Education News for 12-04-2012

State Education News

• Unpaid Lunch Charges Grow To $8,000 In Central Ohio School District (WBNS)

The Southwest Licking Local School District is facing a budget problem in its food department. Superintendent Robert Jennell says the district now has $8,000 in unpaid lunch charges from students and staff…Read more...

• Riverside Schools gets SOAR award as 1 of Ohio's most improved districts (Willoughby News Herald)

Riverside School District has been recognized as one of the most improved districts in a statewide program geared at strengthening school and student performance…Read more...

Local Education News

• Chillicothe school board plans levy to close gap (Chillicothe Gazette)

For the Chillicothe City School District to close a looming budget gap, the district and its taxpayers will have to share in the sacrifice…Read more...

• Arlington schools consider options (Columbus Dispatch)

After the Upper Arlington schools’ first levy defeat in decades, district officials are trying to figure out how to plug a budget gap that they say is somewhere between $2 million and $4 million…Read more...

• Licking Heights Begins School Week Without Busing (WBNS)

One of the first cuts following Licking Heights School District's failed levy started Monday morning. Students who typically used district buses to get to school were forced to find an alternative way…Read more...

Is Our Students Learning? Yes.

Three mildly heretical thoughts about American education: First, given the impossible assignment we've given them -- an egalitarian mission in a nation rapidly growing more stratified by income and class -- American public schools are probably doing a better job than they ought to be. One big reason is greater professionalism among teachers. A lot has changed since I wrote a Texas Monthly article documenting the awful state of teacher education back in 1979, mostly for the better.

Despite melodramatic pronouncements to the contrary by sundry politicians, tycoons, tycoon/politicians and media-enhanced "reformers" like former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, the available evidence shows American students performing steadily better on standardized assessments of educational progress over the past 30 years.

"The only longitudinal measure of student achievement that is available to Bill Gates or anyone else," writes Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute, "is the National Assessment of Educational Progress." Scores on the NAEP have trended steadily upward to where the most underprivileged African-American children do better in eighth grade reading and math today than white students did back when the measurements began in 1978. But no, they haven't caught up because white kids' scores have improved too.

This doesn't mean the United States is turning into Finland or South Korea, to mention two small, ethnically homogeneous nations education reformers like to cite as (quite contrary) examples of how to proceed, but it does indicate that much doomsday rhetoric we hear from the likes of Rhee and Education Secretary Arne Duncan is predicated upon false assumptions.

Yes, we could be doing better; no, the sky's not falling.

[readon2 url="http://nationalmemo.com/content/lesson-todays-education"]Continue reading...[/readon2]

Sample Letter

Dear Elected Official,

I am writing today to urge to you vote against Senate Bill 5. In today's difficult economy, we need to focus on providing Ohio's children with a quality education. We all know that a solid education will make them more valuable and attractive to employers in this tough job market. Senate Bill 5 seeks to undermine the quality preparation students receive in our schools.

Children need teachers to focus on them and their classrooms. Allowing the union to represent teachers frees them to do what they do best: TEACH.

Collective bargaining allows educators to have a voice in improving opportunities for Ohio's students, better classroom resources, and improved teaching and learning conditions.

Like all public employees, educators are an integral part of the fabric of Ohio's communities. Senate Bill 5 weakens Ohio. Rather than creating jobs, this legislation will hurt local communities, weakening Ohio's economic outlook.

I am proud to be an educator in state of Ohio. Please ensure that Ohio continues to attract well-qualified, dedicated teachers by voting against Senate Bill 5.

Sincerely,