Whistle-blower contradicts charter school

Evidence provided to The Blade appears to contradict public statements made this week by an online charter school that it withdraws all chronically truant students who have no legitimate excuse for being absent.

State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) said this week an anonymous whistle-blower had sent lawmakers a list of hundreds of students who were designated as truant at Maumee-based Ohio Virtual Academy, yet had not been removed from its enrollment lists. Under state law, charter schools must withdraw students who miss 105 consecutive hours without a legitimate excuse. Not withdrawing those students would arbitrarily boost attendance figures, by which charter schools are paid in state funds.

School officials say the allegations are “totally and categorically false.” But both an email and audio recording provided to The Blade appears to show that OVA set a cutoff date of April 6 for truancy withdrawals, and that no students would be taken off their attendance rolls after that date, regardless of the reason.

The audio recording is of a conference call that appears to be led by Kathy Pine, instructional coordinator at the school. In the April 6 call, she tells staff members that the school would not be approving any truancy withdrawals after that day, so they needed to turn in their withdrawal requests. She followed up that call with an email to staff on April 21.

(Read more at the Blade)

Senate’s charter-school bill praised by past critic of Ohio laws

The co-author of a scathing 2014 report assessing charter-school laws in Ohio said new legislation aimed at improving charter-school oversight and accountability would “significantly strengthen” state regulations.

Andy Smarick of Boston-based Bellwether Education Partners found that after more than 15 years, Ohio charter-school laws favored for-profit management companies, are wrought with lax oversight and allow poorly performing schools to remain open while doing little to attract the kind of superior charter schools being established in other states.

“Chartering is doing extraordinarily well elsewhere,” Smarick said yesterday in addressing a Senate subcommittee that is hearing testimony on a pair of charter-school bills, including one passed by the House. He noted that urban charter students in several states are outperforming students in traditional urban districts.

“But as you know, the same researchers found that the charter results in Ohio are not nearly as strong,” he said. “Your urban charter students aren’t benefiting from the gains we’re witnessing elsewhere.”

Smarick said Senate Bill 148 would address a number of key problems with Ohio charter-school laws, by improving the ability of the state to hold sponsors accountable, including a new rating system; ensuring that sponsors don’t use state funding on non-school functions; preventing sponsors from selling services to their schools; and stopping “sponsor hopping,” in which a poorly performing school closes but quickly reopens simply by finding a new sponsor.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

May 2015 School Levy Results

Ohio schools that had an issue or levy on the May 5th, 2015 ballot mostly had a great night. The passage rate was the highest JTF has tracked for a May primary since we began tracking in 2012.

	Failed	Passed	Grand Total	Pass Rate
New	13	22	35	62.9%
Renewal	3	63	66	95.5%
Grand Total	16	85	101	84.2%

The passgae of renewal levies was a little higher than typical, but the passage of new levies was considerably higher than the recent trend.

