Here's Why Ohio School Report Cards Should Receive An F

An analysis of the Ohio Schools report card data by Dr. Howard Fleeter of the Ohio Education Policy Institute proves that despite changes, ODE and the legislature continue to create measurement systems that measure poverty and not educational quality.

OEPI’s initial analysis of the FY16 Report Card data focuses on the relationship between
the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in each school district and the
district’s Performance Index (PI) score and PFS percentage. 

The graph above is self-evident. As poverty declines in a school district, that district is likely to see significantly improved results using the ODE school report card measure. Here's the conclusion from the analysis

This analysis is far from the first to demonstrate a strong negative correlation between
student achievement and socioeconomic status. However, this data shows that in Ohio,
the negative correlation between socioeconomics and student achievement has proven all too persistent over time. 

"Raise the bar" all you want, but unless you have policies to address this socioeconomic fact, results are going to continue to persist. Ohio needs a funding model that works for all students, not constantly changing measurement systems coupled with test and punishment rubrics.

OSBA Agrees, according to a Gongwer report, Director of Legislative Services Damon Asbury said

"Changes need to be made to close the gap between low-income and wealthy districts. Our organizations want to work with our members to improve school district report cards and solve problems, but what we do not want to lose in the recent confusion over report card results is the continuing performance gap we see between students in low-wealth districts and those in higher-wealth districts, we hope the OEPI report will serve to inform and encourage lawmakers to take action."

Couldn't agree more. Below is the full analysis

Study: Teachers Unions Raise Teacher Quality And Increase Kids’ Educational Attainment

A new study by Eunice S. Han, Wellesley College, finds that teachers unions raise study and teacher quality, and that attacks on teachers unions intended to weaken them, are likely to have detrimental effects.

From the conclusion

This study examines the relation between teachers unions and teacher turnover and assesses union effects on US public schools. The significant contributions of this study to literature include the provision of a theoretical framework of unions’ roles in both voluntary and involuntary teacher turnover, the diverse measurements of unionism from all 50 US states, the controls for various district-specific and teacher-specific demographics available from district-teacher matched data, and the use of panel data.

A simple two-period job matching model with positive renegotiation costs predicts that teachers unions raise the dismissal of low-quality teachers because higher wages give districts a greater incentive to select high-quality teachers but lower the attrition of high-quality teachers, as they negotiate higher wages for teachers. The unique district-teacher matched panel data enable me to utilize the within-state and within-district variation of unionism and instrumental variable regressions to identify the union effects on the educational system.

The empirical evidence confirms these predictions. I find that districts with strong unionism dismiss more underperforming teachers and have lower teacher attrition than districts with weak unionism.

Through the dynamics of teacher turnover, unions ultimately raise teacher quality, as unionized districts can better retain good teachers and dismiss more underperforming teachers. Two pieces of empirical evidence support this hypothesis: districts with strong unionism have more teachers with stronger qualifications and lower dropout rates than districts with weak unionism. I also find that the recent legal change weakening unionism in four states affects the teacher turnover pattern and teacher quality negatively, confirming unions’ positive role in the US educational system.

This research, therefore, suggests that restricting the legal boundary for unions’ activities may not be the appropriate approach in improving educational outcomes. Rather, promoting union-friendly environments may create more encouraging economic conditions for teachers and provide districts with incentives to select better teachers, eventually raising teacher quality.

Here's the full study

Resistance To Corporate Education Reform Drives the Opt-Out Movement

Columbia University Teachers College have performed a survey of the Opt-Out movement. The first of its kind. The goal was to determine what was driving the sentiments and actions of those engaging in what has been a growing movement.

The survey notes that the results:

"reveals that supporters oppose the use of test scores to evaluate teachers and believe that high-stakes tests force teachers to “teach to the test” rather than employ strategies that promote deeper learning. The new survey also reports concern among supporters about the growing role of corporations and privatization of schools."

Those conducting the survey also went on to say that the Opt-Out movement encompasses a broad range of issues, issues those who follow JTF will be familiar with

“For activists, the concerns are about more than the tests,” said Oren Pizmony-Levy, TC Assistant Professor of International and Comparative Education, who co-authored the study with Nancy Green Saraisky, Research Associate and TC alumna. “We were surprised that the survey reveals a broader concern about corporate education reform relying on standardized test-based accountability, and the increased role of ‘edu-businesses’ and corporations in schools.”

