tuesday

Education News for 05-15-2013

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State Education News

  • Legislators try to combat school-standards rumors (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Tom Gibbs has reluctantly watched conservative commentator Glenn Beck and is up to speed on the criticisms of the new Common Core…Read more...

  • Columbus school district’s staffs being interviewed a 2nd time (Columbus Dispatch)

    • State investigators started a second round of interviews with dozens of teachers at most of the Columbus school district’s high schools yesterday…Read more...

  • School board urged not to arm teachers (Newark Advocate)

    • Top state law enforcement officials urged members of Ohio’s state school board Tuesday not to support arming untrained teachers with guns in response to recent school shootings…Read more...

  • School board members hear ideas on school safety, but seem to be rejecting arming teachers (Ohio Public Radio)

    • School safety was the top topic for the state board of education, which hoped to learn about how to make buildings, staff and students more secure…Read more...

  • Brookfield in fiscal emergency (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • The Brookfield Local School District is in a state of fiscal emergency, according to a report released Tuesday by Auditor of State Dave Yost…Read more...

  • State Board Hears Ways To Boost School Safety (WBNS)

    • Ohio’s top law enforcers addressed members of the state school board as it considers how to best update its school safety polices…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Cleveland school board OKs new teachers contract (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Cleveland school board Tuesday night approved a groundbreaking contract with its teachers, while also picking a new home for district offices…Read more...

  • No one told teachers they would lose jobs (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Less than two weeks before the May 7 election, Groveport Madison schools announced $2 million in cuts if voters turned down…Read more...

  • Treasurer’s mistake cuts up to $1.5M off Jonathan Alder’s budget (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Officials in the Jonathan Alder school district in Madison County don’t know how much money they have to operate on next school year…Read more...

  • Lorain School Board hears high school update, approves busing contract (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • The new Lorain High School has stayed within budget during its design development phase and few changes have happened since the initial design…Read more...

  • Lorain City Schools reassessing its 'Success for All' reading program (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • Lorain City Schools is reevaluating its “Success For All” reading program and could switch to a new system by next year…Read more...

  • Some Youngstown school principals to be in new posts (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Some positions are being reshuffled to align with the new city school building configuration…Read more...

Education News for 05-08-2013

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State Education News

  • Toddlers and tech - reasons to share your smartphone (Canton Repository)

    • A lot of things change when you become a parent. The shows you watch, the restaurants you go to and the concept of sleep as you once knew it all evolve when your family structure transforms from a "me" to a "we."…Read more...

  • Security Concerns Raise Questions About Voting At Schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Polls were open at Licking Heights High School on Tuesday, and Superintendent Phil Wagner says security preparations were made far in advance…Read more...

  • Ohio school buys eye control device to help students communicate (Newark Advocate)

    • Like most 6-year-olds, Algassimou Bah has a lot to say. However, living with cerebral palsy has made it difficult for Algassimou, known by his teachers…Read more...

  • Maysville schools mull drug testing athletes (Zanesville Times-Recorder)

    • Maysville Local Schools will be the first district in the area to require athletes to be drug tested if a proposal submitted to the Board of Education…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus district sells old school buildings for $3.2 million (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education sold three vacant school buildings last night, including a historical middle school a block from German Village’s Schiller Park that sold for about half what the county auditor says it’s worth…Read more...

  • Hilliard sale odd for one board member (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Even before Paul Lambert was elected to the Hilliard school board more than three years ago, he raised concerns about residential development outpacing commercial growth…Read more...

  • Ada School District voters approve 0.75% income tax (Findlay Courier)

    • Voters in the Ada School District approved a 0.75 percent income tax…Read more...

  • Westlake schools prepare to make cuts (Sun Newspapers)

    • School officials will face some tough decisions on nearly $1 million in proposed cuts when they meet…Read more...

  • Brookfield schools cautiously happy (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • A member of the Brookfield Board of Education said she was on "pins and needles"…Read more...

  • Libraries may return (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Voters in the Champion school district supported a 5.95-mill, 10-year additional operating levy for emergency requirements of the district…Read more...

  • Columbus City Schools To Hire 300 For Transportation Positions (WBNS)

    • Columbus City Schools announced on Tuesday that it is hiring 300 people to drive buses for the district…Read more...

Turmoil swirling around Common Core education standards

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Via the Washington Post

As public schools across the country transition to the new Common Core standards, which bring wholesale change to the way math and reading are taught in 45 states and the District, criticism of the approach is emerging from groups as divergent as the tea party and the teachers union.