Here's the full list of preliminary results

County	Local	N/R	Votes For	Votes Against	Result
Allen	Elida Local	Renewal	67.8%	32.2%	Passed
Ashland	Hillsdale Local	Renewal	58.5%	41.5%	Passed
Ashtabula	Grand Valley Local	Renewal	60.5%	39.5%	Passed
Auglaize	New Bremen Local	Renewal	77.2%	22.8%	Passed
Belmont	Shadyside Local	Renewal	63.7%	36.3%	Passed
Belmont	Shadyside Local	Renewal	63.1%	36.9%	Passed
Butler	Edgewood City	New	57.2%	42.8%	Passed
Carroll	Brown Local	Renewal	49.8%	50.2%	Failed
Clark	Northeastern Local	New	53.7%	46.3%	Passed
Clark	Springfield City	Renewal	64.9%	35.1%	Passed
Coshocton	Coshocton County JVS	New	57.5%	42.5%	Passed
Crawford	Crestline EV	New	40.0%	60.0%	Failed
Crawford	Wynford Local	Renewal	75.5%	24.5%	Passed
Crawford	Wynford Local	Renewal	76.0%	24.0%	Passed
Cuyahoga	Brooklyn City	Renewal	55.8%	44.2%	Passed
Cuyahoga	Cleveland Heights-University Heights City	New	43.3%	56.7%	Failed
Cuyahoga	Garfield Heights City	Renewal	52.9%	47.1%	Passed
Cuyahoga	Warrensville Heights City	Renewal	87.0%	13.0%	Passed
Cuyahoga	Westlake City	New	48.8%	51.2%	Failed
Darke	Ansonia Local	Renewal	70.9%	29.1%	Passed
Defiance	Ayersville Local	New	51.6%	48.4%	Passed
Delaware	Big Walnut Local	New	68.7%	31.3%	Passed
Fairfield	Walnut Township Local	New	45.2%	54.8%	Failed
Fayette	Miami Trace Local	New	51.9%	48.1%	Passed
Geauga	Kenston Local	New	57.8%	42.2%	Passed
Geauga	West Geauga	Renewal	68.1%	31.9%	Passed
Greene	Beavercreek City	Renewal	53.8%	46.2%	Passed
Greene	Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local	New	60.2%	39.8%	Passed
Greene	Xenia Community City	Renewal	58.8%	41.2%	Passed
Greene	Xenia Community City	Renewal	58.5%	41.5%	Passed
Greene	Yellow Springs EV	Renewal	87.3%	12.7%	Passed
Hamilton	Lockland Local	New	48.6%	51.4%	Failed
Hamilton	Northwest Local	New	47.3%	52.7%	Failed
Hamilton	Winton Woods City	New	28.6%	71.4%	Failed
Hancock	Arcadia Local	Renewal	65.4%	34.6%	Passed
Hancock	McComb Local	Renewal	65.5%	34.5%	Passed
Hardin	Ridgemont Local	Renewal	52.9%	47.1%	Passed
Henry	Patrick Henry Local	Renewal	51.2%	48.8%	Passed
Huron	Monroeville Local	New	61.5%	38.5%	Passed
Knox	Mount Vernon City	Renewal	68.9%	31.1%	Passed
Licking	Heath City	Renewal	70.8%	29.2%	Passed
Licking	North Fork Local	Renewal	51.0%	49.0%	Passed
Licking	Southwest Licking Local	Renewal	74.0%	26.0%	Passed
Lorain	Avon Local	New	57.1%	42.9%	Passed
Lorain	Clearview Local	Renewal	50.9%	49.1%	Passed
Lorain	Columbia Local	Renewal	51.2%	48.8%	Passed
Lorain	Columbia Local	Renewal	49.8%	50.2%	Failed
Lorain	Firelands Local	Renewal	62.4%	37.6%	Passed
Lorain	Keystone Local	New	53.8%	46.2%	Passed
Lorain	Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City	New	55.6%	44.4%	Passed
Lucas	Springfield Local	New	60.9%	39.1%	Passed
Mahoning	South Range Local	New	39.4%	60.6%	Failed
Marion	River Valley Local	New	45.1%	54.9%	Failed
Medina	Cloverleaf Local	Renewal	60.6%	39.4%	Passed
Mercer	Celina City	Renewal	72.7%	27.3%	Passed
Mercer	Parkway Local	Renewal	93.0%	7.0%	Passed
Miami	Bethel Local	Renewal	59.5%	40.5%	Passed
Miami	Tipp City EV	New	51.2%	48.8%	Passed
Miami	Troy City	Renewal	69.2%	30.8%	Passed
Montgomery	Brookville Local	Renewal	67.0%	33.0%	Passed
Montgomery	Brookville Local	Renewal	66.4%	33.6%	Passed
Montgomery	Kettering City	Renewal	68.5%	31.5%	Passed
Montgomery	Northridge Local	New	59.8%	40.2%	Passed
Montgomery	Valley View Local	Renewal	62.6%	37.4%	Passed
Montgomery	Valley View Local	Renewal	63.1%	36.9%	Passed
Ottawa	Genoa Area Local	Renewal	69.6%	30.4%	Passed
Ottawa	Genoa Area Local	New	57.2%	42.8%	Passed
Pickaway	Logan Elm Local	Renewal	69.1%	30.9%	Passed
Pickaway	Logan Elm Local	Renewal	69.5%	30.5%	Passed
Portage	Aurora City	Renewal	67.0%	33.0%	Passed
Portage	Crestwood Local	Renewal	65.5%	34.5%	Passed
Ross	Zane Trace Local	New	56.2%	43.8%	Passed
Sandusky	Woodmore Local	Renewal	47.2%	52.8%	Failed
Sandusky	Woodmore Local	New	35.1%	64.9%	Failed
Seneca	Seneca East Local	Renewal	66.4%	33.6%	Passed
Shelby	Jackson Center Local	Renewal	60.1%	39.9%	Passed
Stark	Fairless Local	New	46.8%	53.2%	Failed
Stark	Lake Local	New	53.6%	46.4%	Passed
Summit	Coventry Local	Renewal	55.5%	44.5%	Passed
Summit	Manchester Local	Renewal	64.8%	35.2%	Passed
Summit	Manchester Local	Renewal	65.8%	34.2%	Passed
Summit	Mogadore Local	New	52.5%	47.5%	Passed
Summit	Stow-Munroe Falls City	Renewal	71.4%	28.6%	Passed
Trumbull	Hubbard EV	Renewal	76.7%	23.3%	Passed
Trumbull	Lakeview Local	New	56.0%	44.0%	Passed
Trumbull	Liberty Local	Renewal	55.3%	44.7%	Passed
Trumbull	Lordstown Local	Renewal	68.7%	31.3%	Passed
Trumbull	Lordstown Local	Renewal	67.9%	32.1%	Passed
Trumbull	Maplewood Local	Renewal	63.7%	36.3%	Passed
Trumbull	Newton Falls EV	Renewal	72.0%	28.0%	Passed
Warren	Kings Local	Renewal	72.5%	27.5%	Passed
Warren	Warren County JVS	New	38.3%	61.7%	Failed
Wayne	Norwayne Local	Renewal	65.1%	34.9%	Passed
Wayne	Orrville City	Renewal	70.2%	29.8%	Passed
Wayne	Rittman EV	Renewal	79.2%	20.8%	Passed
Wayne	Southeast Local	New	49.3%	50.7%	Failed
Williams	Edon Northwest Local	New	57.6%	42.4%	Passed
Wood	Bowling Green City	Renewal	69.3%	30.7%	Passed
Wood	Bowling Green City	Renewal	68.8%	31.2%	Passed
Wood	North Baltimore Local	Renewal	64.1%	35.9%	Passed
Wood	Rossford EV	New	58.7%	41.3%	Passed

