Statewide Education News

Ohio sees uptick on AP exams (Dispatch)

More Ohio students took Advanced Placement exams last year, and the rate nudged up of students earning a score high enough to earn college credit at most schools. In last year's graduating class, 24.585 seniors from Ohio's public high schools took exams associated with AP courses. That's a 6.7 percent increase from the year before. The tests aren't a required part of taking the class, but many colleges offer credit to students who earn a 3 or better. Last school year, 62.8 percent of the test-takers got at least a 3. The year before, the number of 62.1 percent. Read More…

Kasich pushing plan as model in education overhaul (Middletown Journal)

COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich loves Cleveland’s ambitious plan to overhaul the city’s failing public schools by resetting collective bargaining agreements, championing high-performing charter schools, expanding preschool to all 4-year-olds, and increasing the hours students spend in classes. “I’m counting on Cleveland to deliver the goods,” Kasich said in his 83-minute State of the State speech delivered at a public school in Steubenville on Tuesday. “We can change urban education in Ohio and change the urban education in America. And that is worth fighting for and risking for.” Read More…

Local Issues

Bantam Ridge hosts state superintendent (Herald Star)

WINTERSVILLE - Bantam Ridge Elementary School hosted Stan W. Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction, on Tuesday morning. Heffner was accompanied by Sarah Dove, teacher liaison to the governor's office, during a meet and greet with local superintendents, where they were given the chance to field questions and concerns to Heffner, and a tour of the facility. "There is terrific teaching going on here, and you can feel the synergy between the teachers and children," said Heffner. Read More…

University of Akron aims to offer free tuition to qualified graduates of Akron schools (Plain Dealer)

AKRON - The University of Akron plans to offer full-tuition scholarships to eligible Akron public school students under an innovative deal that would allow the university to acquire an almost vacant city high school on campus. University of Akron President Luis Proenza and Akron Superintendent David James appeared today before the House Education Committee seeking support for legislation that would require a public school district planning to sell a building to first offer it to a state university with a campus within the district. Read More…

Area districts applauding new regulations for school meals (News-Herald)

As part of the nation’s growing battle against childhood obesity, the government announced new regulations for school meals for the first time in 15 years. The new meal requirements are a part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that became law in December 2010. Schools must offer at least 3/4 cup of vegetables and 1/2 cup of fruit for each meal, as opposed to at least 1/2 cup of combined fruits and vegetables. Vegetables also have to include certain types of food, including dark green and legumes. Read More…

School’s pilot program encourages learning (Journal-News)

FAIRFIELD — At Fairfield West Elementary School, kids hustle through their classrooms, moving from desk to desk, playing games and high-fiving each other. One might think they’re making too much noise and having too much fun to learn. Not so, according to the teachers and the principal. Not only are the children getting an education, but they are behaving better through a system called Kagan Learning, which the school has adopted as a pilot program in all of its classrooms. Read More…

Licking Heights Local Schools gets clean state audit for 2010-11 (Newark Advocate)

PATASKALA - Licking Heights Local Schools received a clean state audit for fiscal year 2011. Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost's office released the report on Jan. 20. The audit, which covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, revealed Heights complied with the rules governing its major federal programs. The audit also revealed no material control weaknesses involving Heights' financial statements or deficiencies in Heights' internal financial controls. Heights, according to the findings, is a "low-risk" auditee. Read More…

Editorial

A Cleveland school plan worth fighting for (Plain Dealer)

Reforming the Cleveland public schools has been a work long in progress. But more is needed to repair the travesty of a district where most youngsters attend schools ranked at the bottom of the heap. That's why it's critical that local legislators move quickly to embrace Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's daring road map for state and local reforms aimed at tripling the number of Cleveland children who attend the most effective schools -- from 11,000 to about 40,000, covering almost all of the district's students. Read More…

Urgency in Cleveland (Beacon Journal)

Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan to reinvent public education in Cleveland offers ample evidence that he is not afraid to kick a hornet’s nest. The plan submitted on Tuesday cited “a fierce sense of urgency” and “an informed sense of hope” as the basis to push a package of broad reforms certain to provoke heated discussion. If there’s a school district that can afford to tinker at the edges of change, it isn’t Cleveland. Alone among Ohio school districts, Cleveland is under mayoral control, its financial and academic problems extensive. Read More…