Opposition to voucher expansion has doubled to more than 170

Only a month has passed since we last published the long list of local communities opposing the statewide expansion of vouchers contained in the Governor's budget. But in that short period of time, the number of school districts passing a resolution in opposition has now passed 170.

Here's the list.

Adena local	Lorain County ESC
Allen East Local	Lordstown Local
Anthony Wayne Local	Loudonville-Perrysville
Antwerp Local	Louisville City
Athens City	Lynchburg-Clay Local
Austintown Local	Madeira City
Barnesville EV	Mahoning County C&TC
Bath Local	Manchester Local
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek	Marietta City
Belmont-Harrison Vocational	Mathews Local
Belpre City	Miami County ESC
Berea City	Miamisburg City
Big Walnut Local	Millecreek West Unity
Bloom-Carroll Local	Milton-Union Local
Bloomfield-Mespo Local	Minford Local
Bluffton EV	Monroeville Local
Boardman Local	Morgan Local
Bridgeport	Muskingum Valley ESC
Bristol Local	National Trail Local
Brown Local	Nelsonville-York City
Brown County ESC	New Lexington City
Buckeye Local (Jefferson)	New Richmond
Caldwell EV	New Riegel
Campbell City	Newcomerstown EV
Chagrin Falls EV	Newbury Local
Chillicothe City	Noble Local
Chippewa Local	North Olmsted
Circleville City	Northern Local
Clay Local	Northmont City
Clinton-Massie Local	Northwest Local (Scioto
Clyde Green Springs	Northwestern Local
Columbiana County ESC	Northwood Local
Columbiana EV	Oak Hill Union Local
Coshocton City	Oak Hills Local
Coshocton County JVS	Oakwood City
Coventry	Oberlin Local
Crestline EV	Ohio Valley ESC
Crestview Local	Old Fort Local
Crooksville EV	Ottawa-Glandorf
Cuyahoga Falls	Parma City
Cuyahoga Heights	Put-in-Bay Local
Dublin City	Revere Local
East Guernsey Local	Ridgedale Local
East Liverpool City	Ripley Union Lewis Huntington
Eastern Local (Meigs)	River View Local
Eastern Local (Pike)	Ross Local
Fairbanks	Ross-Pike ESC
Fairborn City	St. Clairsville-Richland City
Fairfield Union	St. Marys City
Fayetteville-Perry Local	Sandusky City
Federal Hocking Local	Sheffield-Sheffield Lake
Felicity-Franklin Local	Shelby City
Findlay City	South Central Ohio ESC
Firelands Local	South Range Local
Fort Frye	Southeast Local (Portage)
Fort Loramie Local	Southern Local
Franklin Local	Southern Ohio ESC
Galion City	Southington Local (Lucas)
Gallipolis City	Springfield Local (Summit)
Garaway Local	Southwest Local
Geneva Area City	Springfield Local
Genoa Area Local	Springfield City
Goshen Local	Streetsboro City
Graham	Sylvania Local
Grand Valley Local	Trimble Local
Granville EV	Trumbull Career & Tech
Green Local (Franklin Furnace)	Tuscarawas Vlley Local
Greenfield EV	Tuslaw Local
Hardin-Houston Local	Union Local
Huber Heights City	Urbana City
Huntington Local	Vanlue Local
Indian Creek Local	Vantage Career Center
Indian Valley Local	Van Wert City
Jackson City	Vinton County Local
James A. Garfield Local	Warren City
Jennings Local	Warren Local
Kalida Local	Washington Local
Kenston Local	Washington-Nile
Keystone Local	Waverly
LaBrae Local	Wayne County Career Center
Lancaster City	Wayne Local
Leetonia EV	Wellston City
Liberty Local	West Muskingum
Licking County ESC	Wheelersburg
Lincolnview Local	Williamsburg Local
Lisbon EV	Yellow Springs EV
Logan-Hocking Local	Zane Trace Local
	Zanesville City

Education News for 01-02-2013

State Education News

• OHSAA convenes athletics task force (Columbus Dispatch)

The association that oversees high-school athletics in Ohio has formed a task force to work with school-district treasurers in the wake of questionable use of more than $100,000…Read more...

