Current News    News Archives June 2000 - December 2004

As of this September 2006, 38 states had either statewide virtual schools or significant policies on online education, according to Education Week. Of those 38 states, at least five had either created virtual schools or passed laws on online learning in the 2005-06 school year. State-led virtual schools has grown quickly, according to the report, "Keeping Pace," slated for release this week at the Virtual School Symposium in Plano, Texas. The report said the number of students taking courses in the Florida Virtual School and the Idaho Digital Learning Academy has increased by more than 50 percent just since last year.........and enrollment has grown 24 percent in Massachusetts' Virtual High School and 22 percent in Ohio's eCommunity Schools. 
 
 
 
Sources: Evergreen Consulting Associates, National Center for Education Statistics and Education Week.
Twenty-two of the 23 proposed Ohio High School Athletic Association Constitution and Bylaw revisions passed as voted upon by OHSAA member schools. A two-week period to vote on the proposals ended Monday. 
 
Want to read the issues and voting results? Click to view the referendum voting results for October 2006.

On average, roughly 2,000 to 2,200 of the country’s 13,500 school superintendents (about 15 percent) leave their jobs annually, according to data from the  American Association of School Administrators.

More Ohio school districts are turning to earned income tax levies. The Ohio Department of Education said 18 school districts are asking voters to approve earned income tax issues on November 7th. Those levies involve taxing wages, as opposed to other income. School districts were given the option of taxing only earned income last year. Supporters call it a fairer levy that doesn’t burden seniors on fixed income or those not working.
 
There are 36 income tax-related levies on the November 7, 2006 ballot. In May 2006, 35 income taxes levies were on the ballot and 17 were approved by voters, according to the Associated Press.
 
Sources: The Associated Press and Ohio Department of Education
The Ohio Department of Education announced recently that it has created the electronic mailing list, "Tools for Teachers," to provide information to teachers about professional development, lesson-planning help, state tests and academic-content standards. To join, e-mail toolsforteachers@ode.state.oh.us.
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) website has a list of school districts with issues on the November 7, 2006 ballot. According to the ODE, the list contains 206 issues in 176 school districts. The 206 issues compares with 222 tax issues in November 2005 and 286 in November 2004. From 2001 to 2005 an average of 55 percent of levies on the November ballot passed.
 
View the ODE information to find where, what kind of levy and for how much?  Click: Preview by county
 
Source: Ohio Department of Education 
Private school enrollment grew more slowly in the United States than public school enrollment from 1985 to 2005, rising 14 percent, from 5.6 million to 6.3 million. As a result, the proportion of U.S. students enrolled in private schools declined slightly, from 12.4 percent in 1985 to 11.6 percent in 2005.
 
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

The Ohio Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the state's charter school program. The Court ruled that opponents had not shown constitutional defects in the law that provides state financing for privately owned and operated charter schools. Justice Judith Lanzinger, who wrote the majority opinion, said that such policy decisions are within the purview of legislative responsibilities. "After full consideration, we cannot say that the concept of community schools itself violates the Ohio Constitution," she said.

The vote was 4-3. Joining Lanzinger in the majority were Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, Justices Evelyn Stratton and Maureen O'Connor. Justices Alice Resnick, Paul Pfeifer and Terrence O'Donnell dissented.

Read the majority opinion. Click: lead opinion

Source: Gongwer News Service

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) wants the federal No Child Left Behind Act altered so that state officials would have more authority to oversee the law's testing and accountability measures. In a policy statement issue last week, the CCSSO said its members should be able to determine whether schools and districts are meeting their achievement goals by measuring individual students’ academic growth, and that they should be able to use results from a variety of tests to make those determinations. The states also will need extra federal money to help improve failing schools, the CCSSO said in a list of guidelines for improving the law. The changes would include:

• Letting states design assessments that are "more instructionally based … to inform best practices in teaching and learning."

• Allowing states to develop accountability systems that measure students’ academic growth, using data from more than just test scores to determine whether schools are meeting achievement goals.

• Establishing lesser consequences than in the law currently for schools that fail to reach achievement goals by small margins.

• Giving state education agencies a larger share of federal funds so they have the resources they need to turn around consistently failing schools.

SOURCES: Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Week
 
Read the CCSSO policy statement. Click: "ESEA Reauthorization Policy Statement"
The U.S. Education Department plans to announce today the first of 16 grants worth $42 million to be used to reward teachers who raise student test scores. The grants are also aimed at luring teachers into math, science and other core fields. One of the first grants is $5.5 million to the Ohio Department of Education, to be shared among schools in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. The Associated Press said, "In Ohio, school leaders plan to pay between $1,800 to $2,000 to hundreds of teachers." Schools with higher numbers of poor children get priority consideration.

For more information, read the Associated Press article: Teacher bonuses for test scores presented starting today

A study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy, based at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, found that high school football players had an overall injury rate of 4.36 athletes injured per 1000 participants, compared with 2.5 athletes injured per 100 for wrestling, slightly less than 2.5 for boys’ and girls’ soccer; 2.01 for girls’ basketball; and just under 2 for boys’ basketball. Volleyball, baseball and softball were all near 1.5 or less. Data was collected from 100 high schools across the country during the 2005-06 school year. The study included the injury rates at practices, in competition and overall for all sports. See table below.

Table 3

According to the report, high school sports participation has grown from an estimated 4 million participants during the 1971--72 school year to an estimated 7.2 million in 2005-06.

REGISTER NOW FOR VALUE-ADDED PROGRAM!    (Program, Directions and Registration information below.)
VALUE-ADDED COMES TO OHIO
Value-added chronology 

1980s: Tennessee researcher Dr. William Sanders creates a value-added formula to measure academic progress in schools and school districts.

1992: Tennessee adopts Dr. Sanders' system statewide.

