Statewide Education News

Commission continues its work on Youngstown schools' academic recovery (Vindicator)

Youngstown - There’s no set time line for development of a new academic recovery plan for the city school district. “As much as I would like to have it soon, it’s more important to do it well,” said Richard Ross, chairman of the newly organized Youngstown City Schools Academic Distress Commission. Superintendent Connie Hathorn said the district will continue to work to move forward while the next version of the plan is developed. Ross was appointed to the academic distress commission in November by Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction. Read More…

Literacy today means more than reading, writing and a high school diploma, report says (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND - Traditionally, being literate has meant being able to read and write. That definition is too narrow for today's economy, according to the Literacy Cooperative, an umbrella group helping to guide and inform many of the scattered literacy efforts in Northeast Ohio. Read More…

Ohio educators still waiting for funding plan (Marietta Times)

It may now be at least 2013 before Ohio schools have a new funding plan from Ohio Gov. John Kasich, which leaves Ohio school districts in a familiar position - waiting and wondering. A deadline of January had been set by the administration to unveil the plan but will not be met, according to his office. "We've been dealing with different funding systems for the last couple years," said Marietta City Schools Treasurer Matt Reed. Read More…

Ohio teachers to be watched and graded on classroom performance -- and many are OK with that (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND - Teachers across Ohio should expect a lot more criticism of their classroom work in the next few years. Their principals will be in their classrooms more. Or their assistant principals, or even outside evaluators, all watching them, taking notes and essentially grading the teachers. Read More…

Student transfers not just from public schools to charters (Dispatch)

More students moved between the Columbus City Schools and neighboring districts in recent years than transferred with charter schools, new research shows. In the past three academic years, 20,745 students spent some time at a Columbus school and some time elsewhere in Franklin County — either another district or charter school. Of those, roughly 13,000 went between Columbus and another traditional school district. Read More…

Local Issues

Jackson High School library goes digital (Repository)

JACKSON TWP. — The Jackson High School Library shifted into OverDrive this school year. “For a couple years, it’s been ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ ” explained Library/Media Specialist Christina Conti. “We’d been looking for the right platform ... and this is it.” Although it probably remains a secret to some students, the school library has gone digital. It’s the first school library in Stark County, and only the third in Ohio, Conti said, to offer students a selection of downloadable e-books — about 525 titles so far. Read More…

Pesticide cleared in students’ sickness (Middletown Journal)

TRENTON — It is unlikely that a pesticide application applied by a lawn care company on athletic fields at Edgewood Middle School caused students to become sick, according to a report by an investigator with Ohio Department of Agriculture. Laboratory analysis confirmed that Momentum FX2 was applied to the field in question on Oct. 11 by BCF Lawn and Landscape. Laboratory analysis for the active ingredient in Momentum FX2 was completed on a swab sample that was collected from the classroom window where students complained of an odor. Read More…

Principals’ raises resented (Dispatch)

Some educators at Northridge schools in Licking County are upset that a group of administrators will make more money next year after teachers gave up raises for the next two years because of the district’s financial situation. The most-recent two-year contract calls for teachers to receive no raise in their base pay and no step increases based on seniority and education because the district successfully argued that it could not afford any wage increases. Read More…

TPS students miss fewer days from suspensions, expulsions (Blade)

When Toledo Public Schools leaders pitched the move to K-8 schools, the possible impact on school discipline was near the top of the list of perceived benefits. Middle schools were havens of misbehavior. More focus could be given to individual students if officials split seventh and eighth-grade students up between neighborhood schools. Parents and students could develop better relationships with teachers and principals. Read More…

Literacy program benefits tutors, students (Times Recorder)

ZANESVILLE - Charles and Phyllis Cerney's grandchildren live out of town, but they are eager to step in as "substitute grandparents" and mentors to children who need them. "We like to read, we're interested in children and are willing to work with them," Phyllis said. "The kids work hard and they teach us a lot." For the past couple of months the retired couple has spent an hour each Tuesday at John McIntire Elementary School for a literacy-based effort to expand their minds and those of the students. Read More…

Editorial

A better start (Dispatch)

Another Ohio win in the federally funded Race to the Top education-grant challenge could boost future school performance in Ohio by giving more children a better start before they even start elementary school. The state is one of nine that will share in a $500 million pot to fund programs that prepare children for kindergarten. That means, among other things, creating higher-quality preschool programs for poor children and developing a test that more accurately assesses how ready a child is for kindergarten. Read More…