Statewide Education News

Reading test would hold back 12% of third-graders (Dispatch)

Less than 1 percent of Ohio third-graders were held back last year — about 800 students.

The number would jump to about 15,000 — 12 percent of all third-graders — if Gov. John Kasich’s proposed third-grade reading guarantee were in place. It’s part of his push to end social promotion and ensure that youngsters can read before advancing to fourth grade. Read More…

National Stories of the Day

Education Slowdown Threatens U.S. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Higher education in the U.S. has a problem: More students are getting into college, but they're not finishing. One community college in Maryland has developed a program aimed at getting students to graduation day. WSJ's Neil Hickey reports. Throughout American history, almost every generation has had substantially more education than that of its parents. That is no longer true. Read More…

Concern Abounds Over Teachers' Preparedness for Standards (Education Week)

A quiet, sub-rosa fear is brewing among supporters of the Common Core State Standards Initiative: that the standards will die the slow death of poor implementation in K-12 classrooms. "I predict the common-core standards will fail, unless we can do massive professional development for teachers," said Hung-Hsi Wu, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, who has written extensively about the common-core math standards. "There's no fast track to this." Read More…

Struggle over how to evaluate special ed teachers (AP)

Since the first day of class this school year, Bev Campbell has been teaching her students how to say their names. Some of the children in her class have autism. Others have Down syndrome or other disabilities. "People don't understand where they've come from," she says. "It's slow." Just one has learned how to say his name. Still, the South Florida teacher sees signs of growth in the nine kindergarten to second-grade students in her class. Read More…

Local Issues

'Working out the details' of school changes (Wooster Daily Record)

The work continues as the district closes two elementary schools and shifts its eighth-grade population to Wooster High School and its fifth- and sixth-grade students to Edgewood Middle School.

"The big question has been transportation," Superintendent Michael Tefs said at a board meeting Tuesday, describing "how (it) is beginning to shape up." After working with several options in consultation with the Ohio Department of Education, the Wooster City Schools' transportation department chose a three-tiered system for the elementary school, middle school and high school. Read More…

Big changes for schools coming (Wilmington News Journal)

In 2011, three of the four school districts in Clinton County were rated “Excellent” or “Excellent with Distinction,” but none will rate that high under a series of new rigorous changes to education standards starting in the 2014-2015 school year. Over the next three years, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is mandating that all schools adopt more a rigorous curriculum and assessments in an effort to ensure all students graduate ready for a career and/or college. For some districts, the multitude of changes is overwhelming. Read More…

School districts benefit the most from auditor’s revaluation refund (Dispatch)

Reactions ranged from lukewarm to excited yesterday among treasurers at central Ohio school districts sharing in a $7 million pot of money to be distributed by Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo II. The money comes from the auditor’s real-estate assessment fund, which sets aside property taxes from schools, cities and other taxing agencies to pay for real-estate appraisals. Mingo announced the surplus yesterday. Money remained, he said, because of new technology, an efficient staff and good quality control during the 2011 county property reappraisals. Read More…

Local school officials say ‘pink slime’ not a worry (Hamilton Journal News)

Several local school districts use the same food vendors who have admitted using lean finely textured beef — known as “pink slime” — in their products. Schools received letters from suppliers in March after a national uproar over LFTB. Districts received assurances that they were not purchasing “ammonia-treated lean finely textured beef.” Read More…

Award-winning team teachers complement, not duplicate their material (Newark Advocate)

For Granville High School students taking Integrated Analysis and Physics, this is a basic exercise designed to make them see the connections between higher mathematics and the sometimes scary science known as physics. For their efforts in helping students make math and science come to life, mathematics teacher Scott Carpenter and physics teacher Al Spens recently received a 2012 Licking County Foundation Leaders for Learning Award, making them eligible for $500 grants to be used for professional development or classroom materials. Read More…

Pending changes worry area educators (Findlay Courier)

Despite reassuring words from a state official this week, area superintendents remain frustrated with the impending revamp of Ohio's education system. Reaction came after James Herrholtz, Ohio Department of Education associate superintendent for the Division of Learning, defended the changes to Findlay's Rotary Club on Monday. "This (education overhaul) is going to be difficult," Herrholtz said. "(But) our students will certainly meet the challenges.” Read More…

Collaboration on Head Start being weighed (Toledo Blade)

Toledo's Head Start grant could be headed toward a joint, collaborative approach involving more than one agency, several participants said after a meeting with officials of Toledo Public Schools and the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. "There was a lot of positive movement on the concept of collaboration," said Toledo Mayor Mike Bell, who convened the Wednesday morning meeting. "I saw a commitment to collaboration." Read More…

Dayton educators offer Kasich suggestions (Dayton Daily News)

Several Dayton-area educators and experts offered suggestions on Gov. John Kasich’s education reform bill before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. They did not oppose Kasich’s proposal to toughen the state’s third-grade reading “guarantee,” but suggested lawmakers should also strengthen pre-kindergarten programs and teacher training. Read More…