Gadfly Bites 3/6/19 – How many clips do you really need?

Just one clip today, but it feels pretty important somehow.

1. It is a pity that so many elected officials (and a surprising number of randos off the street) seem hell bent on watering down or removing Ohio’s tough new(ish) academic distress paradigm—also erroneously known as “state takeover”—when we have proof positive that it functions as intended. In Columbus City Schools, it appears that even the distant concern about a “state takeover” two years from now has worked to get the district to actually improve the education they are providing to their long underserved students. To wit: The new supe has, in two days on the job, identified 125 students who are mere steps away from graduation as fifth-year seniors. If her team could somehow figure out a way to get just 52 of them over the finish line (a much easier task this year than it was two years ago, but that’s another issue), one vital part of the district’s report card would bounce up from a D to a C. And if they can do it this year, it should be a cakewalk to do the same next year. Then next year they could move on to other report card components like third grade reading or the black/white achievement gap. Just like they’re supposed to do. (Columbus Dispatch, 3/5/19)

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