The standards, written by a group of states and embraced by the Obama administration, set common goals for reading, writing and math skills that students should develop from kindergarten through high school graduation. Although classroom curriculum is left to the states, the standards emphasize critical thinking and problem solving and encourage thinking deeply about fewer topics.

But as the common core shifts from theory to reality, critics are emerging. State lawmakers are concerned about the cost, which the Fordham Institute estimated could run as high as $12 billion nationally. Progressives fret over new exams, saying that the proliferation of standardized tests is damaging public education. Teachers worry that they haven’t had enough training and lack the resources to competently teach to the new standards. And conservatives say the new standards mean a loss of local control over education and amount to a national curriculum. They’ve begun calling it “Obamacore.”

On Tuesday, the head of the American Federation of Teachers and a strong supporter of the Common Core standards will warn that the new approach is being poorly implemented and requires a “mid-course correction” or the effort will fall apart.

“The Common Core is in trouble,” said Randi Weingarten, the union president who is slated to speak Tuesday in New York about the issue. “There is a serious backlash in lots of different ways, on the right and on the left.”

Weingarten is concerned that states are rushing out tests based on the new standards without preparing teachers and designing new curricula.

“This is a wake-up call for everyone else in the country,” she said, pointing to New York, which just administered new tests based on the Common Core standards. Teachers, parents and students complained that the tests were poorly designed, covered material that had not been taught and frustrated children to the point of tears.

Education News for 03-13-2013

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State Education News

  • Kasich adviser selected as new Ohio schools chief (Education Week)

    • Ohio's state school board picked Republican Gov. John Kasich's top education adviser Tuesday as the new superintendent of public instruction. Richard Ross was selected over acting Superintendent Michael Sawyers by a 10-6 vote…Read more...

  • Ohio to get $20.2M to help low-performing schools (Canton Repository)

    • The U.S. education secretary says Ohio will receive $20.2 million to continue its efforts to help persistently lowest-performing schools raise their students’ achievement.…Read more...

    


  • Gov. John Kasich's school funding formula would increase charter school aid by 4.5 percent (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Charter schools would receive about $35 million more from the state -- a 4.5 percent increase -- under Gov. John Kasich's proposed school funding formula than they have over the last two years…Read more...

  • Rural school districts call on state to share wealth (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Superintendents and treasurers from low-income, rural school districts across the state gathered at the Statehouse yesterday to push for significant changes to a funding formula they say punishes their students.…Read more...

  • State reinstates license of ex-Columbus teacher (Columbus Dispatch)

    • After a court battle, the State Board of Education yesterday reinstated the teaching license of a former Columbus teacher whom board members previously had banned from teaching for using poor judgment with an out-of-control child.…Read more...

  • Students, teachers cope (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • City schools Superintendent Michael Notar said that when he heard about the Sunday morning crash in which several of his students were killed, his initial thought was to close school on Monday - longer if needed.…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Loveland 'won' with Marschhausen tenure (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • The Loveland School District is beginning its process of replacing John Marschhausen, but instead of hard feelings, the hope is more of the same. It might have only lasted three years, but Marschhausen’s tenure built the foundation…Read more...

  • 4 Fairfield schools to tighten security (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Visitors will no longer be able to enter four Fairfield schools without being buzzed in. It is the latest local school district to beef up security in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings…Read more...

  • Candidate out of race for Columbus school board; no primary (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Paperwork filed by a college intern for the county Republican Party led elections officials to boot a Democratic candidate from the Columbus school-board race yesterday, ending the need for a primary vote.…Read more...

  • Grove changing school administrative structure (Lima News)

    • Facing cuts in state funding and a long list of new state mandates, Columbus Grove schools will change its administrative structure to try to address both.…Read more...

    


  • TV’s Murphy joins school funding pleas in Columbus (New Philadelphia Times Reporter)

    • Local superintendents joined school representatives from the Appalachian region to speak against Gov. John Kasich’s two-year budget Tuesday at the Ohio Statehouse.…Read more...

    


  • School subcontractor denies claims (The Findlay Courier)

    • The president of a subcontracting company on Tuesday disputed claims that it has refused to pay painters who worked on the new Glenwood Middle School.…Read more...

    


  • Rossford IDs school chief pick (Toledo Blade)

    • The Rossford Board of Education will vote next week on its next superintendent, but the board appears to have already made its decision. Daniel Creps, principal of Perrysburg’s Woodland Elementary…Read more...

