- Our own Aaron Churchill is briefly quoted in this piece taking a preliminary look at preliminary PARCC test scores. Aaron notes that this is only preliminary data. Preliminarily. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/20/15)
- I’m sorry to have found this rather remarkable series of stories at its midpoint, but I think you will agree it is worth catching up and then tuning in for the final parts over the next two weeks. Journalist Bradley W. Parks has dug deeply into Ohio’s district and school building report cards and has visited all six Muskingum County school districts to see what the report card measures mean to superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents. The result is a compelling five-part series focusing on key individual measurement areas. Part One is an overview of district report cards, discussing all of the moving parts and how those parts have been affected by other moving parts (standards, testing, etc.) Quotable: “In an effort to make everything measurable, we’ve lost sight of what is important,” said one supe. “If you were trying to come up with a system to destroy public education, I’d think you’d done a pretty good job.” (Zanesville Times Recorder, 11/7/15) Part Two focuses specifically on the “achievement” measure, explaining how that measure is derived and what it means for all of the players involved, even in a time of “safe harbor” from almost all consequences related to standardized tests. Quotable: “If they pass the government test, that doesn’t make them successful,” said one supe. Her sentiments were echoed by another, who said, “…[T]he true test (of achievement) is not how I do on a test, but how I do in my future. The sign of success is successful people.” (Zanesville Times Recorder, 11/14/15). Part Three, published this past Saturday, focuses specifically on the “progress” measure, a piece that supes don’t seem to care for, but do seem to pay a lot of attention to. Quotable: “Something your district may be doing well in a certain area and you don’t show improvement, you get dinged a little (on the Report Card),” said one supe. "We have to make sure we measure these things at our level. The goal of that is looking at your data more frequently to make adjustments." (Zanesville Times Recorder, 11/21/15)
- Editors at the Vindicator are feeling, well, vindicated in their unwavering support of the Youngstown Plan, even before it was created. They opined this weekend on the top-notch members appointed to the new Academic Distress Commission and look forward to the new CEO soon to be chosen. (Youngstown Vindicator, 11/22/15)
- A new review process for charter school sponsors is taking shape at the Ohio Department of Education. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 11/21/15)
- As the parent of middle school students who live in the city of Columbus, this story is disturbing to me in a number of ways: The entire administrative and teaching staff at one Columbus City Schools middle school was ordered to undergo training in identifying warning signs for behavioral disabilities among students after they suspended an unruly sixth-grader for 70 days last school year. The student received F’s in all subjects for all four quarters and was carrying a 0.0 grade-point average despite being in the sixth grade for a second year. Apologies to reporter Bill Bush for cribbing his words wholesale for this clip, but he nailed it in all its awfulness. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/22/15)