2002: Battelle for Kids begins a value-added pilot program in Ohio involving 42 volunteer districts.

2003: Ohio legislature includes value-added in future state accountability standards.

2006: Ohio pilot program expands to 110 school districts.

2007: All Ohio districts will use value-added for students in grades 4-8.

2008: Value-added data will appear on school and district report cards. 

Reprinted from the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Battelle for Kids: Bringing clarity to school improvement.............   www.BattelleforKids.org

PROGRAM INFORMATION: On Tuesday, October 31, 2006 CORAS will present the program,Value Added: The Next Generation Tool for School Improvement......What have we learned? Where is it going? with Dr. James Mahoney, Executive Director, & Staff, Battelle for Kids. The program will be held at the Olde Dutch Restaurant in Logan, Ohio beginning at 9:00 a.m. and concluding following lunch at approximately 1:00 p.m.
 
DIRECTIONS: The Olde Dutch Restaurant is located approximately one-half mile North of State Route 33 on State Route 664 in Logan. 
 
TO REGISTER: Contact Lori at (740) 593-4445 or email her at:  stumpl@ohio.edu  The registration fee, including lunch, is only $15.00.
The Associated Press (AP) reported recently that parents and their school-aged children raised $1.7 billion last year by selling products through fundraisers. The average school campaign earned $2,500, according to the Association of Fund-Raising Distributors and Suppliers. An estimated 1,500 companies nationwide sell candy bars, holiday items, magazines and other goods through fundraisers that mostly target schools. Ohio has at least 80 companies that sell or distribute products for fundraisers, according to AP.
 
A spokesperson for the fundraisers association said the growth has created a backlash. Some parents object to their children being counted on as a sales force. Many parents have also grown tired of being flooded with glossy product catalogs, product samples and order forms brought home from school by their children. The result has been a drop in sales over the last year.

Education Week reported today that three major business groups, all based in Washington, with a wide range of interests in education policy, have recently stepped up their efforts to lobby Congress for reauthorization of the five-year old No Child Left Behind Act. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the Committee for Economic Development and other business organizations are also pushing for changes in other areas of pre-K-12 education, such as improving mathematics and science education, expanding instruction in foreign languages and international issues, and offering preschool to all families that want it. Education Week said business leaders say their interest in the No Child Left Behind law and other education matters can be summed up in one word: competitiveness.

SOURCE: Education Week

"The success of nearly 40 Ohio schools, mostly charters, is inflated by a hidden default in how the state measures them." ...the Canton Repository, October 15, 2006 

An analysis by the Canton Repository found that 30 charter schools and five public schools in Ohio got the state’s third-highest designation, “continuous improvement,” not because of student achievement but because of the state’s measure, adapted from federal guidelines, of “adequate yearly progress” (AYP).

In theory, the Repository said, AYP is supposed to measure how schools are doing with each subgroup of students, such as minority, disabled and poor students, to ensure schools are reaching them all in core subjects such as math and reading. But if a school doesn’t have enough students for a subgroup (30 students, or 45 students with disabilities), the state says it automatically meets AYP, no matter what the groups that are measured show. And any school or district that meets AYP can go no lower than “continuous improvement,” according to the State Department of Education’s accountability system.

According to the Repository, the sponsors of The Canton Academy, a charter school that helps students with learning, behavioral and other disabilities, found it confusing that the school met AYP when the state report cards were released in August. The Canton Academy was also designated in “continuous improvement." The Repository reported the school’s test scores showed just 23.1 percent of students reached proficiency in reading and 0 percent in math.........while the AYP goal is 71.8 percent proficient in reading and 60 percent proficient in math on the Ohio Graduation Test.

Read the Canton Repository article. Click: Fault found in scoring of Ohio schools

Teachers' satisfaction with their careers has increased significantly over the past two decades, according to the annual survey “MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Expectations and Experiences” of 2006, released yesterday by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and the Committee for Economic Development. Fifty-six percent of the 1,001 teachers polled earlier this year reported being “very satisfied” with their careers, in comparison with just 40 percent in 1984, the first year of the survey. Education Week said, "That outcome is somewhat surprising, given anecdotal and survey evidence in recent years suggesting that teachers have gotten discouraged with what they see as an increasing loss of autonomy over their classrooms and an abundance of mandated tests."
 
Over the past 20 years, views on how to recruit and retain qualified teachers have changed significantly, according to Education Week's analysis of the survey. In 1986, just 38 percent of principals said that providing teachers with good equipment and supplies helped attract and retain qualified instructors; today, 60 percent of principals agree with that statement. Similarly, more teachers today than in 1986 believe that providing better equipment and supplies (74 percent vs. 69 percent), more parent involvement (67 percent vs. 56 percent), and closer matches between student needs and teacher capabilities (63 percent vs. 55 percent) will help considerably in the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers.
 
The annual survey tracks the opinions of teachers, principals and education dean.

 

Read the full report. Click: "The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Expectations and Experiences" of 2006

Source: Education Week/edweek.org

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported today that, "according to three national charter organizations asked to review the state's charter system, Ohio's low-performing charter schools should be closed and the agencies that oversee them should be held more accountable because too many of the schools are failing." According to the report, 49 percent of Ohio's charters that were rated last year fell into the two lowest state categories for student achievement. About 12 percent were rated Excellent, 6 percent were Effective, and 33 percent were Continuous Improvement.
 
Since the 1998-99 school year, the number of charters in Ohio increased from 15 schools serving 2,205 students to 304 schools serving 70,598 students last year, according to the Enquirer.
"Cutbacks in the state share of public school funding have forced Ohio school districts into an impossible choice: pass large school levies, cut back programs and staff, or both," according to the study "Ohio School Funding Fact Base," and the September 19, 2006 news release by the Ohio Education Association.
 
