- It’s been a busy couple of days for Fordham’s Aaron Churchill. First up, a blog he wrote highlighting new data on Ohio’s third grade retention mandate (topline: retention helps kids get back on track with reading quickly and, it seems, permanently) was covered in Gongwer on Monday. (Gongwer Ohio, 6/5/23) On the same day, Aaron gave some perspective to public media on a new report on vouchers from the Ohio Education Policy Institute. It was a different perspective than the one the report’s authors were going for, as you might imagine. The word “misleading” is, indeed, used. (IdeaStream, 6/5/23)
- And then, of course, the Ohio Senate unveiled its full slate of budget amendments late yesterday, with first-look coverage here in Columbus including a brief comment from Aaron on their family- and student-centric plans. (ABC6 News, Columbus, 6/6/23) Aaron is quoted in this piece commenting favorably on a boost in EdChoice eligibility and changes in education governance, two of the education provisions being given the most attention in initial news reports. (Toledo Blade, 6/6/23) The voucher changes include a boost in EdChoice eligibility up to 450 percent of poverty which is, effectively, universal eligibility. And the governance changes is wholesale addition of SB 1 into the budget bill, moving the majority of K-12 and workforce readiness responsibility to the executive branch. You can, perhaps, see why the media coverage is focusing there. Check out details on these and other changes in this Dispatch piece. More to come, obviously, so buckle in. (Columbus Dispatch, 6/6/23)
- While Fordham’s Jessica Poiner is not quoted in this piece looking at teacher workforce data in the southwest Ohio area, her analysis of ODE’s teacher data report was the first detailed look and, IMHO, is still the best. Just sayin’. (Dayton Daily News, 6/6/23)
- A brief note here—Senator Sherrod Brown announced earlier this week that the National Science Foundation is providing the University of Dayton with a $700K grant to research methods for improving math education for preschoolers—begs more questions for me than it answers. But, kudos, I guess. (Dayton 24/7 Now, 6/5/23)
- We end a busy clips day with good news/bad news from the realm of school leadership. The good news is that the BRIGHT Fellowship Program at Ohio State is still alive and kicking. Who knew? Berea City Schools will soon bet getting a new principal-in-training thanks to that program. (Cleveland.com, 6/5/23) The bad news: Superintendent Justin Jennings submitted his resignation from Youngstown City Schools earlier this week. I’m sure there will be drama aplenty in the wake of this announcement. Stay tuned. (Vindy.com, 6/6/23)
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