  • Willoughby-Eastlake teacher resigns after prostitution sting (Willoughby News Herald)

    • The Willoughby-Eastlake School Board accepted the resignation of social studies teacher Ryan Tyna at its most recent board meeting. Tyna was placed on administrative leave Feb. 25 after police arrested him in a prostitution sting involving 11 others.…Read more...

  • Willoughby-Eastlake School Board OKs bond issue, other projects (Willoughby News Herald)

    • The Willoughby-Eastlake School Board covered a lot of ground at its most recent meeting, including approving a $130 million bond issue. The board will now take the issue to the Lake County Auditor's Office for certification…Read more...

  • Youngstown school board approves Hathorn's restructuring plan (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • City school board members gave their blessing to a restructuring plan that will close three buildings and reconfigure and re-purpose others. The board voted 5-1 Tuesday to approve Superintendent Connie Hathorn’s plan…Read more...

Education News for 01-23-2013

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State Education News

  • State budget’s unknowns frighten advocates (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Faced with a “poker-faced” Kasich administration that won’t divulge new budget details until Feb. 4, a coalition of critics yesterday took a stab at things…Read more...

  • Democrats want state school-board head out over Facebook post (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The head of the Ohio Democratic Party yesterday called for the resignation of Ohio Board of Education President Debe Terhar for a Facebook posting that appeared to compare…Read more...

  • Columbus school board decides to assist review by mayor’s panel (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education relented last night and decided to allow Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Education Commission to conduct a management review of district non- academic operations — and without a written agreement…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Referee will intervene in duct-taped students case (Canton Repository)

    • A referee is going to hear the case of a northeast Ohio teacher who may be fired over an allegation that she posted a Facebook photo of her students with their mouths covered with duct tape…Read more...

  • After-school program takes holistic approach Chillicothe Gazette)

    • When the last school bell rings, things are just getting started at the Salvation Army’s after- school program…Read more...

  • Schools sweat out decision to delay start due to cold (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The decision to delay classes at Canal Winchester schools in yesterday’s frigid weather wasn’t an easy one, Superintendent Jim Sotlar said…Read more...

  • Bexley mayor rejects speed traps, student tax ideas (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Bexley’s mayor opposes the use of speed cameras and taxing students to help the city offset projected losses in state funding, both ideas proposed by a citizens group to raise new revenue…Read more...

  • Finalists make pitch to RV public (Marion Star)

    • River Valley Local Schools gave the public a chance Tuesday evening to meet the finalists as it prepares to choose the district’s next superintendent…Read more...

  • TPS won’t place levy renewal on spring ballot; Board cites too little time to mount solid campaign (Toledo Blade)

    • A Toledo Public Schools levy renewal won’t be on the May ballot after all. The Toledo Board of Education was set to vote Tuesday on a board finance committee recommendation…Read more...

  • Youngstown school board discusses money woes (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn is meeting with his staff to devise recommendations to address a projected $48 million deficit by fiscal year 2017…Read more...

Editorial

  • Uneasy money (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Ohio schools will receive $38 million from the first distribution of the state’s tax on casino gambling. Have they hit the jackpot? Hardly. The amount boils down to about $21 per pupil…Read more...

Education News for 11-02-2012

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State Education News

  • State Board of Education: Voters to fill 7 seats on Tuesday (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Like a game of musical chairs, two members of the Ohio Board of Education are running for a seat representing Franklin, Delaware and Knox counties…Read more...

  • ACLU getting involved with Celina pro-gay shirt issue (Lima News)

    • The controversy over T-shirts supporting gay rights at Celina High School has attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Students put bullies on alert (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Consider them the neighborhood watch of Baldwin Road Junior High School. As part of the school’s new bully patrol, about 60 students are monitoring the building for any sign of kids who are calling names…Read more...

  • Technical problems ironic at meeting (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s third education briefing yesterday was to focus largely on new online technologies that could bring the most-skilled teachers into classrooms…Read more...

  • Cuts To Come In December If Licking Heights Levy Fails (WBNS)

    • Dozens of school districts are asking for more tax dollars in next week's election. But one community says its cuts will begin in less than 30 days, if voters say "no."…Read more...

Editorial

  • Burden on the schools (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • As many as 194 Ohio school districts have levies on the ballot on Tuesday, 123 of them seeking new money for facilities or operations. Whether they come from small, suburban districts or large urban systems…Read more...