"The state share of funding schools has declined from 47.4% to 41% in only five years, and dramatic increases in education costs have forced the local share up from 53% to 59% over that same period," said Gary L. Allen, president of the Ohio Education Association. "Few school districts can manage that kind of drastic shift without cutting teachers, eliminating valuable courses and charging higher student fees."

State vs. Local Per Pupil Funding for Ohio Public Schools

Fiscal Year

Cost Per Pupil

Local Funds

State Funds

State Share

Local Share

2002

$4,818

$2,561

$2,307

47.40%

53.15%

2003

$4,949

$2,653

$2,332

46.80%

53.61%

2004

$5,058

$2,780

$2,274

45.00%

54.96%

2005

$5,169

$2,910

$2,252

43.60%

56.30%

2006

$5,283

$3,061

$2,238

42.20%

57.94%

2007

$5,403

$3,190

$2,228

41.10%

59.04%

Source: Ohio Department of Education Reports.

  • Here are the key findings of the OEA study,  "Ohio School Funding Fact Base," for five years, from fiscal 2002-2003 through 2006-2007.

  • Ohio’s state-level support for schools has declined 3.5% -- from an average $2,307 per pupil in 2002 to $2,228 per pupil for the 2006-2007 school year. The average state share of per pupil spending declined from 47.4% to 41.1% in only five years.
  • Meanwhile, average local taxes per pupil have increased from $2,561 to $3,190, up 24.6%, forcing the local share of school funding up from 53.2% to 59%
  • Local annual spending increases for public schools have averaged 4.1% per year, nearly double state increases of 2.2%, another indication of the shift to local taxes.
  • Between the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, two-thirds of Ohio districts reduced teaching positions. Over half cut teachers between the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years, resulting in the loss of nearly 9,200 public school teaching positions.
  • Between fiscal 2002 and 2007, Ohio has failed to fund $277 million in special education costs, paying only 88 percent of its calculated share of special education and leaving an unfunded mandate that falls to local taxpayers.
  • Ohio cut $270 million in state parity aid to help poor school districts. Parity aid is designed to provide state money to make up for low local property tax values.
  • Despite booming fuel costs, Ohio increased transportation funds only 2% since 2004.
  • Between Fiscal 2003 and 2006, state aid to public schools grew by only 64% of the rate of inflation.
  • Much of the loss in state funding can be attributed to the $2 billion redirected to charter schools between fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2007, $470 million this year alone. (See an earlier OEA study, Ohio’s Charter School Program – 2006 Report, at  www.ohea.org )
  • Between fiscal 1999 and fiscal 2005, school districts reduced the number of art, business, career development, consumer science, foreign language, industrial arts, music and physical education teachers by 16%.
  • Inequities between rich and poor school districts persist, with the lowest 10th percentile having enough property value to generate only one-third of the revenue from one mill of property taxes as districts at the 90th percentile.

The news release said, using Ohio Department of Education data, OEA research found: "While under the pressure of an order of the Supreme Court, Ohio’s General Assembly legislated a significant increase in state funding in FY02. However, this one-time bump did not satisfy the Court as it still found Ohio’s school funding system to be unconstitutional in its subsequent DeRolph opinions. Since FY02, the State has ignored the Court and has continued to under-fund public schools."

Source: OEA News Service, September 19, 2006

"I do think we spend too much on property taxes, but it is up to each community to decide whether they want to pass those levies or not. We are spending an extraordinary amount on education in Ohio and are a model for the rest of the country."  ....State Senator David Goodman, 3rd District, Columbus Dispatch, October 5, 2006

A University of Vermont report, published by the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University, says the No Child Left Behind Act’s annual yearly progress (AYP) method for measuring whether schools and districts are reaching annual achievement goals is “fundamentally flawed” and should be suspended until further evaluations of the method are conducted.

The report said, "AYP in its 2006 form as the prime indicator of academic achievement is not supported by reliable evidence. Expecting all children to reach mastery level on their state’s standardized tests by 2014, the fundamental requirement of AYP, is unrealistic." "In addition," the University of Vermont report said, "the program, whether conceived as implementation costs or remedial costs, is significantly underfunded in a way that will disproportionately penalize schools attended by the neediest children. Further, the curriculum is being narrowed to focus on tested areas at the cost of other vital educational purposes." 

The report recommends that AYP sanctions be suspended until the premises underlying them can be either confirmed or refuted by solid, scientific research and unintended, negative consequences can be avoided."

Read the report. Click: "The Accuracy and Effectiveness of Adequate Yearly Progress, NCLB’s School Evaluation System"

A news article provided by AASA Daily News said  federal funding for a grant program that helps U.S. schools pay for programs to prevent substance abuse and violence has declined significantly since 2001.  Funding was $439.2 million in 2001 but has fallen to $346.5 million this year, with $310 million recommended for 2007. According to the article, the Bush administration has recommended eliminating the program, though Congress has repeatedly voted to retain it.
 
AASA has created a school safety document for school administrators. This document outlines key elements of school safety, organized under three categories:
  • Awareness: Schools will remain aware of the threat of violence on campus and vigilant about protecting the safety of students.
  • Balance: Schools will take a balanced approach to school safety, recognizing that a combination of strategies, rather than one or two extreme solutions, can be most effective in keeping students safe.
  • Control: Schools will control access to the learning environment to protect all students.
To read the document, click: ABC's of School Safety
In reference to the recent school violence in rural communities in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported that Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm in Cleveland, said, "The public tends to view city schools as less secure and more dangerous, yet urban districts are consistently better prepared. Rural and private schools frequently have not gotten past the 'it can't happen here' mentality,"

To visit  the National School Safety and Security Services website, click:  www.schoolsecurity.org

"Make no mistake: The old Ohio economy, the one in which we baby boomers came of age and prospered, isn’t coming back. And the key to building the new Ohio economy isn’t tax cuts, it is education."  ......... Joe Hallett, Senior Editor, Columbus Dispatch

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says a poll, commissioned by the nonprofit KnowledgeWorks Foundation, "found that Ohioans overwhelmingly favor more school spending." Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said the state should increase spending for education, a higher portion than supported increased spending for such issues as jobs and economic development, courts and the prison system, or health care for the poor and elderly.
 
