Statewide Education News

Schools may get reprieve on new rating system

State ed leader says tougher system may not be ready in time
Ohio public schools will likely get a year’s reprieve from a tougher academic rating system on annual report cards, a state education official said Thursday. Instead of grading schools from A to F on school report cards this August, as planned, Ohio may delay the new grades by a year, said Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction. He said the new grading system may not receive state and federal approval in time. Read More…

Districts See Problems With Teacher Evaluations (NBC-4, Columbus)

School districts are scrambling now to figure out how they can change the way they evaluate teachers. It's all because of Ohio House Bill 153, which requires school districts to evaluate every teacher every year. And it's not a simple process. Read More…

Computers Can Score Student Essays As Well As Humans, Study Finds (State Impact Ohio)

Chess enthusiasts watch World Chess champion Garry Kasparov on a television monitor as he holds his head in his hands at the start of the sixth and final match in May1997 against IBM’s Deep Blue computer in New York. Sure, Deep Blue beat Kasparov, but can a computer score an essay as well as a human? A new study shaped by the two groups that are leading the development of new online tests suggests the answer is yes: Read More…

Local Issues

Many Valley workers lack skills for growing manufacturing jobs (Vindicator)

A lack of skilled manufacturing workers could slow the progress the Mahoning Valley is making in economic development. The Oh-Penn Interstate Regional Manufacturing Workforce Summit at Youngstown State University on Thursday focused on problems facing the local manufacturing base in finding qualified workers. The Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition sponsored the event. Read More…

Parents hear pitch for open enrollment (Dispatch)

Reynoldsburg parents got their first chance last night to ask questions and offer thoughts on a proposal to admit students who live outside the district to the city’s schools. To help answer their questions, the district had officials from suburban districts in Ohio with open-enrollment policies share their stories. Read More…

Boundary lines drawn for three-school elementary plan (Canton Repository)

Boundary lines were finalized this week for the city schools’ elementary buildings. The boundaries for Franklin, Gorrell and Whittier take effect this fall and apply to students in the kindergarten through third grades. According to Superintendent Rik Goodright, the new lines were drawn to help properly balance the number of students attending each building and were drawn with the expectation that they would be in place for years to come. Read More…

Cleveland Teachers Union and Mayor Frank Jackson reach deal on mayor's school plan (Plain Dealer)

Mayor Frank Jackson and theCleveland Teachers Union today reached a deal on the final disputed provisions of Jackson's schools plan, clearing a major obstacle for state legislators who will begin their deliberations as early as next week. The compromise struck by the mayor and union after several weeks of marathon negotiations, will bring major changes to the contract rules governing teacher assignments, seniority, pay, evaluation, layoff and recall that give the district more flexibility as it tries to improve schools. Read More…

Proper breathing, diet among test-taking tips (Findlay Courier)

For many students, standardize tests usually come hand-in-hand with stress and anxiety.
And with the upcoming Ohio Achievement Assessments later this month, local motivational speaker Bruce Boguski is hoping his knowledge and tips will make life a little bit easier for Glenwood Middle School's students. Boguski was brought in to speak to the pre-teens to offer advice and tips on handling stress and improving memory in preparation for the annual tests, said Barbara Duval, a seventh grade reading intervention specialist. Read More…

Tablet boosts business and school productivity (Hamilton Journal News)

Low-cost systems are far more efficient than costly ones they replace.

Delivering food to the table or pouring a cup of coffee is about the only thing it can’t do. The iPad takes an order, sends it to the chef and lets the waiter know when it’s done at the Florentine Restaurant. And forget about paper. At True West Coffee, a customer’s receipt is sent by text to their phone. Read More…

County has more kids than child-care slots (Dispatch)

Good-quality child care can be difficult to come by in Franklin County. For every available slot at a child-care center here, there are three children, according to a report being released today. In parts of Columbus — the Northeast Side, for example — there are about five children for every available space. Read More…

Clark Co. to house ag STEM school? (Springfield News Sun)

Ohio State University — the state’s only university with a college dedicated to agricultural sciences — has been a part of talks about a proposed agricultural science STEM school. “We’ve been certainly talking with them.” said Herb Asher, counselor to the president at OSU, noting that the school’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences makes it a logical piece of the conversation. Read More…

Ryan Takes ‘Mindfulness’ to Inner-City Schools (Youngstown Business Journal)

It’s mid-afternoon and a student in Mrs. Evelyn Fisher’s kindergarten class at Williamson Elementary School walks quietly to a corner and begins to cry. Within seconds, five other students surround her. “Breathe in, breathe out,” they coach, as they try to console their classmate with gentle pats on the back. A minute passes, her distress evaporates, and she returns to her desk to wait for the next lesson. Read More…

Middle School Students Spreading Random Acts of Kindness (WKRC-Cincinnati)

Many teens find themselves being bullied over the internet but one Tri-State school is looking for a way to counteract that. Students at Woodland Middle School decided to use social media to spread random acts of kindness this week. Local 12's Angela Ingram talked with students about how they are using electronic media to share positive messages. The school's principal says kids are constantly using Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. So, why not take something they love to use - and have them do something helpful for others? Read More…