• Scores of school workers want gun training (Columbus Dispatch)

More than 450 teachers and other school employees from across Ohio have applied for 24 spots in a free firearms-training program being offered by the Buckeye Firearms Association…Read more...

• Recess is key element in children’s well-being (Columbus Dispatch)

If childhood memories of pushing your best friend on the swings, sharing secrets and playing Red Rover are strong, there’s good reason…Read more...

• More schools add online courses (Dayton Daily News)

More Miami Valley school districts are offering blended learning, a combination of traditional classes and online learning…Read more...

• Challenges ahead for public schools (Marion Star)

As area schools enter 2013, educators can expect another year of change…Read more...

Local Education News

A waiting list? Catholic schools shout hallelujah (Cincinnati Enquirer)

The revelation struck Sister Anne Schulz last year on a day she had to turn away 90 students who wanted to attend Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School…Read more...

Area split on school security methods (Cincinnati Enquirer)

The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., earlier this month has prompted school districts around the country to cast a critical eye at their security measures…Read more...

• Local schools outperform state on report cards (Dayton Daily News)

Students in traditional public schools across the Miami Valley outperformed their counterparts across the state in both performance index and ratings…Read more...

• School says movie lunch project raises test scores (Dayton Daily News)

Officials at a Dayton area charter school say state test scores in reading and math went up after students began participating in a mandatory project that requires them to watch a movie…Read more...

• ESC keeps track of grads (Lorain Morning Journal)

A grant earned last year by the Columbiana County Educational Service Center (ESC) has gone toward tracking how many county high school graduates are pursuing higher education, where they enroll…Read more...

• Judge denies motion to suppress statements made by family of accused Chardon shooter (Willoughby News Herald)

The motion to suppress statements made by the family of Thomas Lane III on the day of the Chardon High School shooting has been denied…Read more...

• 2 Mahoning school superintendents to retire-rehire in new year (Youngstown Vindicator)

Two Mahoning County superintendents will retire, and be rehired, in the new year…Read more...

Editorial

• Tragic uptick (Columbus Dispatch)

One tragic fact linked the short lives of nine otherwise-unrelated Franklin County youths this year: All of them died by suicide…Read more...

• The New Year (Columbus Dispatch)

Today dawns a New Year, and with it, our annual opportunity for a fresh start…Read more...

• Train teachers to see student warning signs (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

A new Ohio law requiring that both public and private school teachers be trained in recognizing students who may be considering suicide, and in doing something about it…Read more...

After the evaluations binge, the hangover

You don't have to search far, or wide, to find articles, papers, and studies critical of corporate education reformers push for rigid test based teacher evaluations of the kind currently being deployed in Ohio. Our document archive is full of them. But it is unusual to read a paper published by a right wing think tank with a reputation for being anti-teacher, that raises many of the same points teachers themselves have been raising about the headlong rush to implement corporate education reform principles in the area of teacher evaluations.

But that's exactly what the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) have just done wit ha paper titled "The Hangover: Thinking about the Unintended Consequences of the Nation’s Teacher Evaluation Binge". The paper opens with a warning that the recent pushes might have been too much, too soon, and gone too far

Yet the recent evaluation binge is not without risks.

By nature, education policymaking tends to lurch from inattention to overreach. When a political moment appears, policymakers and advocates rush to take advantage as quickly as they can, knowing that opportunities for real change are fleeting. This is understandable, and arguably necessary, given the nature of America’s political system. But headlong rushes inevitably produce unintended consequences—something akin to a policy hangover as ideas move from conception to implementation.

Welcome to teacher evaluation’s morning after.

the Paper discusses a number of problematic area that will be familiar to JTF readers

Flexibility versus control: There is a temptation to prescribe and legislate details of evaluations to ensure rigor and prevent evaluations from being watered down in implementation. But overly prescriptive policies may also limit school autonomy and stifle innovation that could lead to the development of better evaluations.

