Study: Ohio charter schools are worst in nation

The Center for Research on Education Issues (CREDO) has just published its 2013 report, "National Charter School Study". CREDO Researchers looked at test data from charter schools in 26 states plus DC. Ohio was one of the 26 states. This study follow up on their 2009 study which garnered a lot of attention for bringing to light the poor quality of the nations charter schools.

This new study finds, despite charter schools being able to screen for the best students, only marginal improvement over the past 4 years

25 percent of charters outperformed traditional public schools in reading while 29 percent of charters delivered stronger results in math. That marked an improvement over a similar 2009 study by the same research team.

But 56 percent of the charters produced no significant difference in reading and 19 percent had worse results than traditional public schools. In math, 40 percent produced no significant difference and 31 percent were significantly worse than regular public schools.

The marginal improvement comes not from improved quality of charter schools in general, but in the closure of more poor performing charter schools lifting the over all average performance.

In Ohio, the charter school experiment is failing miserably. According to the study, Ohio's charter schools got worse over the last 4 years, and now dwell at the bottom of the performance tables. Ohio students who attend charter schools are losing the equivalent of almost 3 weeks of instruction in reading, and an entire grading period in mathematics. That is astonishingly bad news for the 5% of Ohio's students who attend charter schools.

The following table was taken from table 14 (pg 52 of the study)

State	Reading Days	Math Days
Rhode Island	86	108
DC	72	101
Tennessee	86	72
Louisiana	50	65
New York	36	79
New Jersey	43	58
Massachusetts	36	65
New York City	0	94
Michigan	43	43
Indiana	36	14
Illinois	14	22
Missouri	14	22
California	22	-7
North Carolina	22	-7
Minnesota	14	-7
Georgia	14	-14
Colorado	7	-7
Florida	-7	0
New Mexico	0	-29
Arkansas	-22	-22
Utah	-7	-43
Arizona	-22	-29
Texas	-22	-29
Ohio	-14	-43
Oregon	-22	-50
Pennsylvania	-29	-50
Nevada	-108	-137

You can see from the following graphs of performance in 2009 vs 2013 that Ohio's charters are getting worse, and in math, much worse.

It is time to reassess Ohio's 15 year, billion dollar, charter experiment in light of these results and put an end to boosting charter schools at the expense of public schools. The experiement has not only failed, it is getting worse.

The Arbitrary Albatross: Standardized Testing and Teacher Evaluation

On Chicago's streets and Hollywood's silver screens, education reform has been cast as a false dilemma between students and teachers. Reputable actresses and liberal mayors have both fallen prey. At the center of this drama lie teacher evaluations. A linchpin of the debate, they weigh especially heavily around the necks of educators like me.

Think: Shaky Foundation

With the arrival of spring, testing season is now upon us: America's new national pastime. I believe student results from standardized tests should not be used to evaluate teachers because the data are imprecise and the effects are pernicious. Including such inaccurate measures is both unfair to teachers and detrimental to student learning.

As a large body of research suggests, standardized test data are imprecise for two main reasons. First, they do not account for individual and environmental factors affecting student performance, factors over which teachers have no control. (Think: commitment, social class, family.) Second, high-stakes, one-time tests increase the likelihood of random variation so that scores fluctuate in arbitrary ways not linked to teacher efficacy. (Think: sleep, allergies, the heartache of a recent breakup.)

High-stakes assessments are also ruinous to student learning. They encourage, at least, teaching to the test and, at most, outright cheating. This phenomenon is supported by Campbell's law, which states statistics are more likely to be corrupted when used in making decisions, which in turn corrupts the decision making process itself. (Think: presidential campaigns.)

As a teacher, if my livelihood is based on test results, then I will do everything possible to ensure high marks, including narrowing the curriculum and prepping fiercely for the test. The choice between an interesting project and a paycheck is no choice at all. These are amazing disincentives to student learning. Tying teachers' careers to standardized tests does not foster creative, passionate, skillful young adults. It does exactly the opposite.

