Statewide Education News

Navigators: Kids get a push to go past proficiency (Dispatch)

After learning how the body works in science, Navigators students presented explanations of what body system made famous athletes successful. During math, they graphed how many basketball shots they’ve made and how fast they ran through an obstacle course. And after learning how being active contributes to physical health, they learned about other kinds of well-being — such as spiritual health, through a world-religions lesson. Read More…

State Leaders Push For Ohio Education Overhaul (ONN)

COLUMBUS - A state education overhaul aimed at better preparing Ohio students for college will change the way children and schools are evaluated and the curriculum they use. Students should be getting "a diploma worth owning," but the existing system shortchanges children by asking them to meet minimum standards that don't necessarily make them college-ready, state Superintendent Stan Heffner said. Gov. John Kasich and other state leaders want to change that through an overhaul that's under way and is expected to be finished in several years. Read More…

Schools to impose tougher standards (Dispatch)

State leaders say it’s time to face the truth: Graduating from high school in Ohio doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready for college or a career. That won’t do anymore, Gov. John Kasich and education officials say. So they’re overhauling the guidelines of what students should know, writing more challenging tests to assess what they’ve learned, forcing schools to revamp curriculum and grading schools on a tougher scale. Read More…

Common Core Standards aim to transform Ohio education (Chillicothe Gazette)

The U.S. economy could grow at a "remarkable increment" if its students were just a little better at math, a group of Harvard researchers recently concluded. That's one reason Ohio teachers already are learning a new set of curriculum standards that will be in place by 2014 -- the Common Core State Standards. These standards call for educators to tackle fewer subjects in class, but with more depth. They encourage long-form answers on tests and teachers using material beyond the textbook. Students will be asked to stop memorizing and start explaining. Read More…

Little Miami, state air gripes (Enquirer)

HAMILTON TWP. — The public clash between Little Miami’s local school board and the state-appointed commission running the insolvent district continued Friday evening, but some common ground surfaced. Local school officials complained the commission’s surprising veto last month of the district’s plan to reopen two shuttered elementary schools has left them confused and vulnerable to public criticism about breaking promises they made during the fall’s levy campaign. Read More…

Students benefiting from new measures (Dispatch)

Educators know how well their students are learning — whether they are growing or stagnant. They also know which teachers work best with the high performers and the students who struggle. Researchers say it’s never been easier to match students with teachers who can serve them best, thanks to the “value-added” measurement that tracks students’ progress over time. Some Ohio schools are using the data to make those connections in classrooms, but few are doing it quite like Hannah Ashton Middle School in Reynoldsburg, said Mark Hartman. Read More…

Oversight of home-schooling is lax (News-Sun)

Oversight of parents who homeschool children is so limited the Ohio Department of Education doesn’t know for sure how many students are being home-schooled or how closely districts are monitoring compliance with state law. A Springfield News-Sun investigation following the death of 14-year-old Makayla Norman found few if any consequences for school districts that lose track of homeschooled students. Individual districts are responsible for keeping tabs on parents who teach children at home. Read More…

Common Core setting a new education standard for Ohio (Newark Advocate)

Place three rectangles of varying shapes and sizes in front of a group of third-graders. In today's classes, a teacher might ask what the length of one side is, or what the area is. In a year or two, however, the broader question might just be: "What size are these?" Educators are being asked to teach differently, thanks to the new Common Core State Standards. This means the classroom could operate much differently come 2014 -- although some districts are implementing them sooner. Read More…

Realities of racism: Coaches, players dealing with racism in high school sports (Daily Times)

Arguably one of the most important moments in civil rights history occurred in 1947, when a Scioto County resident tore through the race barrier of professional sports and signed an African-American named Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. More than 60 years later, coaches at Portsmouth High School say racism is still alive in the basketball venues of southern Ohio and may even be keeping the school out of the SOC. Read More…

Contenders: Repetition helps students to catch up (Dispatch)

The Contenders know what to expect in all of their classes. The instructions are always the same in Aimee Babb’s math class: Take out your notebooks and copy the information from the board. When language-arts teacher Shauna Crim asks students to read along with her, she consistently tells them to underline key words and draw a box around terms they don’t know. At every visit to the computer lab, they are quizzed on what they know in math and how well they understand reading passages. Read More…

Local Issues

More schools try solar power (Dispatch)