Evaluation in an evolving system: Poorly designed evaluation requirements could pose an obstacle to blended learning and other innovative models in which it is difficult or impossible to attribute student learning gains in a particular subject to a particular teacher.

Purposes of evaluations: New evaluation systems have been sold as a way both to identify and dismiss underperforming teachers and to provide all teachers with useful feedback to help them improve their performance. But there are strong tensions between these purposes that create trade-offs in evaluation system design.

Evaluating teachers as professionals: Advocates argue that holding teachers responsible for their performance will bring teaching more in line with norms in other fields, but most professional fields rely on a combination of data and managerial judgment when making evaluation and personnel decisions, and subsequently hold managers accountable for those decisions, rather than trying to eliminate subjective judgments as some new teacher evaluation systems seek to do.

Take one look at this evaluation framework that has been inspired by the Ohio legislature and one can see how prescriptive Ohio's teacher evaluation has become.

Ohio has also fallen into many of the traps this paper highlights. The failure to consider team worked teaching, a lack of focus and funding for professional development, and a lack of resources for administrators to provide adequate feedback, to name just a handful.

AEI offer some useful recommendations, some of which might be too late to implement in Ohio

Recognizing these tensions and trade-offs, this paper offers several policy recommendations:

• Be clear about the problems new evaluation systems are intended to solve.
• Do not mistake processes and systems as substitutes for cultural change.
• Look at the entire education ecosystem, including broader labor-market impacts, pre- and in-service preparation, standards and assessments, charter schools, and growth of early childhood education and innovative school models.
• Focus on improvement, not just deselection.
• Encourage and respect innovation.
• Think carefully about waivers versus umbrellas.
• Do not expect legislation to do regulation’s job.
• Create innovation zones for pilots—and fund them.

One might find it gratifying to read reasoned words of caution regarding corporate education reforms from some of the very people responsible for pushing them in the first place, and we can only hope we see more of it. But, it is hard not to suspect that this is the slow dawning of realization that is being drawn from the very real evidence of on-going struggles and failures in corporate education reform policies now being seen across the state and the country.

The Hangover: Thinking about the Unintended Consequences of the Nation’s Teacher Evaluation Binge

Education News for 10-09-2012

State Education News

• New bully-prevention guidelines make their way into area schools (Athens Messenger)

With the passage of the Jessica Logan Act earlier this year, schools across the state are now revising anti-bullying policies…Read more...

• Some standard tests not counted in schools rankings (Chillicothe Gazette)

Every year, Ohio schoolchildren take standardized tests to help determine their progress in key subjects and the effectiveness of education at that school…Read more...

• Columbus City Schools do 180 on data scrubbing (Columbus Dispatch)

Columbus City Schools leaders shifted last week from saying they don’t know whether administrators were changing attendance records. Their new position: They were changing records, and they thought it was OK…Read more...

• Yost: State could save $430,000 a year with access to students’ names (Columbus Dispatch)

The state Education Department could save more than $430,000 each year — and do a better job policing school data — if it had access to students’ names, the state auditor said yesterday…Read more...

• Manufacturing Day raises career awareness (Dayton Daily News)

Six area manufacturers and Miami University joined a national effort Friday to address a skills gap that has resulted in 600,000 unfilled…Read more...

• Excellence expected (Lorain Morning Journal)

In the midst of an investigation into false attendance data, the state has released limited preliminary report cards to school districts…Read more...

• Many local school leaders go without evaluations (Springfield News-Sun)

Half of Clark and Champaign counties’ top school district officials haven’t been evaluated in more than a year, despite board policies in each district…Read more...

• GED test fee to triple starting in January 2014 (Youngstown Vindicator)

If you’ve been thinking about finally earning your GED, now would be a good time to do it. Beginning in January 2014, the cost of taking the test will triple from $40 to $120, and the content will be more difficult…Read more...

Local Education News

• Mayor taps adviser to give briefings on city schools (Columbus Dispatch)

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman has picked former Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut to advise the city in the mayor’s recently announced initiative to assess and improve the Columbus schools…Read more...