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May 2013 School Levy Results

The results below are preliminary. A high number of levies passed or failed by less than 2%, with some seperated by just a handful of votes (the Dispatch is reporting that a recount is likely in Groveport as their levy is now failing by 16 votes). A number of these results then, are subject to change before the results are finalized.

Based on these preliminary results, just shy of 60% of all school levies passed yesterday, with a 90% passage rate for renewals and a somewhat higher than normal passage rate for New money requests.

New renewal	Failed	Passed	Pass %
New	50	36	41.9%
Renewal	5	46	90.2%
Over all	55	82	59.9%

Here are the results of the May 7th 2013 school levy elections, currently reported

County	District	Type of issue	Result	N/R	For	Against
Allen	Apollo JVSD	Bond - School	Passed	N	58.0%	42.0%
Allen	Bluffton EV	Income Tax (Permanent	Passed	R	77.2%	22.8%
Allen	Elida Local	Permanent Improvement	Passed	R	60.6%	39.4%
Allen	Elida Local	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	46.8%	53.2%
Allen	Lima City	Emergency Operating	Passed	R	67.3%	32.7%
Ashland	Hillsdale Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	72.1%	27.9%
Ashland	Loudonville-Perrysville	Emergency Operating	Passed	R	55.2%	44.8%
Ashland	Loudonville-Perrysville	Permanent Improvement	Failed	N	46.2%	53.8%
Ashtabula	Ashtabula City	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	48.4%	51.6%
Ashtabula	Jefferson Area Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	58.1%	41.9%
Athens	Trimble Local	Permanent Improvement	Failed	N	48.9%	51.1%
Auglaize	St. Marys City	Income Tax (Current	Failed	N	39.7%	60.3%
Auglaize	Waynesfield Goshen	Permanent Improvement	Passed	R	64.6%	35.4%
Belmont	Bellaire Local	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	44.7%	55.3%
Belmont	Bridgeport EV	Current Operating	Failed	N	41.9%	58.1%
Belmont	St. Clairsville-Richland	Current Expenses	Passed	N	70.2%	29.8%
Carroll	Brown Local	Bond Issue (Building) &	Failed	N	49.2%	50.8%
Carroll	Carrollton EV	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	40.6%	59.4%
Champaign	Urbana City	Operating Expenses	Passed	N	75.9%	24.1%
Clark	Clark-Shawnee Local	Operating Levy	Failed	N	49.8%	50.2%
Clark	Greenon Local	Building & Current	Failed	N	46.1%	53.9%
Clark	Springfield City	Bond Issues (Building &	Passed	N	57.6%	42.4%
Clark	Tecumseh Local	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	31.0%	69.0%
Clermont	Milford EV	Current Operating	Passed	N	59.8%	40.2%
Columbiana	Columbiana EV	Bond (Building &	Failed	N	42.1%	57.9%
Columbiana	Salem City	Permanent Improvement	Passed	R	74.4%	25.6%
Columbiana	United Local	Permanent Improvement	Failed	N	41.1%	58.9%
Crawford	Galion City	Current Operating	Failed	N	33.8%	66.2%
Cuyahoga	Brecksville-Broadview	Current Operating	Passed	R	61.4%	38.6%
Cuyahoga	Brooklyn City	Bond (Building) &	Passed	N	57.6%	42.4%
Cuyahoga	Lakewood City	Current Operating	Passed	N	68.4%	31.6%
Cuyahoga	Westlake City	Current Operating	Failed	N	49.6%	50.4%
Darke	Mississinawa Valley	Building & Permanent	Passed	R	67.6%	32.4%
Delaware	Delaware City	Bond (Building &	Passed	N	60.6%	39.4%
Erie	Edison Local	Emergency Operating	Passed	N	52.0%	48.0%
Erie	Perkins Local	Permanent	Passed	R	51.4%	48.6%
Erie	Perkins Local	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	35.5%	64.5%
Fairfield	Walnut Township Local	Income Tax (Current	Passed	N	51.7%	48.3%
