Tag Archives: data

District superintendents see importance in putting students’ needs first

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Steve Dackin, Superintendent of Reynoldsburg City Schools, spoke out as a supporter of school choice at a panel discussion put on by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on Friday.

Dackin shared some thoughts on school choice, saying that choice plays an important role in student success and parent satisfaction. He believes that schools need to start tapping into students’ passions and interests rather than focusing on a “one size fits all” education. One idea in particular that he said he aspires to is a version of an individualized education program (IEP) for every student in his district.

Reynoldsburg City Schools practices open choice, which allows students to attend the school of their choice within the district. The district offers many different options, including charter and STEM, giving families an array of choices when trying to find a great fit for their student. Dackin also addressed a critical element of choice: offering transportation to make it practical for a child to actually get to the school their family chooses.

Come to find out, a survey of 344 Ohio public school district superintendents conducted by the Farkas Duffett Research Group and Fordham found that Dackin is not the only district superintendent that is a school choice supporter. The survey found that there are other district superintendents from across the state who also support school choice.

Survey Says:
70% of district superintendents report that their districts have a total open enrollment policy

  • What it means
    District superintendents believe it is important for families to be able to choose the best learning environment for their students.

Survey Says:
59% of district superintendents believe that blended learning will bring fundamental changes for education

  • What it means
    One size does not fit all, and blended learning offers students the chance to mix technology and teacher-based instruction to create an education that fits their needs. District superintendents realize that individualized education is important for students to succeed and are working to bring it to their districts.

Survey Says:
2% of district superintendents support school choice in the form of vouchers and charter schools

  • What it means
    This handful of district superintendents support the right of parents to make the choice when it comes to the best education for their child. We couldn’t agree more! We applaud these pro-choice leaders who are putting students’ needs first.

The presentation and discussion ended with a conclusion from Dr. Richard Ross, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Ross stressed that Ohio needs to focus less on education as an institution and more on educating students based on their individual needs. According to Ross, education needs to be a portfolio of options for students, because they need choice and more options inside their schools.

It is great to see district superintendents from across the state voicing their support for school choice. We applaud these leaders that see the importance of putting students’ educational needs first.

Milwaukee Study Finds Choice Students More Likely to Graduate, Attend College

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A study released Monday by the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas finds that students enrolled in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in a four-year college than their peers in public school. The likelihood that choice students will graduate high school and enroll and persist in a four-year college is increased by 4 to 7 percentage points.

The study also found during a four year comparison of MPCP and MPS students that students in the choice program had higher achievement growth in reading and choice students who were upper-classmen had higher performance in science.

Patrick J. Wolf, who was the study’s principal investigator, said in his summary that “participation in the MPCP or enrollment in an independent public charter school has produced better student outcomes than those experienced by similar students in MPS.”

Another interesting finding – according to the study, in the last fiscal year the state saved $52 million because of the program. So, not only does the program represent a cost savings to the state, but it is also more effective!

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is the nation’s oldest private school choice program in operation. The program was expanded during last year’s legislative session. More information about the program is available on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s website.  

A complete summary of the report’s findings is available here.

New report shows state school rating system deceptive

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Our friends at the Ohio Association for Gifted Children released a new report today called “Grading on a Curve: The Illusion of Excellence in Ohio’s Schools,” which finds that Ohio’s school rating system can be very deceptive. Today in Ohio, 352 school districts (almost 60 percent of all districts) are rated excellent or excellent with distinction. That sounds very promising on the surface, but this report takes a deeper look at the performance of each of these schools to show how they really stack up.

Below are some of the findings highlighted in the report:

  • 67 districts rated excellent or excellent with distinction had zero students take AP exams
  • 109 districts rated excellent or excellent with distinction had average ACT scores below the state average
  • 160 districts rated excellent or excellent with distinction had fewer than 20% of their graduating class receive diplomas with honors
  • 136 districts rated excellent or excellent with distinction had college remediation rates above the state average
  • 220 districts rated excellent or excellent with distinction serve fewer than 20% of their identified gifted students with 85 of the highly rated districts reporting no gifted services at all

Based on their findings, the Ohio Association for Gifted Children makes several recommendations, including eliminating the labeling of districts until a meaningful system can be developed. School Choice Ohio shared a similar recommendation in October, which called for Ohio to create crystal clear, meaningful state ratings for schools.

The statistics shared in the OAGC’s report show that even in the state’s highest performing public schools, there are still some students whose educational needs are not being met. For those students, it is crucial that they have options so that they can reach their full academic potential. House Bill 136 would create an income-based scholarship program that would give the state’s low-and middle income families the opportunity to find the educational environment that best meets their child’s unique learning needs.