The solar panels at Bluffsview Elementary School were once such a novelty that people flew in from Chicago just to take a look. The vice principal of the Worthington school was invited to Washington, D.C., to speak about the project. Twelve years later, solar panels pop up at schools with such regularity that state organizations can’t keep track of them. “It’s almost to the point where it’s happening so fast now it’s going to be commonplace,” said Glen Kizer, president of the Foundation for Environmental Education in Columbus. Read More…

Cash-strapped school districts see benefits, problems with open enrollment (News-Herald)

Open enrollment is offered by many area school districts for various reasons, not the least of which is money. The policy, whereby students are given the option to attend schools other than the one assigned based on where they live, beefs up budgets through funds that follow the student from their home district to the one in which they’re enrolled. West Geauga has offered open enrollment for five years, with numbers growing steadily, according to Superintendent Tom Diringer. Read More…

CPS votes today on administrative cuts (Enquirer)

CORRYVILLE — Cincinnati Public Schools will vote today to lay off 40 administrators in what is expected to be the first of several rounds of budget cuts for this district of 33,000 students. It’s among at least three local school districts deciding on layoffs today. Mount Healthy’s school board will vote on the layoffs of at least 34 workers following the failure of its levy March 6. Clermont Northeastern’s school board will vote on multiple job cuts, including assistant superintendent, assistant principals and special education coordinator positions. Read More…

Schools checking for gas, oil below (Dispatch)

The state has told public universities and community colleges in the path of Ohio’s drilling boom to figure out how much of the oil- and gas-rich Utica shale lies below their campuses. These “property inventories” are required by a new state law that opened public lands to drilling. Though the debate over that law focused on whether drilling should be allowed in state parks and forests, it covers all public land. It’s also prompted a debate over whether the state’s 37 colleges and universities should profit from “fracking.” Read More…

21 local schools in noncompliance with Ohio's safety plan (WTOV 9 NBC)

In the aftermath of the shooting at Chardon High School, the Ohio Attorney General's Office issued a reminder to schools throughout Ohio to file safety and building plans with the state. But a Target 9 Investigation found that 21 schools in the Ohio Valley are red-flagged by Attorney General Mike DeWine's office as being late to turn in their paperwork. Though schools are required to submit that information to prepare all agencies in case of an emergency. Read More…

JVS cutting programs, employees (Morning Journal)

OBERLIN — Several satellite programs will be axed as a result of $1.1 million in cuts forced upon the Lorain County Joint Vocational School after failing to pass levies in the last two election cycles, according to Superintendent John Nolan. Among those casualties will be the marketing management program at North Ridgeville High School and a computer network program at Firelands High School, Nolan said. Read More…

Three routes, one goal (Dispatch)

In November, The Dispatch wrote about Hannah Ashton Middle School in Reynoldsburg and its radical approach of teaching students by their ability. Advanced students are grouped together (in C.R.E.W.), as are the lowest-performing ones (Contenders) and those in the middle (Navigators). Advocates say the strategy allows teachers to craft their lessons based on the needs of their students. Those who are academically behind can work on material more slowly with additional support. Read More…

Springfield schools spent $360K in 2 years to attract students (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — By the end of the year, Springfield City School District will spend $360,000 on marketing and communications over two years — a necessary expense in the competitive market of education, according to officials. The district uses outside firms to assist with marketing and employs an in-house consultant. Spending on marketing and communications totals about $150,000 to $175,000 a year in the district, including the salary of a communications consultant who assists with strategic planning and special projects. Read More…

Civil-service panel usually backs schools (Dispatch)

Columbus Schools Superintendent Gene Harris’ assertion this week that rulings by the Civil Service Commission kept her staff from firing a problem bus driver isn’t supported by the facts, the commission’s director says. A review of district cases heard by the commission shows it rarely overturns district firings or suspensions. Of the 28 school-district cases heard by the commission from 2009 to 2011, it upheld the district’s decisions in 24. Twenty of the cases involved employees who had been fired. Read More…

C.R.E.W.: Freedom to explore brings responsibility (Dispatch)

C.R.E.W. students are expected to be critical thinkers, problem-solvers and self-starters. They must juggle multiple projects and apply what they learn to the real world. In class, the sixth-graders created a children’s book that explains Buddhism. They searched for similes and hyperboles in Katy Perry’s song, Firework. They used electronic presentations to inform state senators about cloning, genetically altered plants and the Human Genome Project. Read More…