Other poll findings include:  
  • Fifty-nine (59) percent of Ohioans think funding for public schools should come primarily from the state, not local school districts.
  • More than 63 percent said state funding for public kindergarten-grade 12 schools is not adequate and nearly 80 percent said they would be less likely to vote for a state legislator who voted to reduce state spending for those schools.
  • Ohioans are not well informed about alternatives to public schools, such as charter schools. Almost 37 percent of those polled said they aren’t familiar with alternatives to public schools and a similar number reported they don’t know whether charter and community schools are working well. Even so, about half either strongly or somewhat favor having charter schools in Ohio.
  • A majority of Ohioans do not agree with taxpayer-funded vouchers for private or religious schools. Nearly 49 percent said state funding should only be used for students who attend public schools, with 42 percent supporting vouchers for private schools and the remainder saying they are undecided or their position depends on other factors.
  • Ohio adults question the use of standardized tests. Fifty-seven percent said the tests are not accurate indicators of a student’s progress and abilities, as opposed to 37 percent who said they are. Almost 55 percent said schools place too much emphasis on tests, while just 14 percent said schools should emphasize tests more.
  • Support is strong for schools that focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Almost 70 percent of those surveyed said creating such schools should be a high priority. In addition, 89 percent wanted students to be taught critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

    Complete survey findings, including a searchable database, are available at www.kwfdn.org.
The Toledo Blade said a 2002 report by the Ohio Board of Regents confirms that new PhDs have left Ohio in large numbers. The report shows the percentage of Ohio PhD graduates who left the state between 1992 and 2001 as follows:
 
Architecture.........................100%
Engineering..........................  75%
Electrical Engineering.......  69%
Mechanical Engineering.....  81%
Biology..................................  75%
Computer Science...............  69%
Mathematics.........................  61%
Physics...................................  79% 
 
A University of Toledo study detected another trend, which the Ohio Board of Regents confirms. Those with master's degrees, doctorates, and professional degrees are 50 percent more likely to leave Ohio than those with bachelor's degrees. In fact, Ohio keeps more of its bachelor degree graduates than the average state, the study found.
 
Read the Toledo Blade article. Click: State doesn't keep the right graduates
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) said, "New surveys from Public Agenda show major disconnects between the priorities of national policy-makers versus those of local school leaders on issues like teacher quality, standards and the need to ramp up science and math coursework. In "Reality Check 2006: Issue No. 4: The Insiders" (the fourth report issued this year in the Reality Check 2006 series), Public Agenda found that even when they see the same problems, the two groups seem to strive for different solutions.  While 60 percent of principals say they are "very satisfied" with the teachers in their school and most superintendents (56 percent) believe the quality of new teachers is improving, federal officials enforcing No Child Left Behind said in Summer 2006 that not a single state in the nation has yet met its benchmarks for ensuring more qualified teachers."
 
Read the report. Click:  http://www.publicagenda.org/
Nearly 50 superintendents and other educators attended the September 21, 2006 CORAS meeting/program at the Ohio University Inn, Athens. The program included a discussion of HB 115, Ohio Educational Regional Service System, by Craig Burford, Executive Director, Ohio Educational Service Center Association. The featured presentation by Dr. Thomas W. Farmer, Co-director, National Research Center on Rural Education Support (NRCRES), and Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University focused on his research dealing with problems facing rural schools.
 
Dr. Farmer and program participants discussed many common issues facing rural school districts. The discussion included the impact of poverty and geographical isolation on student achievement, lack of resources to be responsive to the instructional needs of a diverse range of learners and limited professional development opportunities for teachers.  Dr. Farmer also provided incite into the research conducted by the National Research Center on Rural Education Support.  The NRCRES website address is www.nrcres.org for those who would like more information about the research.
 
The next CORAS program is set for Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at the Olde Dutch Restaurant, Logan. Dr. James Mahoney, Executive Director of Battelle for Kids, and his staff will help participants gain a better understanding of how to use value-added analysis. Registration materials will mailed to CORAS members in early October.

 

The number of children age 6 to 21 with disabilities under Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was about 4.6 million in 1992 and grew steadily to about 6 million by 2004, representing a 31 percent increase over the 12-year period. This growth was due in large part to a rise in the number of children classified as having other health impairments or specific learning disabilities, which together accounted for about 60 percent of the increase (and separately accounted for about 30 percent each). The total number of children with other health impairments increased from 65,531 in 1992 to 508,085 in 2004 while the number of children with specific learning disabilities grew from 2.4 million in 1992 to 2.8 million in 2004. 
 
 
Source: edweek.org, Research Center

Ohio lost more young people during the last 10 years than any other state except Pennsylvania. In 1995, 2.4 million young people born from 1971 to 1985 lived in Ohio. By July of last year, 103,952 fewer of those people, by then between the ages of 20 and 34, lived in the state, a Dayton Daily News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data has found. Where those who left went cannot be determined from the data. However, the Daily News reported that demographic experts say young people, who are the most likely age group to move, go looking for better economic prospects and lifestyle amenities.

An Associated Press report said a "scorching" audit of Reading First, a U.S. Education Department billion-dollar a year program, was released Friday. The audit, by the department's inspector general, found that the reading program has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the U.S. Education Department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use. It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money. 

