Lifelong values
Kayla Burns, 2023 summer policy intern at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, is a graduate of Breakthrough Schools in Cleveland. And she has a lot to say about how her educational experience, especially through the high quality charter school option her family chose, has positively impacted her life so far. Great stuff.
Speaking of Cleveland awesomeness…
Case Western Reserve University announced this week that it was expanding its already-generous scholarship program for Cleveland Metropolitan School District graduates, including those from partnering charter schools. In addition to free tuition, participating students will also receive support for on-campus housing, books, supplies, and personal expenses starting in fall 2024.
More awesomeness
Utica Shale Academy (USA) continues to raise the bar for its rural Ohio students, this week unveiling a new outdoor welding lab. The idea is to provide students with valuable training replicating the real world conditions under which welders work. School leaders say demand for welders is high in eastern Ohio and elsewhere across the country, and USA is at the forefront of readying the workforce of the (very near) future.
What the research says
Mathematica released a study earlier this week looking at the long-term impacts of KIPP middle and high schools on students. Specifically, on their enrollment and persistence in college and their degree attainment. Key findings: Students who attended KIPP for both middle school and high school were 67 percent more likely to enroll in a four-year college than those who did not go to KIPP; and those students were nearly twice as likely to persist and graduate as their peers. There are more amazing findings in the full report, which can be found here.
Report card data released
The Ohio Department of Education released school and district report cards on Thursday. A searchable database can be found here, and Cleveland.com published a big-picture summary of data for all charter schools in the state. Kudos to Horizon Science Academy Primary School in Columbus, Citizens of the World Charter Schools in Cincinnati, and Imagine Akron Academy for their perfect overall five-star ratings, among other high flyers across the state.
Sober warning
The Fordham Institute’s new Senior Research Fellow Stéphane Lavertu provided a troubling illustration of how schools and districts could encounter a fiscal cliff when Covid-relief funding runs out, using his knowledge of school funding in Ohio and the example of what happened following the Great Recession in 2008. A must-read for all school leaders and finance professionals.
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