• Growth, loss of state aid spur Dublin schools’ request (Columbus Dispatch)

Enrollment in Dublin schools has grown at one of the fastest rates in central Ohio over the past decade, and so has district spending…Read more...

• Columbus schools: Correct numbers may fuel vouchers (Columbus Dispatch)

Jonathan Beard has a personal stake in the outcome of Columbus City Schools’ data scandal…Read more...

• Kids flood into Whitehall schools (Columbus Dispatch)

Whitehall school officials knew the numbers were off. The state had predicted that the district’s enrollment was on the decline, and it planned to design all five new schools for a smaller student population…Read more...

• ‘Dispatch’ suing over board’s private talks (Columbus Dispatch)

The Dispatch Printing Company sued the Columbus Board of Education yesterday, saying the board violated Ohio law when it barred the public from meetings to discuss a student- data scandal…Read more...

• Westerville schools chief plans to retire (Columbus Dispatch)

The chief of Westerville schools will retire at the end of this school year, he told members of the school board yesterday…Read more...

• Worthington schools’ spending up, but less than area average (Columbus Dispatch)

The Worthington school district spent more money last year on fewer students and teachers than it did a decade before, but the spending increase has been lower than the average for area districts, a Dispatch analysis of state and district data shows…Read more...

• Schools talk cyberbullying, implement hotlines (Dayton Daily News)

School districts across the Miami Valley are beefing up their anti-bullying policies and hosting school and community events this month to educate students and families about the dangers of bullying…Read more...

• Marion school chief: No feedback yet on attendance probe (Marion Star)

Marion City Schools has not received any feedback from the state regarding "questionable attendance policies and practices," its superintendent…Read more...

• State continues probe of Hamilton’s attendance data (Middletown Journal)

Investigators from the state auditor’s office will be in Hamilton Monday to finish a probe into whether three local schools scrubbed attendance data, possibly to improve their report card ratings…Read more...

• Learning center challenges students (Toledo Blade)

Springfield Middle School student Koceila Beddek bent over the NASA space map, adjusting tiny mirrors to direct the laser across the room and hit the moon…Read more...

• Chardon Healing Fund strategic planning meeting looks at future plans (Willoughby News Herald)

The Chardon Healing Fund recently held a Journey to Healing strategic planning meeting to share information with community members on the various healing supports and services currently available…Read more...

Editorial

• A Common Core of knowledge (Akron Beacon Journal)

Put a bunch of West African immigrants in a room, let them get comfortable after a drink or two, and before long they begin to swap stories…Read more...

• Policing Ohio's online courses (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

It's time the state legislature created a far more transparent and accountable system for Ohio's online programs and schools…Read more...

• Auditor's findings must not sink Cleveland schools levy (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Cleveland's schools have been tortured by a steady drip of bad news, some of it self- inflicted, but voters must keep the faith and support Issue 107…Read more...

Education News for 08-27-2012

State Education News

• Scandal mars view of school officers (Columbus Dispatch)

Instructors at the Ohio School Resource Officers Association expect a few bruised egos when they start talking about the ethics involved with working around children...Read more...

• State agency may request tighter reins on schools (Columbus Dispatch)

A statewide investigation into student-data tampering has prompted the Ohio Department of Education to consider becoming more of a watchdog. The department is likely to ask the legislature to give it the authority...Read more...

• Web class on a snow day? Only for some (Columbus Dispatch)

Snow days will be free days for most Ohio students this school year, despite a state law that could turn some of them into days of online class. Only a few central Ohio school districts submitted the paperwork...Read more...

• Toledo Public Schools teachers face new evaluation (Toledo Blade

Teacher measurement based in part on student performance will make a slow crawl into Toledo Public Schools this year. Through a mix of state law and the federal Race to the Top grant program...Read more...

Local Education News

• Cleveland schools getting help from consultants with timetable for major improvement plan (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

A Seattle consulting company is helping the Cleveland school district map out a four-year schedule for rolling out the district's updated improvement plan...Read more...

• District tried to buy silence of its auditor (Columbus Dispatch)

The Columbus City Schools lost two pages of the personnel file on its former internal auditor, who said this month she was fired in 2005 for trying to investigate data rigging...Read more...

