With five working weeks left in the life of the 129^th Ohio General Assembly, lame duck session began this week with hearings in the House Education Committee on House Bill 555.

HB555 seeks to replace the current system of evaluating school districts, individual buildings, charter schools and other public schools with a “performance profile” system in which schools are assigned a letter grade on an A-F scale for overall academic performance as well as several performance indicators.

The idea is that this new grading scale will be easier for the public to understand and give a better, more accurate snap-shot of the overall performance of our public schools than the current system, which rates schools as either Excellent, Effective, in a state of Continuous Improvement, on Academic Watch, or Academic Emergency.

The new rating system will be phased-in over a four-year period, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year and being fully implemented by the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

Some have deemed the current system of evaluating school performance as complicated, ineffectual, and as failing to provide a meaningful evaluation of schools and districts. The proposal found in HB555 replaces this system with a “dashboard” model that provides a fairer and more accurate representation of academic performance with a new emphasis on preparation for student success.

The new system will incorporate the following components in determining a school’s overall performance:

Achievement Gap – a measure of student achievement when assessments are administered to students, which incorporates the performance index and performance indicator status of school performance

Gap Closing – the measure of progress toward reducing the achievement gaps by 50 percent during the next six years. This is required by the federal “No Child Left Behind” program.

Student Progress- a value-added component that measures the academic progress of student sub-groups, including gifted students, students with disabilities, and students whose achievements fall in the bottom 20 percent statewide

K-3 Literacy Progress- a measure to track the progress of schools and districts in reducing the number of students who are reading below grade level. This is tied directly to the recently-passed 3rd Grade Reading Initiative.

Prepared for Success – measure of the performance of high school graduates to determine if they are prepared for life after high school. Factors considered will include whether students require additional workforce development education after gradation or require college remediation coursework.

If you wish to learn more about the proposed performance evaluation system or other changes that are proposed in House Bill 555, you can read the analysis of the bill here. The legislature is off next week for Thanksgiving recess but will return for session beginning November 27. Be sure to check back or follow us on twitter for more legislative updates.

In an increasing effort to produce the brightest and the best students, educators and administrators can take a lesson from our friends in Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, and Long Beach, California.  While this goal is a common one, these education systems have got it right in maintaining the focus on the most important part of the equation:  the child.

At the Battelle for Kids Global Education Summit that we first told you about last week, we heard presentations from high-performing school systems.  Each school system’s presentation focused on several important aspects of a child’s education, some of which we shared in yesterday’s post, but at the core was making sure that each child gets off to a good start.  While a prevailing attitude in the U.S. is to address developmental concerns as they appear, these countries invest in a child’s early learning.

“Early and often” was the common thread that was woven into each of these high-performing school systems.  Each system focused on providing high quality pre-school education and intervention because they realize that investing in early learning “contributes to the development of highly skilled, knowledgeable and caring citizens who add to a strong economy and save money in the long run in comparison to those who try to catch up in the primary grades and beyond.”  Instead of trying to repair learning difficulties, these countries focus their attention on intervention.

These highly successful education systems also believe that each child has the ability to learn.  In comparison, some children in the U.S. may be cast aside at times when it is felt that learning is not possible.  Currently, 30-60 percent of U.S. children are not ready when they enter kindergarten.  Half of these children drop out of high school because the achievement gap is so great.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, Ohio has seen the largest drop in the nation in public preschool enrollment during the past decade.  The information presented at the summit would suggest that a focus on children well before kindergarten should be integrated in the K-12 education system in the U.S.

As we mentioned in a recent blog post, Battelle for Kids recently hosted their Global Education Conference in Columbus, which featured the release of their study on the “Six Drivers of Student Success” while also highlighting five of the world’s highest-performing school systems. The summit fostered discussion and examined new ways to innovate education not only in Ohio, but across the U.S.

The program featured presentations from administrative and school leaders from Ontario, Canada; Singapore; Finland; Hong Kong; and Long Beach, California and highlighted these six areas:

• Early Learning
• Personalized Pathways for Student Success
• Teacher Selectivity, Quality and Growth
• Focus on Learning
• Education Linked to Economic Development
• Cultural Expectation of Value

The featured school systems have distinguished themselves in all of these areas, but below we focus on just one of the areas from each of the five school systems that can help serve as a road-map for Ohio to follow for student success.

Early Learning – Singapore

It is well documented that socioeconomic status has a major influence on achievement for students. While most preschools in Singapore, like the U.S., are privately funded, the government does provide funding to schools with low-income students. Singapore identifies families in need and provides a range of support during early learning years with intensive, daily systematic interventions beginning in first grade. Singapore’s system also features a flexible system that values and channels funds and resources to low-achieving students.

Personalized Pathways for Student Success – Ontario & Hong Kong

Ontario strives to provide more engaging and relevant secondary paths to ensure that 85 percent of students graduate within five years of starting secondary studies, beginning with personalized pathways to support transitions from grades seven to eight and grades eight to nine.

This system also encourage adults, ages 20-40, to continue their education, which is viewed as essential for the country’s economy and the social well-being of the individuals and their communities.  These programs are often in the form of public/private partnerships to provide greater access and better coordination from job training, higher education, citizenship and immigration.

Financial resources are generally allocated based on the needs of the student. As a result, those students with the greatest need get the help from the best possible teachers. These students can also benefit from more time to help with their studies – after school, weekends and in the summer – which is viewed as essential to reduce student performance gaps.

Hong Kong’s student-based, personalized learning system keeps track of every student with embedded assessment for learning a daily routine while emphasizing personal growth and character development. All teachers teach the core curriculum, but have the leeway to craft the best lessons supporting the core curriculum to meet the needs of each child.

Teacher Selectivity, Quality & Growth – Finland

The old adage goes, those who can, do; those who can’t teach. Each of the countries featured during this program demonstrate that nothing could be further from the truth.

High-performing school systems have a very clear focus on identifying the best and brightest teachers for their classrooms. Finland is highly selective, and draws from the top 10 percent of college graduates for teaching positions. The Fins compensate teachers at a rate that is comparable to other high-profile professions and comes with high prestige given the highly selective pool of applicants they draw from.

Focus on Learning – Long Beach

Studies show that good test results are the result of helping students own and master their own learning skills. This is why Long Beach works with students to help set their own learning goals and performance targets. Each student receives a combination of large group, small group and individualized instruction, as well as interventions when necessary. Students then have the opportunity to discover what method of learning best fits their unique individual needs and focus their efforts on that area. This process allows them to develop the necessary skills to become high-performing students.