The New York Times said the investigation was opened last year after the inspector general received accusations of mismanagement and other abuses at the department from publishers of several reading programs. The abuses described in the report occurred during 2002 and 2003, according to the NY Times.

Read the audit report. Click below: 
OIG Audit Report: The Reading First Program's Grant Application Process (PDF)

 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. teacher salaries in constant 2003-04 dollars increased only 1 percent between 1990-91 and 2004-05.

A recent article in the Dayton Daily News said, "Separate economic reports released in August by Policy Matters Ohio and the Economic Policy Institute put into numbers what many working people have felt for some time: their wages aren't keeping pace with inflation at a time when corporate profits and pay for executives are soaring." Median wages failed to climb for 90 percent of workers in Ohio and America between 2000 and 2005, despite the fact that worker productivity more than doubled during that period, according to the two reports. Meanwhile, corporate after-tax profits, adjusted for inflation, increased 50 percent in that five-year period. The two reports warn of a growing inequality between Americans who earn hourly wages and those who are paid top salaries and/or reap stock dividends from corporate profits, the Daily News said.

In an analysis of Ohio income tax returns filed between 1988 and 2006, Policy Matters Ohio found that the increase in income of the top 1 percent of Ohio households exceeded the entire average annual income of nearly all earners in the bottom 95 percent.

Read "The State of Working Ohio 2006" from Policy Matters Ohio. Click below:

Press Release      Executive Summary     Full Report     Conclusion and Recommendations

Read "The State of Working America 2006/2007" from the Economic Policy Institute. Click below:

The State of Working America 2006/2007.

Just in time for the new school year, the great homework debate is boiling over again. Harris Cooper, a noted education researcher at Duke University, has co-authored a new study finding that elementary school students gain little from most homework assignments, and that excessive amounts of homework might even be bad for middle and high school students. In his new book, The Homework Myth, education gadfly Alfie Kohn is even more strident. He calls for the complete elimination of homework, which he blames for stress, family conflict, and slackened student motivation. Other education experts believe that the problem isn’t homework per se, but the types of assignments teachers give—or are forced to give—and a general lack of clarity about the purpose of homework.

Source: Reprinted from Teachers Magazine, Web Watch

Teacher training deficient, according to a four-year national study released yesterday. The report, Educating School Teachers, written by Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, said the vast majority of the nation's teachers are prepared in higher education programs with low admission and graduation standards, and the programs cling to an outdated vision of teacher education.
 
Read the report. Click:  "Educating School Teachers"

 

Private and religious schools in Ohio get tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer support each year. Ohio is among the most generous states toward private and religious schools, national experts say. The Cincinnati Enquirer said the funds for private and religious schools statewide totaled about $185 million last year, or about $899 per student. Add in about $60 million in transportation costs, since public schools bus private-school students, and Ohio spends about 3 percent of its $7.6 billion education budget on private and religious education.

The funding for private and religious schools has grown about 59 percent over 10 years, though overall enrollment has declined. In addition, Ohio's new EdChoice voucher program will send more than 3,600 public school students and up to $18 million in state funds to private and religious schools, according to the Enquirer.

Chart

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer

 

The following article was published in a recent issue of the New York Times.

 Teacher’s Year, a C.E.O.’s Day: The Pay’s Similar

Enough already on how many millions this or that chief executive earns, how many stock options are tossed around to keep the Champagne flowing, the McMansion dusted, the Bentley polished.

As a little back-to-school thought, let’s shift gears to a group of workers who earn pennies in comparison but who, it could be argued, play at least as vital a role in society. It is teachers, after all, who try to make sure that those captains of industry have educated workers.

According to the American Federation of Teachers the state with the highest average pay for teachers in 2003-04 was Connecticut, at $56,516; the lowest was South Dakota, at $33,236.

Or look at it this way: Pick a corporate chieftain — say, Jeffrey R. Immelt of General Electric. He earns $15.4 million a year. Every single day — including Thanksgiving and Christmas — he makes almost what the average teacher does for a year of taming wild children, staying up nights planning lessons, and, really, helping to shape a generation.

Charter schools are gaining a larger share of public school students, especially in Ohio cities, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Five cities in the state rank among the top 10 in charter school "market share" (the percentage of a city's public school students who attend charter schools).  Dayton ranks second in the nation in charter school market share, ranking only behind the New Orleans school system. Dayton has a (28 percent) market share, with 6,374 of the city's 22,739 public school students attending charter schools. Youngstown (20 percent); Toledo (18 percent); Cincinnati (17 percent); and Cleveland (16 percent), also made the list. Ohio has a total of 72,000 students in charter schools this year, ranking it sixth nationally.  California leads the nation with 212,000 charter pupils.

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

If enacted into law, a bill (America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids Act) introduced in Congress in mid-July, would authorize the U.S. Department of Education to award $100 million in fiscal year 2007 for competitive grants to states, school districts and nonprofit organizations to provide scholarships of up to $4,000 to children from low-income families in persistently low-performing schools to attend the private school of their choice. Grant recipients would also be authorized to provide up to $3,000 for tutoring services to economically disadvantaged students if they choose not to attend a different school. This would include tutoring through after-school or summer school programs designed to help improve students' academic achievement.
 
In addition, on September 8, 2006, the U.S. Secretary of Education announced the award of 33 grants totaling $17 million to boost participation of low-income students in advanced placement courses and tests. The grant is being provided to states, school districts, and national education nonprofits to help increase advanced placement access rates for economically disadvantaged students. Ohio did not receive any of the 33 grants.
 