How Common Core tests are scored: PARCC and Pearson graders can shoot for 60 answers per hour

Grading a student answer each minute could easily be overwhelming for the 121 graders at Pearson Inc.'s Ohio scoring center for the new Common Core exams from PARCC.

But this operation in a suburban office complex outside Columbus is a very focused assembly line operation: Scoring 55 to 80 answers an hour is no problem for most.

"I feel like I've been doing well," said scorer Launica Jones, who previously worked as a substitute teacher in both Cleveland and Columbus and started grading PARCC exams last month. "I've actually been told to slow down a few times."

It's a pace that works here, partly because the dozens of full-time graders in Ohio spend their eight-hour shifts focused on just third grade math tests. If your third grader took the PARCC math exams this spring, there's a good chance that one of their answers was scored a laptop here at this Westerville office.

They don't grade English here this year and don't score any other grades either. Those are for the other dozen PARCC scoring centers to worry about. (The pace for English essay questions is a bit slower, but still quick: 17-19 per hour for high school exams.)

Graders don't score whole tests. They work with just one question at a time, grading that single question a few hundred times a day.

And each grader has been drilled several times in how students should answer that particular question before they start.

Michelle Kohlhorst said she has also managed the speed just fine. Since starting as a full-time grader April 13, she has scored a succession of five third grade math questions. Each time, she said, she and other graders pick up speed the more they work with a new question.

"When we first start training on an item, I think, 'Whoa! This is confusing'," Kohlhurst said. "The more we talk about it and go through training, it gets a little easier."

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Legislators refer e-school attendance-tampering allegations to education department auditor

State lawmakers said Monday they have referred allegations to authorities that an online charter school failed to dis-enroll hundreds of chronically truant students in order to pad its rolls.

Ohio Virtual Academy, which serves about 13,000 students statewide, said it follows all state reporting laws and enrollment guidelines.

Reps. Bill Hayes and Teresa Fedor, the House Education Committee's top Republican and Democrat, told The Associated Press they have forwarded an anonymous whistleblower's email to state Auditor Dave Yost, whose office has made school attendance fraud a priority.

A school's enrollment dictates the size of its monthly payments from the state.

"My question is how long has it been going on. For years? I don't know," Fedor said. "This is a serious gap and it's a serious issue if these e-schools are getting money that they shouldn't get."

Hayes also involved the Ohio Department of Education and alerted the school, whose authorizer said it is conducting its own review.

The whistleblower provided a list of more than 400 specific students listed as truant, some for most of the school year. The email comes amid highly charged debate at the Ohio Statehouse over charter school regulations viewed as among the weakest in the country. Recent legislation has tightened up the law and a pending bill with bipartisan sponsorship has a hearing this week.

(Readm ore at Tribtown.com)

Ohio Charters Just Don't Work

As we wait to see what the Ohio General Assembly presents as charter school reform, Steve Dyer has taken a 3 part look at why Ohio's charter schools just don't work.

You can read part one, part two and part three in full, but here's a brief synopsis of his findings.

Part One

...the amount of money going to worse-performing charters is more than $430 million, and if you include charters that perform the same, it's now more than $500 million that goes from the same or higher-performing districts to the same or worse-performing charters.

Part Two

Charters do worse on the report card than districts with greater challenges. So that means that while charters' poor performance compared with districts overall can perhaps be explained by more challenging populations, districts with greater challenges are doing better. So charters are not, on the whole, doing a better job serving our state's most challenging students than districts with more challenges than the charter faces.

Part Three

Ohio’s charter schools perform worse overall than all local public school buildings, including those in the Big 8 urban districts (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown) – the areas where charters were supposed to offer better alternatives. Charters register lower percentages of As and Bs while having higher percentages of Ds and Fs than local public schools.

Remember that 45% of charter school students do not come from Ohio's urban core -- one of the myths dealt with in yesterday's post.

It is exceedingly unfair cherry picking for charter schools to take money and children from every district in the state, yet only have their performance compared with the most historically struggling schools in the state.

Dyer looks at a whole range of metrics to compare charter schools to traditional public schools, including sub groups. Charter schools simply do not work in Ohio. A key test for any charter school reform effort will be if they close down the bulk of the failing schools and create an environment where only quality charter schools can develop. We're still highly skeptical.