Franklin	Groveport Madison	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	50.2%	49.8%
Fulton	Swanton Local	Bond (Building) &	Failed	N	45.2%	54.8%
Geauga	Ledgemont Local	Operating Levy	Failed	N	40.2%	59.8%
Greene	Fairborn City	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	34.1%	65.9%
Hamilton	Forest Hills Local	Bond (Building &	Failed	N	45.0%	55.0%
Hamilton	Oak Hills Local	Operating Levy	Failed	N	45.2%	54.8%
Hancock	Cory-Rawson Local	Income Tax Current	Passed	R	58.0%	42.0%
Hardin	Ada EV	Income Tax Current	Passed	N	55.1%	44.9%
Hardin	Upper Scioto Local	Permanent Improvement	Failed	N	48.5%	51.5%
Hardin	Upper Scioto Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	55.4%	44.6%
Henry	Napoleon Area City	Income Tax Current	Failed	N	46.8%	53.2%
Holmes	West Holmes Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	67.4%	32.6%
Huron	Monroeville Local	Building &	Passed	R	51.0%	49.0%
Huron	Willard City	Permanent	Failed	N	39.4%	60.6%
Jefferson	Buckeye Local	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	34.5%	65.5%
Jefferson	Indian Creek Local	Bond (Building &	Failed	N	37.9%	62.1%
Jefferson	Jefferson County JVSD	Current Expense &	Failed	N	46.6%	53.4%
Knox	East Knox Local	Current Expense &	Failed	N	45.0%	55.0%
Knox	Mount Vernon Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	65.7%	34.3%
Lake	Kirtland Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	53.4%	46.6%
Lake	Mentor EV	Operating Expenses	Passed	R	73.2%	26.8%
Lake	Mentor EV	Permanent	Passed	R	73.1%	26.9%
Lake	Painesville City	Current Operating	Passed	R	58.8%	41.2%
Lake	Willoughby-Eastlake	Emergency Levy	Failed	R	46.7%	53.3%
Licking	Johnstown-Monroe	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	65.4%	34.6%
Licking	Lakewood Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	59.7%	40.3%
Licking	Licking Heights Local	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	38.9%	61.1%
Licking	North Fork Local	Income Tax Current	Failed	N	46.6%	53.4%
Logan	Benjamin Logan Local	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	49.5%	50.5%
Logan	West Liberty Salem	Income Tax Current	Passed	N	66.1%	33.9%
Lorain	Amherst EV	Permanent Improvement	Passed	R	61.0%	39.0%
Lorain	Amherst EV	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	62.0%	38.0%
Lorain	Avon Lake City	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	52.2%	47.8%
Lorain	Columbia Local	Current Expenses	Failed	N	44.3%	55.7%
Lorain	North Ridgeville City	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	64.4%	35.6%
Lucas	Oregon City	Building & Permanent	Passed	R	61.0%	39.0%
Madison	Madison-Plains Local	Permanent	Failed	N	43.9%	56.1%
Mahoning	Boardman Local	Permanent	Passed	N	50.1%	49.9%
Mahoning	Boardman Local	Current Operating	Passed	R	60.5%	39.5%
Mahoning	Jackson-Milton Local	Permanent	Passed	R	57.4%	42.6%
Mahoning	Jackson-Milton Local	Operating Expenses	Passed	R	57.3%	42.7%
Mahoning	Poland Local	Emergency Operating	Passed	R	65.4%	34.6%
Mahoning	Springfield Local	Building & Permanent	Passed	N	61.1%	38.9%
Medina	Black River Local	Emergency Operating	Passed	N	51.1%	48.9%
Medina	Cloverleaf Local	Emergency Operating	Failed	N	49.3%	50.7%
Mercer	Celina City	Income Tax Current	Passed	R	67.4%	32.6%
Mercer	Marion Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	61.2%	38.8%
Miami	Covington EV	Building & Permanent	Passed	N	51.6%	48.4%
Miami	Milton-Union EV	Current Expenses	Passed	R	58.2%	41.8%
Miami	Piqua City	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	64.5%	35.5%
Miami	Tipp City EV	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	51.4%	48.6%
Monroe	Switzerland of Ohio	Operating Expenses	Failed	N	48.9%	51.1%
Montgomery	Brookville Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	68.8%	31.2%
Montgomery	Brookville Local	Current Expenses	Passed	N	50.0%	50.0%
Montgomery	Centerville City	Current Expenses	Failed	N	49.3%	50.7%
Montgomery	Jefferson Township	Bond Issue (Building) &	Failed	N	23.8%	76.2%
Montgomery	Valley View Local	Current Expenses	Passed	N	54.8%	45.2%
Morrow	Cardington-Lincoln	Income Tax Current	Failed	N	49.1%	50.9%
Muskingum	East Muskingum Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	76.8%	23.2%
Muskingum	West Muskingum Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	55.9%	44.1%
Noble	Caldwell EV	Replacement and	Passed	N	57.3%	42.7%
Portage	Kent City	Current Expenses	Passed	N	61.0%	39.0%
Preble	Twin Valley	Income Tax Current	Failed	N	48.4%	51.6%
Richland	Mansfield City	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	72.2%	27.8%
Ross	Chillicothe City	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	50.6%	49.4%
Sandusky	Clyde-Green Springs	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	38.4%	61.6%
Sandusky	Gibsonburg EV	Income Tax Current	Failed	N	47.5%	52.5%
Seneca	Bettsville Local	Income Tax Current	Passed	R	53.3%	46.7%
Seneca	Fostoria City	Necessary Requirements	Passed	N	59.0%	41.0%
Shelby	Fairlawn Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	66.4%	33.6%
Stark	Canton Local	Bond Building &	Failed	N	49.6%	50.4%
Stark	Fairless Local	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	39.0%	61.0%
Stark	Louisville City	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	62.0%	38.0%
Stark	Marlington Local	Bond (Building) &	Failed	N	43.8%	56.2%
Stark	North Canton City	Permanent	Passed	N	57.8%	42.2%
Summit	Barberton City	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	54.6%	45.4%
Summit	Coventry Local	Bond (Building) &	Passed	N	55.2%	44.8%
Summit	Cuyahoga Falls City	Permanent	Failed	N	42.8%	57.2%
Summit	Manchester Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	72.0%	28.0%
Summit	Mogadore Local	Current Expenses	Failed	R	40.6%	59.4%
Trumbull	Brookfield Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	50.1%	49.9%
Trumbull	Champion Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	51.6%	48.4%
Trumbull	Girard City	Emergency Levy	Passed	N	62.1%	37.9%
Trumbull	Lakeview Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	61.6%	38.4%
Trumbull	Maplewood Local	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	65.0%	35.0%
Trumbull	McDonald Local	Operating Expenses	Passed	R	63.5%	36.5%
Trumbull	Newton Falls EV	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	37.9%	62.1%
Trumbull	Niles City	Emergency Levy	Failed	N	29.9%	70.1%
Trumbull	Niles City	Permanent	Failed	N	30.6%	69.4%
Union	Marysville EV	Current Operating	Passed	R	78.8%	21.2%
Van Wert	Van Wert City	Income Tax Current	Passed	N	59.7%	40.3%
Warren	Carlisle Local	Operating Levy	Passed	N	53.4%	46.6%
Wayne	Orrville City	Current Expenses	Failed	N	40.6%	59.4%
Williams	Millcreek West Unity	Emergency Levy	Passed	R	70.2%	29.8%
Wood	Bowling Green City	Current Expenses	Failed	R	34.6%	65.4%
Wood	Elmwood Local	Income Tax Current	Failed	R	41.5%	58.5%
Wood	Elmwood Local	Income Tax Current	Failed	R	41.7%	58.3%
Wood	North Baltimore Local	Current Expenses	Passed	R	53.0%	47.0%
Wyandot	Carey EV	Bond (Building) &	Passed	N	64.4%	35.6%

