- A recent research paper review—on the topic of pandemic-era academic impacts on students—written by Fordham’s Jessica Poiner became the law of the land in Ohio when it was linked and quoted in Gongwer the other day. Wait. What do you mean that’s not how Gongwer works? (Gongwer Ohio, 9/7/21)
- Meanwhile, Fordham’s Chad Aldis was among the guests on All Sides with Ann Fisher on Wednesday, sounding positive and reasonable on the topic of interdistrict open enrollment…against the usual very long odds. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 9/8/21) The impetus for the All Sides segment was a lengthy article on open enrollment published in the Dispatch at the end of August and covered here in the Bites on Wednesday. Ace reporters Anna Staver and Grace Deng were back on the beat again yesterday with this lengthy piece on the topic of the EdChoice Scholarship Program. I figure it required that many words to fully capture the ridiculous arguments so often used against vouchers—literally all of them are included here—and still find a little space to talk to the happy parent of a successful voucher recipient. (Columbus Dispatch, 9/9/21)
- Back in the real world, the three school districts currently operating under the aegis of an Academic Distress Commission have a deadline of September 14 by which to turn in their new draft improvement plans to the state. These are the roadmaps by which control of those districts will be returned to the elected boards, following new ADC rules enacted in the state budget. Two of the three are well on their way to meeting that deadline. One seemed to be lagging as of earlier this week. (Vindy.com, 9/7/21) Meanwhile, the CEO of that nameless lagging district (OK, it’s Youngstown) got high marks—and a $10K bonus—from the Academic Distress Commission (which still runs the show for now) in his most recent performance review. (Mahoning Matters, 9/8/21) Far be it from me to tell the Youngstown ADC their business, but this year’s worse-than-ever student transportation disaster never woulda happened under Krish Mohip. Just sayin’. (Mahoning Matters, 9/9/21)
- The first look at spring 2021 test score data is taking place across the state. Seems kinda bad, doesn’t it? (News 5, Cleveland, 9/7/21) The Ohio Department of Education is not surprised by the numbers at all, it seems. Not lower enrollment, lower test scores, or increased absences. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 9/8/21) Neither were parents in the bougier suburbs of Cleveland. There are some positives hidden in this “snapshot” data, they say, despite what might look like fully bad news to anyone else. (News 5, Cleveland, 9/10/21)
- The folks who are planning to launch the fantastic-sounding (and –looking) Greater Dayton School—a non-sectarian private school aimed solely at providing academic excellence for students from under-resourced communities—seem to be taking pandemic learning loss seriously. As you might expect. They just announced that the school will open early—in August 2022—in rented space downtown so they won’t have to wait until their purpose-built facility is finished to bring their innovative, high-quality model to students. Yahoo! (Dayton Daily News, 9/5/21)
Did you know you can have every edition of Gadfly Bites sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
Policy Priority:
Topics:
