This week Fordham hosted two discussions revolving around our latest book, Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontlines, which chronicles our experience as an authorizer of charter schools in Ohio.? The book is sparking good discussion in Ohio about important charter issues.
As Catalyst Ohio points out, perhaps one of the best things about the book is the frankness with which the story is told:
The book focuses largely on the experiences of Dayton, which once had the highest concentration of charter schools in the nation. While the authors are unapologetic charter school advocates, the book doesn't shy away from some of the movement's failures.
The Akron Beacon Journal notes about Ohio's education climate:
The pressure to change is intense and necessary. The moment demands that nothing be left off the table that can raise educational attainment. In that fluid context, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation made an invaluable contribution this week.
The foundation, which has played a crucial role in the development of Ohio's charter school system as a policy analyst and a sponsor of schools, offers in a book the hard lessons of a reform program yet to achieve its full promise. In Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontline, the foundation emphasizes what charter schools, at their best, bring to the mix of learning options. More important, it makes a compelling case why it is imperative that Ohio quickly ?reboot? its charter efforts, as Chester Finn, the foundation's president put it.
Fordham's no-nonsense depiction of struggles in the charter school movement is fostering important discussions in the Buckeye State about how to better hold charters accountable. The Beacon Journal breaches the topic:
State legislators and education reformers would do well to piggy-back on the keen insights Fordham has distilled from its experiences. Deserving particular attention is the foundation's recognition that the success of a charter system will depend on the state clearly defining the role and responsibilities of the charter authorizers who sponsor schools.
Let's hope that more media outlets and thought leaders in Ohio continue pushing this topic.
To get a copy of the book and read for yourself some of Fordham's lessons learned, click here.
- Bianca Speranza, Ohio policy & research intern