Results within the survey appear to confirm these conclusions

Here's the full survey report

Report By Charter School Lobby Association Finds eSchools Are Disaster

A new report published by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, find that Charter eSchools are a disaster for students. The report specifically looked at eSchools in Ohio. Here's what they found

  • Compared to traditional public school students, full-time virtual charter school students have much weaker academic growth overall. Full-time virtual charter school students experience 180 fewer days of learning in math and 72 fewer days of learning in reading in comparison to traditional public school students.viii Put another way, these data show that in a given year full-time virtual charter school students overall make no gains in math and less than half the gains in reading realized by their peers in traditional public schools.
  • Full-time virtual charter schools perform worse than traditional public schools in most states. Of the 17 states included in the state level results in the “Online Charter School Study” by CREDO, full-time virtual charter schools performed worse than traditional public schools in 13 states in reading, performed better in only two states, and the differences were not significant in two states. In math, full-time virtual charter schools performed worse than traditional public schools in 14 states, while the differences were not significant in three states.
  • All subgroups of students have weaker academic growth in full-time virtual charter schools than in traditional public schools. All subgroups of students – white, black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, multi-racial, those in poverty, English-language learners, and special education students – perform worse in full-time virtual charter schools than in traditional public schools.
  • The vast majority of full-time virtual charter schools perform worse than traditional public schools. In reading, 67 percent of full-time virtual charter schools have weaker growth than their comparison schools. Only 2 percent outperform their comparison schools, while 32 percent perform no differently.
  • In math, a full 88 percent of full-time virtual charter schools had significantly weaker growth than their comparison schools, with the remaining 12 percent performing no differently.
  • The average full-time virtual charter school student stays for a short time. On average, students spend two years in full-time virtual charter schools.
  • The mobility rates for students after they leave full-time virtual charter schools are extremely high. Full-time virtual charter school students have a mobility rate of 36 percent, meaning that students who leave full-time virtual charter schools have a more chaotic school experience after they leave full-time virtual charter schools than they did before they enrolled in such schools.

When the organization whose main focus is to defend charter schools beings producing devastating reports like this one, the writing simply must be on the wall for ECOT, OVA and their ilk. Too many students are being harmed each year.

Here's the full report

August 2016 Levy Results

Here are the school levy and issues results from the August, 2016 special election. Levies placed on the ballot during low turnout special elections tend to fair poorly, these results were no different.

N/R Failed Passed Total Pass Rate
New 7 2 9 22.2%
Renewal 3 2 5 40.0%
Total 10 4 14 28.6%

The full district by district results are as follows:

County District N/R Result
Ottawa Benton Carroll Salem Local New Failed
Geauga Cardinal Local New Failed
Fulton Fayette Local New Passed
Lorain Firelands Local New Failed
Summit Manchester Local New Failed
Darke Mississinawa Valley Local Renewal Failed
Coshocton River View Local New Failed
Mahoning Sebring Local Renewal Failed
Shelby Sidney City New Failed
Hamilton Southwest Local New Failed
Summit Springfield Local Renewal Passed
Mercer Tri-Star Career Compact New Passed
Fairfield Walnut Township Local Renewal Passed
Sandusky Woodmore Local Renewal Failed

School Levies On the August Ballot

The following school districts have levies and issues on the August 2nd, 2016 ballot.

County District Type Description
Coshocton River View Local School District Combo Additional
Darke Mississinawa Valley Local School District Income Tax Renewal
Fairfield Walnut Township Local School District Levy Renewal
Fulton Fayette Local School District Combo Additional
Geauga Cardinal Local School District Levy Additional
Hamilton Southwest Local School District Combo Additional
Lorain Firelands Local School District Combo Additional
Mahoning Sebring Local School District Income Tax Renewal
Mercer Tri-Star Career Compact Participating School Districts Bond Issue N/A
Ottawa Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District Bond Issue N/A
Sandusky Woodmore Local School District Levy Renewal
Shelby Sidney City School District Levy Additional
Summit Manchester Local School District Combo Additional
Summit Springfield Local School District Levy Renewal