Education News for 05-07-2013

Local Education News

• Urban League might lose Head Start grant (Columbus Dispatch)

Two nonprofit groups have been offered federal Head Start grants to serve needy preschool children in central Ohio, but not the Columbus Urban League…Read more...

• Argument over access (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

Parents who are unhappy with the Champion School District's refusal to provide access for their special-needs son to attend Central Elementary School have filed a complaint with the Department of Justice…Read more...

Editorial

• Bus money (Akron Beacon Journal)

Since 2005, Ohioans have enjoyed a 21 percent reduction in individual income tax rates. The Ohio House has proposed an additional 7 percent…Read more...

• Hospital study is timely for parents (Columbus Dispatch)

Probably every parent wishes at some point that he or she could just bubble-wrap their little one. But guarding kids so closely for fear of injury…Read more...

• Another blow to city schools (Columbus Dispatch)

Thursday’s records seizures at 20 Columbus high schools by the state auditor ought to prove convincing to those who have blindly defended…Read more...

Education News for 05-17-2012

Local Issues

• Feds open bid process for Head Start program (Toledo Blade)

The federal government is officially soliciting bids for an agency to run Head Start in Lucas County. Head Start, a program for 3 to 5-year-olds from low-income families, is run by the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo, but the agency was notified in December that it must compete against other agencies if it wants to continue receiving nearly $13 million to run the program. Read More…

• Hamilton only public school district nationally to receive award (Hamilton Journal News)

The emphasis of character education within the Hamilton City School District has been rewarded. The Hamilton City School District has been recognized as a National School District of Character Award recipient by the Character Education Partnership in Washington, D.C. Read More…

• Research shows ‘no excuses’ model for schools effective at boosting test scores (Akron Beacon Journal)

Former Akron City Councilman Ernie Tarle hopes to create a charter school in Akron that emulates the practices of the country’s highest performing urban charter schools. The schools are commonly referred to as following a “no excuses” approach that emphasizes a college preparatory curriculum, longer school days and years, strict discipline and conduct, intense tutoring, use of data to improve test scores and a staff of youthful, inexperienced teachers who sign on to the schools’ philosophy and typically do not belong to a union. Read More…

• Zane Trace fails to act on school hours change (Chillicothe Gazette)

Proposed changes to Zane Trace's school hours, which would have allowed the district to double up on bus routes and eliminate as many as nine bus drivers, fell flat Wednesday. Board member Ralph Letsche made a motion to approve the changes, but no one seconded it, so it failed to reach a vote. Read More…

• Expert, community leaders work to form literacy plan (Findlay Courier)

A literacy expert and community leaders encouraged thoughtfulness and collaboration in creating and implementing a Hancock County Literacy Plan, at a Hancock County Literacy Summit held Wednesday.
Hosted by the Literacy Coalition of Hancock County, the "Celebrate Literacy Luncheon" portion of the daylong event drew about 55 people to Owens Community College's Community Education and Wellness Center. Read More…

Education News for 01-13-2012

State Education News

• Ohio education in top 10 nationally despite a so-so grade – (Columbus Dispatch)

Ohio’s grade on a national report card this year slipped to a C-plus, down from a B-minus, but the state inched up to the 10th best school system in the nation. Ohio was 11th in last year’s report. For the fourth year, Maryland was the top-ranked state, earning the highest grade, a B-plus. The nation as a whole got a C, the same as last year’s report. Read More…

• Vice President Talks Education Cost – (Ohio News Network)

Vice President Joe Biden brought the administrations message of affordable education to students and faculty at Gahanna's Lincoln High School. "There was a bargain in place for the last 50 years that if you worked hard, played by the rules, you helped increase productivity in America, you got a piece of the action," Biden said. Read More…

Local Issues

• TPS eyeing Head Start management – (Fox-Toledo)

Toledo Public Schools are looking to get involved in a child's life even before they're enrolled in the district. Wednesday evening district board members gave the go ahead to Dr. Jerome Pecko to start researching whether the district would be able to assume management of the program. If all works out, Dr. Pecko says it will major, positive impact on kids before they ever start school. Read More…

• Publishing Co. sues TPS over copyright – (Toledo Blade)

A Worthington, Ohio-based publishing company has sued Toledo Public Schools in federal court, claiming the district "engaged in massive infringement" of its copyrighted work. Align, Assess, Achieve entered into a copyright license agreement with TPS for company books and materials that provide teacher guidance in meeting the Common Core education standards, a voluntary multistate effort to have uniform curriculum standards in schools. The company claims in its lawsuit, which it filed Jan. 6 in Columbus, that the agreement specified TPS could only use the works to prepare pacing guides for the teachers for whom the district had bought the company's book. Read More…

• Big cuts are coming to schools in Lorain City Schools – (WOIO-Cleveland)

Board of Education members in Lorain have approved close to $5 million in layoffs and program cuts. School officials are trying to reduce more than $10 million deficit for next year. In fact by the end of the year they will cut 150 more staff from Lorain City Schools and kindergarten will go to half days. The sports department will see big cuts as well. Read More…

• Cleveland schools encouraging students to seek financial aid for college – (Plain Dealer)

Filling out a college financial aid application can be intimidating, so the Cleveland schools are nudging students along gently - offering much more counseling than ever before. Read More…

• Defunct Legacy Academy $376K in arrears, audit says – (Vindicator)

The latest audit of a now-closed community school says the school owes more than $376,000 in taxes and Medicare costs. State Auditor Dave Yost’s office released on Thursday the audit of Legacy Academy for Leaders and the Arts, covering fiscal years 2006 through 2010. The school, which operated inside Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church on Oak Hill Avenue, closed last June, citing declining enrollment. Read More…

