Gadfly Bites 9/8/23—A different kind of Friday the 13th; still pretty scary

1. OSU’s Vlad Kogan and Fordham’s Aaron Churchill are on hand to discuss the preliminary analysis of state test score data from this past spring with the Dayton Daily News. Among other points, Aaron discusses the particularly-persistent low performance in math for students across the state. (Dayton Daily News, 9/7/23) Math education is on Patrick O’Donnell’s mind these days too. Specifically, he’s interested in how much the state’s provision of free access to the Zearn Math online platform might help boost the pandemic-era downturn in math achievement. “How much Ohio teachers will use Zearn is still unclear. It’s not required and has not been well-promoted. Officials of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics said DeWine and the state did not consult them” before settling on the plan. The one district superintendent interviewed was dismissive of the platform altogether. So….not much at all, then. Hey, parents…! (The 74, 9/5/23)
   
   

2. A couple of national stories published today focus heavily on Ohio. First up: This ABC News story on the science of reading features Warrensville Heights City Schools in northeast Ohio, where a veteran reading teacher says that she used phonics “in secret” with her students for years because her district was fully bought in to balanced literacy and she felt she knew better how to teach her students. Ohio is here said to be on the road to a Mississippi-like reading renaissance due to Governor DeWine’s successful effort to make the science of reading the law of the land. So far, so positive. But am I the only one who feels like that whole “in secret” business could be a two-way street? Just sayin’. (ABC News, 9/8/23) This story is kind of interesting but way too long, and includes the typical condescending ethos that seems to permeate all national coverage of rural Ohio. It is about the consolidation of four economically-segregated elementary schools in Athens City School District into two. The final step in the years-long effort took place last fall. Plenty of commentary from kindhearted people who say they learned to overcome their biases via 1970s “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” fence-mending, but very little discussion of how the hard lines of segregation came to be and how very common they are all over Ohio. (And NY too for that matter.) The bottom line for me, but not I think for the magazine (as I read their piece), is that we need to stop waiting for enlightened district leaders and magnanimous citizens to oblige but to take the decision away from them and obliterate all district assignment zones for good. (New York Magazine, 9/8/23)
   
   

3. The one brief mention of school choice in the above piece is dismissive—not from a New Yorker but from an Ohioan who should know better. It is true that charters and private school options have been limited in Athens County, but they are increasing all the time these days. So, yay! I say all this as a preamble to three stories on school choice. First up: Some mind-blowing numbers on vouchers. The Ohio Department of Education reports that they have received more than 66,000 applications for EdChoice Scholarships since the program was expanded with the passage of the new state budget. Approximately 27,550 of them have been approved so far, with more to come. That compares to just 24,230 vouchers approved for the whole of last year. Wowza! For all five of the state’s voucher programs, more than 127,600 applications have been submitted this year, with 83,020 approved. Last year, A total of 86,723 students from all the programs received vouchers. It’s going to be a record breaking year, dear readers. Record. Breaking. (Cleveland.com, 9/6/23) Meanwhile, in rural Jefferson County, the local JVS is experiencing high interest and rapid growth in its new heavy equipment-focused program, doubling its student enrollment this year. Nice! (WTOV-TV, Steubenville, 9/6/23) Here in Columbus, we’ve got another look at the huge and gorgeous new facility that independent STEM school Metro Early College is renovating for its impending expansion. I include the repetition of this story because I LOVE METRO AND CANNOT BE STOPPED the reporter has clued me in to a new category of school choice I’ve never heard of before, despite 17 years working in this arena: The “semi-public, non-charter school”. Say what now? I am equally appreciative of how Metro boss Mrs. Pace just breezes by this blatant nonsense and pushes on with her story of expanded awesomeness. (10TV News, Columbus, 9/6/23)
   
   

4. Today is Friday, and it is the 13th day of the teachers strike in Youngstown City Schools. There’s plenty of strike theater going on that I will not insult you by recounting. The only real news is that negotiations ended at 11:30 pm last night without a deal and were supposed to resume at 11:00 am today. (WFMJ-TV, Youngstown, 9/8/23) Meanwhile, in Lakota City Schools, a bus drivers strike has come and gone in a mere four days, with yellow buses rolling again this fine Friday morning. While drivers did get a raise out of the deal, it wasn’t money that was the sticking point. It was the proposed use of onboard camera footage to discipline drivers. “Through the assistance of a federal mediator, our company reached an agreement on the technological safety and accountability measures vital to our mission to safely transport all children.” Easy peasy. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/7/23)

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