Real consequences of ‘school choice’

For years, policy initiatives stemming from right-wing belief tanks have been wrapped in the rhetoric of positive outcomes that are, in fact, the complete opposite of what the measures are really intended to do.

A bill called Clear Skies that called for more pollution. Another called Healthy Forests offered incentives for cutting down valuable trees. No Child Left Behind, perhaps the crowning glory of duplicity, worsened the education of disadvantaged children it was purported to magically improve.

But without a doubt the most enduring of these wolf-wrapped-in-sheep’s-clothing ideas is the promise of “school choice” that’s been promoted to parents since the presidencies of Nixon and Reagan.

Sold as a way to “empower” parents to improve the education attainment of their children, school choice initiatives take on many forms, including vouchers, “scholarships,” and tax credits. But the most radical form of school choice is the so-called “parent trigger.”

The parent trigger has been relentlessly marketed to parents and policy makers as an “empowerment” that enables parents to conduct a petition campaign in their community to fire their school’s staff and change its governance. This has all the rhetoric of democratic activism – a majority of the parents deciding “what’s best” for the education of their children. But what are the results?

So far, the trigger has only been carried out to its fullest extent in one school: Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, California. A new video “Parent Triggers: Another Reform Misfires,” (see below) released by the Education Opportunity Network, recently looked at the results of the parent trigger in Adelanto and found that rather then uniting parents in doing what’s best for children, the parent trigger brought deception, division and disruption to the community.

Thus, parent trigger bills join the ranks of other school choice schemes that are proliferating across the country. And rather than giving parents more control of the trajectory of their children, these policies are leaving more parents overwhelmed and powerless.

So what should parents expect when the parent trigger or any other school choice scheme comes to town?

In New Orleans – perhaps America’s choiciest school district, where 70 percent of students attend charter schools – most of the schools remain the lowest performing in one of the lowest performing states, and parent activists have come to the conclusion that choice means “a choice to apply” while still remaining “trapped” in the same lousy schools.

A recent article in The Washington Post told the story of how the District of Columbia’s complex school choice landscape has led some parents to hire an educational consultant to navigate the public school system — and this is being seen by some as the wave of the future in districts around the country. More than 40 percent of the District’s 80,000 students attend charter schools. Even when parents do choose traditional public schools for their children, “more than half do not attend their assigned neighborhood school.”

“It’s just totally overwhelming,” one parent was quoted as saying in the Post story.

And the results? D.C. schools have among the lowest high school graduation rates in the country and the largest achievement gap of any urban school district.

According to this New York Times story, parents in New York City face a similar, if not more daunting, “school choice maze” that leaves thousands of children “shut out” of any real choice at all. Parents trying to navigate the complex system end up “feeling inadequate, frustrated and angry.”

Not to worry, school choice advocates reassure us. We’re told, as in this article at greatschools.org, to rejoice in the fact that while “it used to be that when it was time to find a school for the kids, most Americans looked no further than the neighborhood school.” Now we have a wonderful “open” system where our precious little darlings get to “compete” against the precious little darlings of our friends and neighbors.

Just make sure you’re one of the “smart parents” who knows how to “work the system.”

How could choice possibly lead to fewer options for parents?

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Working together for effective reform in America's public schools

Organized Parents, Organized Teachers - Working together for effective reform in America's public schools. Current national and local education policies often pit teachers and parents against each other, trapping them in a cycle of blame and mistrust. But in one Minneapolis community, parents and teachers decided to work together to make their schools better – with great results. This is their story.

Organized Parents, Organized Teachers - Working together for effective reform in America's public schools from Annenberg Institute on Vimeo.

For more, visit www.realparentpower.com

The Higher the StudentsFirst grade, the lower the academic performance

StudentsFirst released their "education policy report card" which they describe thusly

StudentsFirst created the State Policy Report Card to evaluate the education laws and policies in place in each state. We hope this helps reveal more about what states are doing to improve the nation’s public education system so that it serves all students well and puts each and every one of them on a path toward success.

They give each state a GPA based upon how much of StudentsFirst policy prescriptions have been implemented. We thought it would be interesting to look at the correlation between StudentsFirst "GPA" and the NAEP scores to see how well the policies StudentsFirst wants legislators to pursue stacks up against actually academic results.

The results are quite clear and unambiguous - following the policy prescriptions of StudentsFirst is bad for academic performance.

As you can see, in both 4th and 8th grade reading and math, the higher the StudentsFirst grade the lower the students performance. Yet more proof that StudentsFirst is not an education reform organization, but instead an extreme right wing anti-tax group funded by billionaires.