• Richmond Heights school officials finish investigation into Superintendent Linda Hardwick – (News Herald)

The Richmond Heights investigation of Superintendent Linda T. Hardwick has come to a close, although information is not ready to be released. Former board President Joshua Kaye — replaced by Linda Pliodzinskas this week — sent Hardwick a letter in December to inform her that discussion of her termination would soon take place. Read More…

Editorial

• First exam – (Akron Beacon Journal)

Ohio was one of 11 states and the District of Columbia that made big promises to win competitive grants in 2010 to reform their school systems. A full year of the four-year grants has been completed, which offers time enough to assess how well the states are delivering. Read More…

• Only time will tell who wins the $4 billion Race to the Top – (Vindicator)

After the first year, a Washing- ton assessment of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant program gives Ohio high marks on its participation. States and individual school districts had to compete for extra federal funding aimed at improving student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates and better preparing students for success in college and careers. Read More…

Education News for 12-21-2011

Statewide Education News

• Monroe board asking for state probe of ex-treasurer's spending (Middletown Journal)

MONROE — The Monroe Board of Education is expected to file a letter of professional misconduct with the Ohio Department of Education’s office of professional conduct this week detailing the actions of former Treasurer Kelley Thorpe. The letter — drafted by the district’s attorney, William Deters — is expected to be submitted to the ODE by the end of this week, board member Brett Guido said. Read More…

• TPS sees downgrade in bond rating (Blade)

Toledo Public Schools’ credit rating took a hit in recent days, as one rating agency downgraded the school district while another put the district on notice. Standard and Poor’s downgraded the district’s credit rating from AA- to A+, while Moody’s maintained its A1 rating, but added a negative outlook, which means it may face a future downgrade. Interim-treasurer Matt Cleland told Toledo Board of Education members Tuesday night that the agencies focused on the continued depressed economy and the district’s lack of a reserve fund. Read More…

Local Issues

• East Holmes schools to reveal cuts (Times Reporter)

BERLIN — East Holmes Local Schools will make $500,000 in cuts in district spending in 2012 because of the failure of its last three levies and is considering another $500,000 in cuts if a 3.77-mill emergency operating levy is defeated in March. The board of education will hold its Jan. 9 meeting at Hiland High School because it anticipates a larger-than-normal audience. At that meeting, the board will review the planned cuts and will reveal what additional reductions will be needed if the levy fails again. The planned cuts are based on input from the staff and the community. Read More…

• South Side schools plan adopted (Dispatch)

The Columbus Board of Education overcame concerns voiced at a meeting two weeks ago and voted 5-2 last night to go forward with a South Side school-closing and reorganization plan that will affect more than 3,000 students next school year. The board also handed Superintendent Gene Harris her first academic targets, voting 6-1 to, in effect, order her to boost the number of students proficient in reading to 75 percent by 2013. Read More…

• Agency ordered to compete for Head Start cash (Blade)

The agency that administers Head Start in Toledo will have to compete for continued funding against other potential providers in the coming year. More than 2,000 Toledo children attend Head Start, a preschool program for low-income children, through the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. According to EOPA's most recent tax return, the agency received more than $13 million in federal revenue to run Head Start last year. Read More…

Editorial

• Ohioans should be glad to see Teach for America (Plain Dealer)

Now that several foundations have raised more than $2 million to support the program and a helpful law from the Ohio General Assembly has swept away legal barriers that kept Teach for America out of Ohio's classrooms, the highly respected organization finally will get to work in Northeast Ohio next year. The popular organization, founded in 1990, recruits graduates from the nation's top-ranked colleges to teach youngsters in floundering inner-city and rural schools. Read More…

• Local schools shine in hitting progress goals (Times Reporter)

Just like individual report cards for students, the quality of a local education is measured against various learning standards. And for the past decade, an important one has been the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The original law set targets that all students be proficient by 2014. While that expectation has come under some criticism in recent years from educators who contend it is unrealistic, the idea of all schools should aspire for higher achievement by students is nevertheless a valid one. Read More…

Ohio can't wait to start misusing value add

The Columbus Dispatch ran an article "Ratings start to ID effective teachers", which discusses the recent use of teacher level value add scores, primarily as part of RttT, but which also will feature heavily in teacher evaluations going forward.

The article covers a lot of common ground, but not until the 17th of 27 paragraphs does it even mention how inappropriate value add is for this use

Officials involved in producing the new effectiveness ratings say they should not be used to label a teacher as good or bad. This year’s rating is a statement of a teacher’s effectiveness with his or her students from last school year, and nothing more, said Mary Peters, senior director of research and innovation at Battelle for Kids. The Columbus-based nonprofit organization is helping the Education Department develop the effectiveness system.

“We need to be careful about making judgments about one year of data,” Peters said. “These measures were intended for diagnostic purposes, to provide information to help teachers reflect on their practice and determine with whom they are being successful.”

Despite these constant warnings by academics and researchers alike, policy makers, and some government bureaucrats continue to see teacher level value add as a primary tool for teacher evaluation, and it looks for all the world that Ohio can't wait any longer to begin misusing this tool

Petition training pics and update

A packed house at JTF world HQ last night for petition training. Folks were excited and ready to go!

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Thanks to the OEA staff for taking the time to deliver the training.

We also learned that We Are Ohio have begun printing 100,000 petitions which should start being available Friday. Stay tuned.