- In case you missed it, Fordham’s Vice President for Ohio Policy (a.k.a, my boss) is leaving the organization and heading back to his home state to lead the Iowa Department of Education as Director. Gongwer’s brief note on the departure calls Chad Aldis a “Statehouse fixture”. Personally, I will always remember him as… Wait. He’s still reviewing these clips, isn’t he? Hey, y’all. Check back with me on Monday and I’ll finish that thought. Cool? (Gongwer Ohio, 3/9/23)
- The joke around the office is that, once Chad’s watchful editorial eye is gone, your humble clips compiler will only cover stories involving school transportation, “Weed Guy” in Toledo, and Ohio’s independent STEM schools. Seems far-fetched to me. Moving on: Here’s a great story about Black mathematicians from Ohio State University working with high school students to show the younger generation how to follow in their footsteps, and indeed the footsteps of those who came before our current generation as well. It’s awesome. I don’t know about Berwick Alternative K-8 School, but at Metro Early College High School (the independent STEM school here in Columbus which you all know I love beyond measure and whose students are among those featured here), math is everywhere, a majority of students are Black, and true subject mastery is the name of the game. Awesome! Go Metrobots!! (Columbus Dispatch, 3/10/23)
- Turning to Toledo for a moment, former home of Snoop-Pete Kadens (what?), we talked on Wednesday about Toledo City Schools’ very nebulous-sounding plans to develop and launch some alternative programs after, it seems, a very uncertain—but certain to be pretty long—timeline. “The timeline is what it is supposed to be,” said one elected school board member, either philosophically or poetically (who can tell), “based on whatever due diligence is required to make sure we get it right.” Here’s a follow up story wherein the superintendent explains that negotiations for the district to give millions of dollars to the University of Toledo for some underused buildings and land are taking up part of that uncertain timeline. And despite his protestation that “it could be a week, it could be a day, and it could be a month” before things are finalized, I reckon they’ll get there in the end. If there’s one thing Ohio’s school districts know how to “get right”, it’s spending lots and lots of money on stuff. Even if it takes forever. (Toledo Blade, 3/8/23)
- As you all have heard me say millions of times, Metro Early College High School and the other independent STEM schools modeled from it (ohhh… now maybe I’m starting to hear it) utilize real and proper mastery grading. That is: 90 percent or better on every assignment, every test, every class, or you redo it. It’s the right thing: Codified and unwavering high expectations for every kid with needed supports (and acceleration) built in for what’s next. And because this is so simple and perfect and right on the money (if I do say so myself), it burns me up every time I read about the so-called “mastery transcript” scam being perpetuated among pseudo-scientific do-gooders in education across the country. Thus, I was initially cranky when this new update on that patently dumbed down bait-and-switch popped up in my Inbox. But wait! Even though I may be reading more into it than is there, I see quite a bit of evidence that a number of district officials who signed on to the false promise of this sham bill of goods are now balking at it since it’s execution time. That is, allowing their seniors to apply to colleges with only this flimsy piece of paper to show what they know and can do as a result of their 12 years of formal education. “(They’re) saying, ‘I don’t know that we’re ready for that kind of change. I don’t know if it’s worth it,” the piece documents. “‘Why don’t we just sort of play by the rules, because that’s what we need to do to get kids into Stanford?’.” Or, you know, how about you actually teach them what they need to know to be competitive at Stanford and elsewhere? Good riddance to bad rubbish. (The 74, 3/9/23)
- I’m torn on my reaction to this story. At base, it seems that the parents whose students attend St. Mary Catholic School in Delaware are unhappy about some educational changes underway there. And as uncomfortable as the interactions sound, this is indeed how school choice is supposed to work—up to and including the administration putting its foot down and the parents withdrawing their kids in protest and sending their tuition (and voucher?) money elsewhere. Of course, the admins could also change their plans—that also is a possible outcome resulting from parental feedback. However, parents here are calling in the county health department because, they say, they are “concerned” over some cases of pink eye in their school. Which, to me, feels like a step beyond expressing disagreement on curriculum. If you ask me (though seriously, why would you at this point?), participants on the parent side would do well to remember that there’s another possible outcome here that they might not have considered and may not prefer to have happen. But it, also, is part of how school choice works. (WSYX-TV, Columbus, 3/8/23)
- How was the first week without cellphones in class at Ellet High School in Akron? Depends who you ask, but the lengthy discussion of 21st Century kids being taught by their teachers how to play paper football like it’s 1954 probably tells you a lot. Oh, and we learn for the first time that iPads aren’t banned. If I had to guess, that’s probably because no one realized that they wouldn’t fit in the pricey little electronic envelopes the district rented to stash phones for the day, but still. Kinda silly, right? If this piece is any indication, the kids with money will all have iPads in class by Monday and the kids without, well, they’ll always have 20-cent fidget poppers and toys made of ABJ scraps and masking tape. (Akron Beacon Journal, 3/10/23)
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