HUDSON SCHOOL BOARD SENDING LETTER TO GOV. KASICH OPPOSING PROPOSED STATE BUDGET

Hudson -- The Board of Education is asking for the public's help voicing opposition to Gov. John Kasich's proposed state budget which, if passed, will use a formula to take money from wealthier districts and give more cash to districts in financial need.

Board members passed a unanimous resolution March 16 to "sponsor a letter to the governor and state legislators on behalf of the Board of Education expressing concern regarding the considerable negative impact of said proposed 2016 - 2017 budget on the Hudson City School District."

Under the current funding formula, the budget, which Kasich has touted as a "Blueprint for a New Ohio," the district would lose $2.98 million, or 28 percent, in state funding over the next two years, according to Superintendent Phil Herman.

The reduction would be akin to losing 3.3 mills in funding, reducing state funding per pupil from $2,243 to $1,991, according to the Board.

"We recognize that some districts in the state need additional financial assistance, and we are not advocating for an increase in state funds for Hudson," Herman said in a letter sent to parents March 4. "However, it is essential that state resources are held stable for high performing districts such as Hudson City Schools. Reductions in the state funding formula to high performing districts will not enhance education in Ohio."

(Read more at Hudson Hub Times).

Test security now means checking social media for cheaters

For the organizations that give standardized tests, it's a common - and common-sense - security measure.

But to the growing number of critics of the exams, the practice of monitoring students' social media accounts against leaks of test questions is evidence that the tests and the companies that create them are too invasive.

The debate exploded last week in New Jersey when a school administrator emailed some colleagues about her district's experience. In the email, Watchung Hills Regional High School District Superintendent Elizabeth Jewett said the state Education Department contacted her district at a testing company's request at 10 p.m. one night last week with news of a possible test breach. A student apparently had posted a photo of a question from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, or PARCC, on Twitter.

The state Education Department, she said in her note, was informed of the issue by Pearson, the London-based company that oversees the test developed by PARCC. It is being given in a dozen states this month.

"The DOE wanted us to issue discipline to the student," she wrote.

But, Jewett said in the March 10 email to leaders of other schools that was obtained by education blogger Bob Braun, it turned out that the student was merely complaining about a test question; there was no photo of the item itself. She said the student's tweet was removed.

Jewett released a statement confirming that the email was hers and asserting it was accurate, but she did not return an email seeking more details. The district also said she would not comment further.

PARCC, intended to measure how well students are learning what's required by the national Common Core curriculum standards, has many critics. Some students scattered across the country are protesting the exam and some parents organized through social media networks are boycotting it.

(Read more at NBCi4)

Panel gets to work on testing in Ohio schools

As students wrapped up their first round of new tests based on Common Core standards, a state advisory panel convened yesterday to study whether Ohio should scale back or even scrap some standardized tests.

The 28-member Senate Advisory Committee on Testing, led by Senate Education Chairwoman Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, was created in response to growing complaints from parents, teachers and administrators about excessive testing.

“Legitimate concerns have been raised both about the current state assessments as well as Ohio’s overall testing policies,” Lehner told the group, which includes teachers, superintendents, education experts and lawmakers.

The committee will first review Ohio’s shift this year to PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) tests for English/language arts and mathematics, and AIR (American Institute of Research) exams for science and social studies.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Legislators clear way for abolishing Ohio’s school-staffing rule

A legislative review panel paved the way yesterday for the Ohio Board of Education to abolish school-staffing requirements, a move that critics fear will allow districts to eliminate art teachers, librarians, counselors and other staff members.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review rejected an effort to invalidate the proposal by a 6-4 party-line vote. Minority Democrats tried to block the change.

The state board is expected to vote at its next meeting, in May, to abolish the “5 of 8” rule that requires schools to have a certain number of art, music and physical-education teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers. Supporters argue that the rule is outdated and school districts should have more flexibility with staffing. Critics worry that budget-conscious schools would cut positions deemed not essential for state standardized tests.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Outreach aims to temper any backlash over tests aligned with the common core

Even as states begin administering new tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards, they are ramping up efforts to eliminate or minimize public backlash when the scores—widely expected to be markedly lower than results from previous assessments—are released later this year.

From old-fashioned fliers designed to reach parents via students' backpacks to webinars intended for administrators and teachers, states including Illinois and New Jersey are using a diverse set of resources and partnering with various groups to prepare school communities and the general public for what's coming.

Their goal: to spread their message that the new tests are a much more accurate and complete reflection of what students know and can do than past exams, and will in turn better inform classroom instruction.

The new assessments will be far from the first time that states have reset the bar for proficiency on tests. Supporters of the new assessments also frequently point to Kentucky's relatively smooth rollout of its common-core-aligned tests in 2012 as the model for how states can ensure the long-term survival of their new standards and assessments.

But state education departments in many cases might not be used to dealing with the volume and nature of questions and criticisms they'll face in local communities and districts. Difficulties in reaching the large swath of the public that hasn't paid attention to the shifts in instruction and testing could also vex officials and other education advocates.

(Read more at EdWeek)

New Ohio tests source of anxiety, anger

Anxiety, if not downright anger, over new standardized school tests is on full display in Columbus and Toledo.

Schools across Ohio this winter administered the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams, a series of online tests that replace the Ohio standardized tests. The tests were built to align with the Common Core State Standards, themselves a subject of scorn by some.

But the new tests, and their potential consequences, have created outcry from a broader segment, with enough opposition to catalyze legislation placed on Gov. John Kasich’s desk on Friday that would hold students harmless this year for any consequences of the tests.

Criticism of the tests center on their implementation, considered sloppy by some; their rigor, and just the sheer amount of time spent on assessment. Exams in reading and math and science — along with social-studies assessments developed with the American Institute for Research — are stretched out over weeks. Winter weather further pushed back regular classroom time.

“What I can say is that in my teaching career I have never experienced a time when so much instructional time has been spent on testing,” said Kay Wait, an instructional planner for Toledo Public Schools.

(Read more at the Toledo Blade).