New research compares Ohio with national leader in low-income, minority achievement growth

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This morning, School Choice Ohio hosted an event with one of our national partners, The Friedman Foundation, which highlighted a new report by Dr. Matthew Ladner on education reform. The report outlines ways that reforms in Florida have skyrocketed the achievement of low-income and minority students, and suggests ways for Ohio to follow in its footsteps.

School Choice Ohio developed the following recommendations for Ohio based on Florida’s education reforms and successes as documented in Dr. Ladner’s report:

  • Eliminate social promotion of 3rd graders who aren’t proficient in reading

Although 20% of Ohio 3rd graders score below proficient levels, 99.4% are promoted to 4th grade where curriculum in all subjects is harder and harder to keep up with for a student who struggles with reading. Florida eliminated social promotion for 3rd graders who weren’t proficient in reading and the results have been phenomenal.

  • Create crystal clear state ratings for schools

Crystal clear ratings (A, B, C, D, F) led to improvements among schools, while Ohio ratings (Excellent, Effective, Continuous Improvement, Academic Watch, Academic Emergency) are fuzzy and even misleading. Increases in highly-rated schools should reflect substantial increases in student achievement.

  • Provide state scholarships for low-income students

While students in Ohio’s lowest-rated of schools can use a state scholarship (roughly 8% of the state’s students), low-income students outside those school boundary zones cannot. Income-based scholarships in Florida that are available to roughly 50% of all Florida students are popular and effective. Two proposals are pending in the Ohio legislature to create income-based scholarships.

  • Advertise Ohio’s new pathways to the teaching profession

Fully half of Florida’s teachers now come to the profession through routes other than colleges of education. Ohio recently developed new straightforward routes to alternative teacher certification. The Ohio Department of Education should make sure that the options are widely known.

A link to the report and an overview of our recommendations can be found at www.scohio.org/research. As Ohio continues to look for ways to improve, these proven reforms from Florida just make sense.

Study says parents love school choice

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In April of this year, the U.S. Department of Education published a report on School Choice. This report, entitled Trends in the Use of School Choice: 2003-2007, used information taken from surveys of parents all over the nation.

The data show that school choice is prominent and growing among students nationwide:

  • 70% attend their assigned public school,
  • 15% have chosen a different public school,
  • 12% attend a private school, and
  • 3% are homeschooled.

The national data roughly corresponds to the landscape here in Ohio where:

  • 85% attend an assigned or magnet/lottery public school,
  • 9% attend private school,
  • 4% attend a charter school, and
  • 1% are homeschooled.

Researchers found that parents generally love school choice. After reviewing the data from 2003 to 2007, the trend was obvious: “Students enrolled in chosen public schools and private schools had parents who were more satisfied with their children’s schools than did students enrolled in assigned public schools.”

This makes sense. Every parent wants the best for their child. They are happier when they can choose the school which is truly the best fit, whether that is their assigned public school or elsewhere.

Unfortunately, many parents are not even aware of their options. The report indicates that only 50% of parents in 2007 knew that “public school choice was available.” Only 32% “considered other schools” for their child.

Lots of Ohio families have already made found the best fit for their child, but we are working toward the day when 100% of parents are satisfied with their child’s education. Sadly, though, if knowledge is power, there are still a lot of parents – at least 50% – who are not empowered. Check out the ways you can make a difference for them.

- Sarita Zaffini

Proving Murray Wrong in Ohio

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We’re just a day away from the release of a new report, “Needles in a Haystack,” due out tomorrow from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The report will highlight the achievements of eight schools in Ohio that work with high-needs students’ and are achieving great results.

Not long after reading about the inspiring “Needles in a Haystack” project, I came across Charles Murray’s article, “Why Charter Schools Fail the Test”, published in the New York Times on May 4.

I agreed with one of Murray’s underlying messages: school choice should not be reserved for affluent parents, but should be available to all families in order to ensure each child receives the education he or she deserves. However, I found one statement in the article unsettling:

“Cognitive ability, personality and motivation come mostly from home. What happens in the classroom can have some effect, but smart and motivated children will tend to learn to read and do math even with poor instruction, while not-so-smart or unmotivated children will often have trouble with those subjects despite excellent instruction.”

The very idea Murray proposes – that economically-disadvantaged children will have trouble despite excellent instruction – quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that can itself contribute to underachievement.  Murray’s view has been discredited by schools all over the country – schools like the ones featured in “Needles in a Haystack.”  Across Ohio, schools in high-needs areas are proving that the same children who were labeled “not-so-smart or unmotivated” in the past can earn test scores that match or surpass the state’s highest performers.

The “Needles in a Haystack” report is just a glimpse of the academic success that can be achieved in high-needs areas when the correct steps are taken.  These schools are proof that no matter their background students can and will succeed when given the chance, regardless of what expectations Charles Murray has for them. 