Source: The Achiever, September 2006, Vol. 5, No. 7, U.S. Department of Education
 

A Dayton Daily News study found "the median income in a community powerfully predicts standardized test success for school districts." The Daily News compared the statistical relationship between 2004 median family income from tax returns with "performance index scores" (a state measure of test performance), across all tested grades, for 610 Ohio school districts. The result showed the correlation was more than twice what researchers expect for a strong connection. When the same calculation was run for other factors on Ohio's state report card, such as race, teacher pay, teacher training and school district spending and size, the connection was less than half as strong as for income, the report said.  An identical analysis for just the 82 Dayton-area districts gave the same result. The Dayton Daily News concluded, "Income was by far the strongest predictor of test success."

Read the article. Click: Data suggest income predicts school test score results

Poverty among children in rural Ohio increased 5.6% from 2000 to 2005. Ohio is one of five states to have at least a 5 percent increase in children living in poverty in rural areas, according a report by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. The other states are Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Maine. Ohio had 100,002 children age 18 or younger living in rural areas below the poverty line in 2005, the report said. The poverty line was $19,806 for a family of two adults and two children. 
Read the 2-page report. Click: Carsey finds rural child poverty has increased
A new report released last week by the Education Trust, a Washington D.C.-based education advocacy group, sharply criticizes trends in federal, state, and college practices that discourage low-income and minority students from enrolling and graduating from college. The report said despite the perception of progress, gaps in college-going and college completion for poor and minority students are actually wider than they were thirty years ago.
Click here to read news release: (Click here for the full report)   

Click here to read full report: (Click here to read the full report)

 
In related news, Ohio was among 43 states receiving a failing grade on a national report card for affordability in higher education. Ohio received an "F" grade  for not making college affordable for students and families. The report said higher education has become considerably more expensive in Ohio since the early 1990s. The biennial report, known as "Measuring Up 2006," was conducted by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Ohio also received an "F" in college affordability in 2004.

White Hat Management, a privately held company headquartered in Akron, received over 20% of the $486 million that went to Ohio's charter schools in 2005-06. White Hat enrolled about 14,700 students statewide, bringing with them $100 million in state tax dollars in the 2005-06 school year and over $366.5 million over the last five-years, according to an Akron Beacon Journal analysis of state reports.

The Gongwer News Service reported that a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that every dollar spent in early childhood education saves $1.62 from being spent on remedial education, counseling and other government-funded assistance while that child is in school.

The following editorial is from the Akron Beacon Journal.

A familiar Ohio story

Another bold plan for education lacks the necessary resources

Who can argue with a report that calls for Ohio to mobilize its energies, talents and resources to ensure high-quality learning experiences for very young children -- especially when the report asserts, accurately, that: "It's not for the timid because it requires bold action and a comprehensive approach to early learning"? And yet it is that same conclusion, that bold and comprehensive action is needed, that makes the report, "From the Beginning," ultimately disappointing.

Presented recently to the State Board of Education by the School Readiness Solutions Group, the report lays out the case why improving early learning opportunities for all children should be a high priority in the state. It shows the breadth of research findings that justify investment in early education from birth to kindergarten. Communities pay the progressively higher costs for inadequately preparing children through school intervention programs, in a variety of social services and the criminal justice system.

Nearly a third of the 130,000 children entering kindergarten in Ohio each year are not ready for school. The problem, the report notes, is that opportunities in and outside the home for experiences that prepare children for school are not equally available and the quality of services is uneven.

The challenge, then, is how to improve access to and the quality of preschool programs for families in inner-city and rural settings, where the need is likely to be highest. Among other recommendations, the report asks for a new teacher license, a requirement that all districts offer full-day kindergarten by 2015 as needed and a new state agency to coordinate early learning programs, services and funding.

Unfortunately, the report's promised boldness ends shy of the most basic question: How will all this be financed? The recommendation is for the state to create a financing model for early learning. When? By a Statehouse that hasn't restructured K-12 funding yet? The report offers a fine game plan, like the new Core curriculum for high schools, until it comes time to put up the money. And that's the disappointment.

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said last week the No Child Left Behind Act is close to perfect and needs little change as its first major update draws near. "I talk about No Child Left Behind like Ivory soap: It's 99.9 percent pure or something," Spellings told reporters. "There's not much needed in the way of change.

The Houston Chronicle said it is not surprising that Spellings strongly supports the law. She helped craft the law and now enforces it as the top education official.  "Yet," the Chronicle added, "Her view that the law needs little change is notable because it differs so sharply from others with a stake, including many teachers, school administrators and lawmakers. In addition, the House education committee is holding hearings on how to improve the law. So is a prominent bipartisan commission, which is touring the nation to gather opinions. More than 80 organizations have signed a statement urging fundamental changes."

A survey, conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, found that 56 percent of adults believe that parents are putting too little pressure on their children to work harder; 15 percent feel they are placing too much pressure; and 24 percent think they are exerting the right amount.

Read the survey report. Click: Parental Pressure on Students: Not Enough in America; Too Much in Asia 

More than six out of 10 parents (62%) say a college education is "absolutely necessary" for their child's success, and four in five high school students expect to complete a college degree, according to the public policy research organization Public Agenda. However, a policy brief from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) said fewer than one third of the students who enroll in college will actually emerge with a baccalaureate six years after high school graduation.

ECS examined state and federal research studies and found that while students and parents believe a college degree is necessary for success, many were not well informed about what it takes to prepare for college. The policy brief also found that students whose parents did not go to college needed the most support in trying to attain a degree.

Read the ECS policy brief. Click:  "Involving Families in High School and College Expectations"
*  Ohio has some of the highest rates of poverty and some of the lowest household incomes, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Census. Ohio’s poverty rate of 12.3 percent, or about 1.4 million people, was up from 11.6 percent in 2004. The average poverty threshold for a family of four last year was $19,971, according to the federal Office of Management and Budget. Ohio also saw a rise in people without health insurance, about 1.4 million last year, up about 100,000 from 2004. ....Columbus Dispatch
 
*  Ohio students did better on the SAT than the national average.
 
