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Common ground
Many school leaders and teachers in Ohio are facing the full implementation across all grade levels for the Common Core Curriculum in Ohio - English Language Arts and Literacy next year and in Mathematics the following year. So, how have schools prepared and what are they doing to make the transition work?
As an authorizer of charter schools in diverse communities across Ohio, we want to hear from our school leaders – to inform and educate us on what is happening in their schools and in their classrooms in regard to the Common Core and PARCC assessments. Over the next several weeks, we will be reporting back on the following questions:
1. What's your biggest worry?
2. What do you need to put in place before this all starts?
3. Do you have all the technology needed for testing?
4. What skills do your teachers have that will make this easier?
5. What could ODE do to make sure things go as smoothly as possible?
6. What do you want your parents to know about CC?
We will be posing these questions to the following leaders in Fordham’s portfolio of sponsored schools:
1. Foresta Shope, principal of Sciotoville Elementary Academy
2. Dustin Wood, principal of KIPP:Journey Academy
3. Dr. TJ Wallace, Executive Director of Dayton Leadership Academies
4. Dr. Glenda Brown, superintendent of the Phoenix Community Learning Center
5. Chad Webb, head of school Village Preparatory Academy
6. John Dues, School Director of Columbus Collegiate Academy Main Street Campus
What do we think we might
Common ground
A piece of the puzzle: Teach For America, Dayton and its schools
Enticing our top college graduates to teach in America’s classrooms is a serious challenge, bordering on an epidemic in some of our poorer communities and neighborhoods. According to the 2010 McKinsey report “Attracting and Retaining Top Talent in US Teaching,” just under one in four of our entering teachers come from the top third of their college class. For high-poverty schools even fewer entering teachers (a mere 14 percent) are top third talent.
In the Buckeye State, the Ohio Board of Regents’ data corroborate McKinsey’s finding that neither the best nor brightest are entering Ohio’s classrooms as teachers. According to the Regents, the average composite ACT of an incoming teacher-prep candidate was 22.75, below the average ACT score of the overall incoming freshman class for relatively selective universities. The middle 50 percent of incoming freshman to the Ohio State University, for example, had composite ACT scores between 26 and 30.
What deters the best and brightest from entering (and staying) in our classrooms is, of course, a complicated issue with many hypotheses: low pay, stressful working conditions, rigid certification requirements, lack of prestige, and archaic remuneration systems that fail to reward high-performing teachers and backloads benefits are all plausible explanations.
Since 1989 Teach For America (TFA) has worked to improve this bleak human capital situation, and has brought the nation’s top college graduates into a small, but increasing slice of America’s
A piece of the puzzle: Teach For America, Dayton and its schools
The Common Core, digital transformation, and the Kasich budget proposal
Starting in the 2014-15 school year, Ohio’s schools will fully implement the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC exams--online assessments aligned to the Common Core. As the Buckeye State draws nearer to lift off for these new academic standards and tests, school districts are ratcheting up their technological infrastructure and capacity.
Consider a few recent examples of how schools are improving their technological infrastructure in advance of the Common Core and the PARCC exams:
- The Akron Beacon Journal reported that the Akron Public Schools recently approved $300,000 plus in spending to upgrade its computer software and Internet bandwidth. These improvements will ensure that its students are able to take the online PARCC exams.
- Meanwhile on the other side of the Buckeye State, The Lima News reported that Delphos and Ottawa-Glandorf school districts, both located in rural Northwest Ohio, have purchased new computers to ensure that their students will be able to take the PARCC exams.
- Finally, in rural Southeast Ohio, The Marietta Times reported that Morgan Local School District has been piloting Thinkgate. Teachers at Morgan Local will use this digital instructional system to provide real-time feedback to students about how well they are progressing toward meeting the learning expectations of the Common Core.
In addition to these local efforts, the governor’s budget proposal (see page D-180) also takes steps to improve technology as schools transition to the Common Core and the PARCC exams. In the state’s student
The Common Core, digital transformation, and the Kasich budget proposal
The art of gifted education
From left: Marty Bowe, Bill Hayes, Carol Lockhart, Ann Sheldon, Checker Finn and Jennifer Smith Richards
Why are so many gifted students in Ohio not receiving education services catered to their needs? How can we support them to reach their full potential? These were the questions asked at today’s Educating Our Brightest event, hosted by the Fordham Institute and the Ohio Association for Gifted Children.
Fordham's Checker Finn kicked off the event with a recap of the Institute’s studies of the impact of No Child Left Behind on gifted students (hint: it’s not good). He then presented findings from his recent book, Exam Schools: Inside America’s Most Selective Public High Schools (of which Ohio has four). He was quick to point out that these students don’t serve a different population of students than their peers, nor do their teachers necessarily have different or higher credentials.
After Checker’s presentation, a panel, moderated by the Columbus Dispatch’s Jennifer Smith Richards, talked about the state of gifted education in Ohio and how to improve it. Here’s a recap of their comments:
Ann Sheldon, Executive Director, Ohio Association for Gifted Children: Ann pointed out there has been a tremendous decline in gifted services in Ohio over the past decade. Currently just 18 percent of gifted students received specialized gifted services in our state. Ohio needs more gifted-specific schools as part of the
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