- Bellwether Education Partners today released a new report detailing ten policy recommendations to help improve the quality of Ohio’s charter school sector. Fordham’s Chad Aldis is quoted in this piece from the Big D. As partners in the report, we are hopeful for much more attention to the report in coming days and weeks. (Columbus Dispatch)
- Fordham’s Aaron Churchill was busy on the airwaves yesterday, talking about Common Core on two radio shows. The second hasn’t been archived yet, but yesterday’s first appearance was on the Ron Ponder Show on WHBC in Canton, where Aaron appeared in between segments on standards and testing with the superintendent of Canton City Schools. You can hear the WHBC audio by clicking here. (WHBC-AM, Canton)
- Going back to the subject of charter schools for a second, here’s a story about a dream that refuses to die…even though it probably should. A Pittsburgh-area man is trying for the fifth time to launch a charter school in his Pennsylvania hometown. Why do we in Ohio care about this story? Don’t we have charter problems of our own going back many years? Yes, we do. And he was one of them, as founder of the two Talented Tenth charter schools in Columbus shut down last year by the Ohio Department of Education as “educational travesties”. Here’s hoping he gets skunked again in PA. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- The PD published an opinion piece this morning on teacher compensation. Seems like the author is looking for a “third way” that isn’t automatic step increases or merit pay. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- The Enquirer published an opinion piece this morning written by a teacher in Covington, Kentucky arguing that her students do not need “saving” from their school, but instead need “a teacher who will stick it out until the end”. This is a very good point and I have little doubt that Ms. Riffle is one of those teachers. But what happens outside of her four walls; in other classrooms and other grades? What happens if Ms. Riffle’s colleagues are not in the same league as her? (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- As if yesterday’s story on the “mysterious” non-chartered, non-tax supported schools in Clark County wasn’t fascinating enough, here is a follow up, looking at the obvious question of whether students can get into college via these non-chartered schools. Not surprisingly, they almost always can. In fact, students from non-chartered high schools make up a large proportion of non-public school students using dual-enrollment/early-college programs to earn college credit while still in high school. Another excellent report from the Rep. (Canton Repository)