• Exchange students view area through a different lens (New Philadelphia Times)

Four foreign exchange students from France and Spain recently spent a month exploring area attractions. The students, Caroline Bellande of Paris, Caroline Dupaigne of Marseille...Read more...

• Local school districts adapt plans to keep students safe (Newark Advocate)

Tom Suriano will never forget the day of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. Although the incident happened more than 1,000 miles from Licking County, it changed everything for educators, he said...Read more...

• What is failure, success? Schools don’t agree (Springfield News-Sun)

When it comes to grading scales, not all A’s and B’s are equal for students in Ohio. An examination by the Springfield News-Sun of area high schools found disparities in the percentage...Read more...

• Several Perry Schools administrators given raises (Willoughby News Herald)

Three Perry School District administrators will earn higher pay after the school board approved raises at a recent board meeting. Superintendent Jack Thompson...Read more...

August 7th 2012 school levy results

Here are the results of the August 7th 2012 school levy elections, currently reported.

The passage rate is very similar to those of the 2011 August attempts. August ballots are no place for school levies it seems, unless there's significant urgency.

Meanwhile, as school struggle with the ongoing state budget cuts, Ohio should finish fiscal year 2013 with a $408 million surplus.

New renewal	Failed	Passed	Pass %
New	23	5	17.9%
Renewal	1	6	85.7%
Over all	24	11	31.4%

Here's the full list of results.

District	County	For	Against	Result	N/R
Ashtabula Area City	Ashtabula	42.27%	57.73%	Failed	New
Barberton City	Summit	42.93%	57.07%	Failed	New
Bethel Local	Miami	57.00%	43.00%	Passed	Renewal
Bethel Local	Miami	52.00%	48.00%	Passed	New
Brecksville-Broadview	Cuyahoga	73.89%	26.11%	Passed	Renewal
Bryan City	Williams	36.53%	63.47%	Failed	New
Buckeye Local	Medina	62.82%	37.18%	Passed	New
Buckeye Valley Local	Delaware	27.94%	72.06%	Failed	New
Chardon Local	Geauga	39.90%	60.10%	Failed	New
Clear Fork Valley Local	Richland	52.54%	47.46%	Passed	New
Clyde-Green Springs	Sandusky	43.07%	56.93%	Failed	New
Columbiana EV	Columbiana	30.72%	69.28%	Failed	New
Coventry Local	Summit	46.71%	53.29%	Failed	New
Dalton Local	Wayne	55.95%	44.05%	Passed	Renewal
East Holmes Local	Holmes	36.02%	63.98%	Failed	New
Edon Northwest Local	Williams	38.01%	61.99%	Failed	New
Geneva Area City	Ashtabula	39.59%	60.41%	Failed	New
Green Local	Scioto	47.38%	52.62%	Failed	New
Groveport-Madison	Franklin	70.59%	29.41%	Passed	New
Jackson Center Local	Shelby	49.89%	50.11%	Failed	New
Jefferson Area Local	Ashtabula	18.81%	81.19%	Failed	New
Lake Local	Wood	52.39%	47.61%	Passed	New
Louisville City	Stark	39.82%	60.18%	Failed	New
Madison Local	Lake	27.63%	72.37%	Failed	New
Margaretta Local	Erie	53.92%	46.08%	Passed	Renewal
Monroe Local	Butler	48.18%	51.82%	Failed	New
North Fork Local	Licking	28.14%	71.86%	Failed	Renewal
Northmont City	Montgomery	68.18%	31.82%	Passed	Renewal
Osnaburg Local	Stark	14.12%	85.88%	Failed	New
Swanton Local	Fulton	54.17%	45.83%	Passed	Renewal
Tipp City EV	Miami	37.00%	63.00%	Failed	New
Tri-Village Local	Darke	33.88%	66.12%	Failed	New
Vandalia-Butler City	Montgomery	44.21%	55.79%	Failed	New
Woodridge Local	Summit	48.65%	51.35%	Failed	New
Xenia Community City	Greene	26.27%	73.73%	Failed	New