These 2009 statistics, taken from Fordham’s “Needles in a Haystack” videos, speak for themselves:

Cleveland:

Citizens’ Academy (80% economically-disadvantaged students)

      Cleveland School District Students who passed the state reading test = 49%

      Citizens’ Academy students who passed the state reading test = 91%

Cincinnati:

College Hill Fundamental Academy (78% economically-disadvantaged students)

      Cincinnati district students who passed the state math test = 53%

      College Hill students who passed the state math test = 76%

Canton:

McGregor Elementary (90% economically disadvantaged students)

     Canton school district students who passed the state reading test = 59%  

     McGregor students who passed the state reading test = 76%

Columbus:

Valleyview Elementary (86% economically disadvantaged students)

     Columbus district students who passed the state math test = 58%

     Valleyview students who passed the state math test = 72%

Be on the lookout for the Fordham study, available here tomorrow. We’re grateful for these schools that continue to prove the experts wrong.

- Marisa Simon

A New Resource in Ohio

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With websites being created, redesigned, and expanded all the time, it can be hard to keep track of all the changes. At lunch today, I was fortunate enough to attend the unveiling of a redesigned website that has the potential to be a powerful tool for policymakers and the general public in Ohio.

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions has placed an incredible amount of information at the fingertips of anyone who cares to seek it out. The data available includes information on government operations, public employee salaries, lobbyists, and education. The education related data, of special interest to me, includes information on school performance and teacher salaries.

Information prepared by the Buckeye Institute indicated that there are over 25 million pieces of data included on the website. I’m not going to count the pieces of data, but I am going to access it when I need facts and data related to governmental operations. I encourage you to do the same. The website can be found at www.buckeyeinstitute.org.

- Chad Aldis

Charter Schools: By the Numbers

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The latest annual report on charter schools is out. Published by the Ohio Department of Education, it gives a rundown on the year’s charter school trends and legislation.

 

Some interesting numbers:

  • During the 2008-2009 school year, the number of students enrolled in charters grew 8% from more than 82,000 to 89,000.
  • 91% of Ohio’s 323 charters have physical school buildings; 9% are virtual.
  • About 50 of Ohio’s charters are run by traditional public school districts to have extra flexibility. As of this year, vocational schools are now also allowed to start charter schools.
  • 180 charter schools are sponsored by groups that are not required to be approved by ODE because they were operating prior to April 2003.
  • 10 of the state’s 134 “School of Promise” (schools that do notably well with low-income students) are charter schools. Of these 10 charter schools, 7 are located the Cleveland area.

The report also gives a 13-page legislative history of charter schools.

 

- Sarah Pechan

 

 

High school dropouts in Cleveland and Columbus losing out on millions

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While the correlation between standardized test scores and life outcomes down the road are (rightly) debated, high school graduation is one education outcome that everyone can agree matters.

 

The Alliance for Excellent Education (www.All4ed.org) released a study today showing how much more students in our nation’s largest metro areas would earn if the dropout rates in these cities were slashed in half.

 

The income boost for the hypothetical graduates in the Cleveland metro? They’re estimated at a collective $52 million per year for 4,048 happy graduates.And $39 million per year in the Columbus area for nearly 3,000 new grads. All this without even accounting for the broader impacts of higher tax bases, better trained entrepreneurs and employees, and neighborhood stability.

 

Together with the 48 other largest metro areas, the study predicts more than $4B in income gains per year for 299,878 students if the dropout rate dropped by half in these urban zones. While $4B wouldn’t be enough to recoup Freddie Mac’s 3rd quarter losses, the impact on individual families and urban revitalization would be huge.

 

Now we know what we’re missing out on in Columbus and Cleveland. The question, of course, is this: What are we going to do about it?

 

- Sarah Pechan

Number Crunching and School Options

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Wondering how many students are opting out of Ohio’s public school system these days?

 

Data released this week at the monthly State Board of Education meeting shows that 10% of Ohio’s more than 2 million students attend private school or are homeschooled.

 

And of the 195,000+ students who go to private school, roughly 10% of them use state vouchers to pay tuition costs.

 

At least 1-2% of students are being taught at home, either with privately-purchased curriculum or state curriculum delivered through e-schools. E-school families receive free instruction and curriculum, while families who use a private or faith-based curriculum do not receive any funding help from the state (and many prefer it that way).

 

Families who opt out have decided, for whatever reason and often at significant personal expense, that their neighborhood public school is not the best option for their individual children.

 

Even as we applaud growth in the quality and range of public school options for families, it’s important to remember that these nonpublic options are an important part of the education landscape in Ohio.

 

- Sarah Pechan