2005                   Ohio          U.S.
math                    543            520
reading               539            508
 
2006
math                    544            508
reading               535            503
writing                 521            497
 
Source: College Board
 
*  Ten charges of violating state ethics laws were filed yesterday against four former board members of the State Teachers Retirement System. 

Read the article. Click: Ex-STRS board members face ethics charges   ...Canton Repository 

A State Board of Education panel, School Readiness Solutions Group, has recommended that Ohio combine early childhood learning under a single state agency that would include behavioral and physical health resources, services for the disabled, educational offerings and programs for needy families and provide tens of thousands of additional day care openings in the state. The recommendations also calls for implementing a statewide licensing system for all out-of-home child care and preschool settings, developing a new teaching license for those specializing in instruction for children from birth to third grade, offer all-day kindergarten statewide by 2015 and limit kindergarten class size to 20 children, with at least one teacher and one assistant.

A coalition of parents, childcare providers, teachers, business owners and health specialists, called "Groundwork,"  is supporting the recommendations. They cite research that shows early learning can help combat problems that become expensive to governments: poverty, crime, ill health and joblessness.

The annual study conducted by the Coalition for Public Education, a statewide bipartisan alliance of education, parent and civic organizations, suggests that charter schools in Ohio are failing to serve disadvantaged and minority students as well as traditional public schools do. The study showed that economically disadvantaged children met the state standard for proficiency in mathematics in 68 percent of traditional public schools, compared with 24 percent of charter schools. African-American students met the same standard in 40 percent of traditional public schools, but in just 20 percent of charter schools. In reading, in 49 percent of traditional public schools economically disadvantaged students met the state standard for reading proficiency, compared to only 15 percent of charter schools. African-American students met the state standard for reading proficiency in 27.8 percent of traditional public schools, compared to only 11.5 percent of charter schools.  

Richard Gunther, a professor of political science at Ohio State University and the 2006 recipient of the university’s Distinguished Scholar Award, wrote in an Ed-Op column in today's Columbus Dispatch, "Data released by the Ohio Department of Education demonstrated that most public schools are performing very well. Seventy percent of public schools statewide were categorized as excellent or effective, up from the 58 percent in those two top categories last year. These same data make clear that most charter schools have failed to achieve the quality promised by proponents. Only 17 percent were rated excellent or effective." Gunther went on to say, "The most shocking finding is that 49 percent of charter schools statewide were given failing grades: 18 percent were placed on academic watch, while 31 percent were declared to be under academic emergency. This compares with just 6 percent in each category for public schools."

Gunther concludes by asking the following questions. Why did charter schools receive $487 million in taxpayer dollars last year, but with no ODE oversight? Why should charter-school students be exempt from the testing requirements established by the No Child Left Behind law? Why should business executives, some of whom have made millions dollars in campaign contributions to politicians, be allowed to make enormous profits from managing charter schools at the taxpayers’ expense? And when will our elected officials demand that private institutions deliver a high-quality education in exchange for receiving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year?  

For more information about the Coalition for Public Education's report, click:  annual review of charter school performance


In Fall 2005, 72.1 million persons were enrolled in American schools and colleges. Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools rose 22 percent between 1985 and 2005. The fastest public school growth occurred in the elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 8), where enrollment rose 24 percent over this period, from 27.0 million to 33.5 million. Public secondary school enrollment declined 8 percent from 1985 to 1990, but then rose 31 percent from 1990 to 2005, for a net increase of 20 percent.  The number of public school teachers has risen faster than the number of students over the past 10 years, resulting in declines in the pupil/teacher ratio.
 
Between 1994 and 2004, the number of full-time college students increased by 30 percent compared to an 8 percent increase in part-time students. 
 
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools found that more American adults reported being knowledgeable about No Child Left Behind than in previous surveys, but many have an unfavorable view of the law. Forty-five percent of those polled said they knew either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about the federal law, up from 40 percent last year and 31 percent two years ago. However, of this group, 31 percent said the law was hurting the performance of public schools in their communities, and 37 percent said it had made no difference. Twenty-nine percent said it was helping their local public schools.

When asked how educators should attempt to improve education, 71 percent of respondents preferred improvements in the existing public school system, rather than establishing an alternative system. Just 19 percent of the poll’s respondents blame the quality of schooling for the achievement gap between white students and their minority counterparts, while the overwhelming majority, 77 percent, attribute the inequality to “other factors.” In addition, the poll asked people whether they favored or opposed allowing parents to choose to have their children attend private schools at public expense. Of those surveyed, 36 percent favored the idea while 60 percent opposed it.

Sources: Education Week  & 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll

Read the 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll report. Click :    PDF Version    HTML Web Version  

*  "The average family will spend nearly $530 for back-to-school items, according to the National Retail Federation, making back-to-school the second-biggest shopping season. Christmas leads the list of shopping seasons."  ...Cincinnati Enquirer/USA Today
 
*  "Fourth graders in traditional public schools did significantly better in reading and math than comparable children attending charter schools, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Education Department."  ...New York Times

*  "The state's unemployment rate surged from 5.1% to 5.8% from June to July, putting Ohio's rate a full percentage point higher than the national average, state officials announced Tuesday." ...Gongwer News Service

*   "An annual College Board report on pricing trends in higher education estimated that students will pay nearly $400 more for this year's room and board than they did last year. It also stated that on-campus housing expenses now average $6,636 and $7,791 at four-year public and private universities, respectively."  ...yahoo.com

Miami (Ohio) University has announced plans to offer free tuition starting next year for low-income students from Ohio. Students who come from a family with less than a $35,000 income will be eligible for the free tuition beginning with the 2007-08 school year, according to an Associated Press report. The program will be limited to Ohio residents pursuing their first bachelor’s degree and who are enrolled full time and eligible for federal student financial aid. The free tuition and fees will be for four years. Housing fees will not be covered and current and transfer students are not eligible for the free tuition program. Miami University estimates the program will help about 150 new students the first year.
 
