educators and less superintendents who are politicians,” he said.
(Read more at the Dispatch)
A new set of evaluation rules for the state’s school counselors is included in Governor John Kasich’s proposed operating budget. And the Ohio School Counselors Association, or OSCA, supports the idea.
School counselors aren’t evaluated like teachers. OSCA created its own guidelines a few years ago, but assessments are still handled at the local level. Association President Sarah Collins says that means there’s no unified approach, so school counseling programs vary depending on where you are. She points out a counselor’s effectiveness also depends on the demands on them and if they are pulling double duty like filling in as substitute teachers.
“You may have one counselor that has 250 students, which is the recommended ratio by our national organization. There are some counselors that have 1,000 kids, or 2,000 kids in multiple buildings. So how do you evaluate those fairly?”
And she says having set guidelines written into law means everyone would also be speaking the same evaluation language.
“What’s working in your district with this? And what’s working in your district with this? I mean, certainly we know that the resources are probably are never going to be completely an even-playing field. But it at least gives us a starting point for administrators to talk, for superintendent to talk, for other school counselors to be able to talk using common language.”
Collins says her organization will continue working with lawmakers as they consider the rules. If the idea is approved, the state board of education would need guidelines in place by May 2016.
The sheer number of state tests that Ohio students face each year is stifling creative learning, some educators say, and a coalition of Greater Cincinnati districts is lobbying state lawmakers to cut the number of mandated tests.
Mason, Deer Park and West Clermont school districts are among those lobbying to reduce the number of tests for students in grades 3-12 from two or three a year – depending on the grade level – to one. They recommend staggering English, math, science and social studies testing so that none take place in the same year. Some also want to eliminate Common Core-based testing for high schoolers, replacing those exams with the ACT college prep test for juniors.
"It would allow our teachers to be more innovative, creative and engaging with their instruction," Deer Park Superintendent Jeff Langdon told WCPO. "We're assessing our kids more than we ever have. And we're doing less teaching."
(Read more at WCPO.com.