- KidsOhio just released a study timed perfectly for National School Choice Week, which polled parents in Columbus’s Weinland Park (where Fordham-sponsored Columbus Collegiate Academy is making gains) who sent their kids to district schools other than the ones assigned to them. Results show that parents were motivated by academic performance more so than reasons like school safety.
- ‘Tis the season to be releasing policy platforms and words of advice to ed reformers. The latest comes from Education First Consulting, with Education Policy Advising: How to set your Governor—and Yourself—up for Success, Beginning on Day 1. Also check out Fordham’s Education Policy Imperatives (advice for the state), and Michelle Rhee’s (studentsfirst.org) policy priorities if you haven’t already.
- Science results for grades 4, 8, and 12 on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) are out, and like NAEP’s math and reading counterpart results, it’s not looking so hot. While Ohio scores higher than the national average in grades 4 and 8, proficiency rates are still frighteningly low (we’re talking horror movie science experiment gone awry) – 41 percent for fourth graders and 37 percent for eighth graders.
- What’s in your child’s school lunch? “Bagel dogs” and “chicken foam”, according to Mrs. Q, an anonymous teacher who ate 162 $3 school lunches and wrote about them on her blog, Fed Up With Lunch. CNN recently ran a story about the blog, on which Mrs. Q laments that students who qualify for reduced lunches have only limited and unhealthy lunch options like pizza and fries, although she notes that her district has improved the quality of its lunches in the last year.