Two years ago Harvard University started waiving tuition for families with incomes less than $40,000. Arizona State University offers a free education to students from households in which the family income is $18,850 or less, according to the Associated Press.

"Education interests intensify work toward statewide ballot issue to address state funding formula," Gongwer News Service said yesterday. "Seeing no sign of relief from what they view as glaring problems with the state's school finance system, various education stakeholder groups say they are achieving unprecedented unity in laying the groundwork for a 2007 ballot issue."

The 2005-06 Local District Report Card results for the 126 Ohio Appalachian school districts show 12 rated Excellent ; 78 rated Effective; and 36 with a Continuous Improvement rating. No school district in the 29 Ohio Appalachian counties received an Academic Watch or Academic Emergency rating.
 
Ohio Appalachian school districts receiving an Excellent rating were: Bethel-Tate Local and Milford E.V. in Clermont county; Dover City, Garaway Local, Indian Valley Local, New Philadelphia City, and Strasburg-Franklin Local in Tuscarawas county; River View Local and Ridgewood Local in Coshocton county; Columbiana E.V. in Columbiana county; East Holmes Local in Holmes county; and West Muskingum Local in Muskingum county.
It was announced yesterday that Ohio's plan for getting a qualified teacher into every classroom was one of only nine nationally that met all the U.S. Department of Education's criteria to get 100 percent of teachers to be "highly qualified" by next school year. In addition, the Education Trust, a Washington D.C. research group, identified the two states, Ohio and Nevada,  as having the best strategic plans to distribute qualified teachers to every classroom. The report, released last week, lauded Ohio for having no fewer than 68 specific strategies aimed at correcting inequitable distributions of good teachers.
 
Data collected from the 2005-06 report cards show 94.4 percent of core courses in Ohio were taught by teachers who fit the "highly qualified" requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act. To be defined as a "highly qualified" teacher, a teacher must obtain a bachelor's degree, receive full state certification, and pass competency tests in every subject taught.
The high school class of 2006 posted the biggest score increase on the ACT college entrance exam in 20 years, and recorded the highest scores of any class since 1991. Average composite scores on the exam rose to 21.1 from 20.9 last year. Officials said an increase of 0.2 points is significant when considered across a record 1.2 million test-takers nationwide, or 40 percent of graduating seniors.

The average composite score in Ohio rose by 0.1 point from last year. Ohio's score of 21.5 was slightly higher than the national average. Ohio students also scored higher than the national average in each of the four exam sections: math, English, reading and science. The national average score in math and in science was 20.8 and 20.9, respectively, while the Ohio's average scores in math and science were 21.3 and 21.5, respectively.

SAT results for the class of 2006 will be released later this month

Early newspaper reports said that of the 610 school districts, which does not include charter schools, 192 are rated excellent; 299 are effective; 112 are continuous improvement, and seven are on academic watch.  There are no school districts rated academic emergency. Two-hundred school districts moved up at least one designation this year. 
 
There are 1,290 individual schools ranked as excellent; 1,217 as effective; 643 as continuous improvement; 218 are academic watch, and 208 as academic emergency.    
 
Results from 295 community or charter schools showed 30 rated Excellent, 16 Effective, 87 Continuous Improvement, 46 Academic Watch, 81 Academic Emergency and 35 not rated. 
 
School district and individual schools report card results will be posted on the Ohio Department of Education website at 10:00 a.m. today.
According to Edweek.org, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Education, says his office should not have initiated a recent, heavily publicized study comparing the academic performance of public and private school students. The commissioner said the report (1) relied on a subjective analysis that could lead outsiders to question the research center’s impartiality and (2) it was not proper for the research office to have directed a study that went so far in making judgments about how to interpret raw school data. He also said he had the same concerns about the NCES directing a similar study of charter school performance, expected to be released later this month. The commissioner added that he was not faulting the study’s accuracy or methodology.

The study on public and private schools came out the week before U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Republican lawmakers unveiled a new, $100 million proposal to make vouchers for private school tuition available under the No Child Left Behind Act. The Edweek.org article said critics have cited the NCES report showing public school students outperforming their private school peers, in questioning the wisdom of that voucher proposal.

Source: Edweek.org, August 10-11, 2006

Ohio will issue annual report cards for schools and school districts on Tuesday. Twenty-three indicators were on the Ohio report cards for the 2004-05 school year. The total was increased to 25 this year and will increase to 30 for the 2006-07. The ratings are determined by using a composite of test scores called a performance index score; how many indicators a district meets, and whether the district reaches the federal adequate yearly progress (AYP) standard. According to an Ohio Department of Education official, this year's report cards will allow for comparison to last year.
 
A recent newspaper article said the report cards will show one Ohio public school district meeting zero out of 25 standards. However, the newspaper said the district has made progress in raising some test scores, even though fewer than 75 percent of students are passing. That progress will enable the district to move up from "academic emergency" to "academic watch" ranking, the article said. There may also be a number of school districts showing improvement on test scores, but meeting very few standards, reaching a ranking as high as "continuous improvement." Measuring the academic progress that students make from year to year, even if the students have not yet made it to the proficient level, provides an avenue for school districts to highlight improvement.

In Ohio, there were 31 issues on the August 8th ballot. Twenty-seven school districts had one issue on the ballot and two districts had two issues. Of those 31 issues, 22 were rejected and nine passed, representing a 29.03 percent passage rate. Two issues were on the ballot in the 29 Appalachian counties. Both failed.

"Growth models," allowing schools to meet No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards by measuring the academic progress that students make from year to year even if the students have not yet made it to the proficient level, has spread rapidly across the county. According to