Ohio Education Gadfly
Volume 2, Number 4
February 13, 2008
From the Tit-for-Tat Department
Times never change, bad news is never welcome
By
Terry Ryan
Editorial
Dayton: a tale of two cities
By
Terry Ryan
Gadfly Readers Write...
about charter-school mediocrity
Gadfly Readers Write...
about high-school reform
Capital Matters
The devil is in the details
By
Emmy L. Partin
,
Kristina Phillips-Schwartz
Recommended Reading
School boards: fish, cut bait, or get out of the way
By
Mike Lafferty
Recommended Reading
Education/Evolving predicts the future
By
Alex Karas
From the Front Lines
Wauseon school has four-legged counselor
By
Mike Lafferty
Times never change, bad news is never welcome
Terry Ryan / February 13, 2008
In June, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a study of Ohio's teacher pension system entitled Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs: Rethinking Ohio's Teacher Pension System (see here). In the report's introduction the institute's president, Chester E. Finn, Jr., and I wrote, "We hope this report triggers a long-overdue discussion about the state's teacher retirement system, its challenges, and ways it can be improved for the benefit of current members, future teachers, and state taxpayers."
The discussion we sparked has been far less civil than we expected. Instead of debating how to modernize and improve the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS), STRS and its supporters, most recently State Senator Sue Morano in the Columbus Dispatch, have attacked the authors of the report-two of the country's premier school-finance economists-and the Fordham Institute (see here).
Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs identified four major shortcomings in Ohio's existing "defined-benefit" teacher pension system:
- It's expensive. At the time the report was written, as noted by Senator Morano, STRS was projecting $19 billion in unfunded liabilities for pensions. This number fluctuates with the stock market but this is a significant debt on the future. Second, the debt is even greater when one adds the estimated $9.8 billion-STRS's figure-in health care costs to its obligations. It is to meet these costs that H.B. 315 has been proposed in the Ohio General Assembly to require teachers and schools districts each
Times never change, bad news is never welcome
Dayton: a tale of two cities
Terry Ryan / February 13, 2008
As someone who has been working and living in Dayton for the past seven years, I am constantly reminded of the fact that there are, in fact, two Daytons.
One Dayton-the Dayton where my family is fortunate enough to live and be educated-is defined by opportunity, innovation, and excitement about the future. This Dayton is reflected in the efforts of the Dayton Development Coalition, which is dedicated to creating high-paying jobs, new wealth for communities, and new business opportunities for the region.
This Dayton is giving birth to one of the country's leading science, technology, engineering, and math-STEM, for short-initiatives. Edvention, as the STEM effort is known here, is a high-powered coalition of universities, businesses, school districts, individual schools, and government agencies dedicated to accelerating the development of the region's math and science talent pool.
An important component of this effort is a proposed STEM high school based at Wright State University that would ultimately serve 600 students in grades 6 through 12.
This Dayton is working to be a magnet for talent and investment and it understands that the keys to success are high levels of education and the ability to constantly learn, create, and innovate.
The other Dayton, the urban core where I work and try to help educators make a difference, is defined by job loss, despair, poverty, boarded-up houses and businesses, and deeply troubled schools. This Dayton long ago saw its best and brightest flee and is more worried about defending
Dayton: a tale of two cities
about charter-school mediocrity
February 13, 2008
Robert A. Douglas of the Richard Allen Schools responded to an editorial Checker Finn wrote laying out his 10 factors of charter-school mediocrity in the December 12 Gadfly.
You laid out 10 factors that you said contributed to charter school mediocrity. You didn't say anything what part the curriculum plays.
In Arizona where I now live charters are able to develop their own curriculum and do not have to align them with the Arizona Academic Content Standards. Three Arizona high schools were recently included in a list of the top-100 high schools in the U.S. Two of those top-100 high schools were Arizona charter high schools.
In Ohio the charter schools were asked to show how their curriculum was aligned to the Ohio Academic Content Standards. The state provided forms to show how individual items in the school's curriculum were aligned to specific grade-level indicators. This effectively locked charters into the Ohio state-sponsored curriculum.
When I recently saw many sixth-graders still counting on their fingers to compute simple addition problems like 8 + 5 I wondered where they learned that. Sure enough on page 57 of the Ohio standards under that 16th grade-level indicator for the first grade in mathematics were eight "strategies" for computing simple one-digit addition problems. They covered various ways to solve simple addition problems by combinations of counting on your fingers along with memorizing "doubles" (7 + 7 = 14).
Learning to count on your fingers instead of memorizing might
about charter-school mediocrity
about high-school reform
February 13, 2008
Colleen D. Grady, of the State Board of Education, responds to Terry Ryan's opinions concerning high-school reform:
I agree with your list of five keys to high-school reform but felt you stopped short of a couple of crucial ideas.
While I am a fan of daring to be different, different alone doesn't make the difference. A longer school day or school year without qualitative structural changes will just look different-without improvement in student achievement. And before jumping into "different" with both feet, how about having hard evidence that proposed changes (if implemented with fidelity) actually will pay off in improved student performance? We spend far too much time and money implementing changes to our education system without any evidence that our changes have a reasonable chance of effecting positive change.
The other issue that came to mind was middle school. If we are serious about improving graduation rates, reducing dropouts, reducing college-remediation rates, and increasing educational attainment we must include substantial and wide-ranging changes at the middle school. Too many high-school students drop out, fail to continue their education or obtain a job because they left middle school wholly unprepared....If we want world-class high schools it won't happen if middle schools continue to be the "black holes" of K-12 education.
If you have something to say about The Ohio Education Gadfly, say it in an e-mail to an article author or to the editor, Mike Lafferty, at mlafferty@edexcellence.net. Correspondence may be edited for clarity and
about high-school reform
The devil is in the details
Emmy L. Partin , Kristina Phillips-Schwartz / February 13, 2008
In his second State of the State address, Governor Strickland kept with his tradition of not distributing hard copies of the speech ahead of time and not providing supplemental information about his proposed programs and policies. (See Fordham's take on the governor's remarks here.) Those all-important details, still trickling out one week later, are setting up the battle lines over one of Strickland's most innovative education proposals.
"Seniors to Sophomores" would allow the state's high schoolers to spend their senior year on a public university campus at no cost. Ohio's current participation in early-college-access programs is weak-only 12,000 students participated last year, most were white females-and the mechanisms for tracking and evaluating such programs is even weaker (see here).
The governor has indicated that this program will not be a top-down mandate. It will be up to high schools and colleges-not state government-to decide how to implement it (see here). Parents and students, however, are rightly concerned about how the priorities of these institutions will weigh against their own interests. Look at how districts characterize charter schools and education-choice vouchers for an idea of how they might "resist" Seniors to Sophomores. Bottom line, districts will "lose" state funding for twelfth graders who bypass district schools for seats in colleges or universities.
Thus, for adults it all comes down to money. Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, whom Strickland charged with formulating the details of the program, nixed the
The devil is in the details
School boards: fish, cut bait, or get out of the way
Mike Lafferty / February 13, 2008
Mark Twain once quipped that God, for practice, first made idiots. Then he made school boards.
In the current issue of The Atlantic (see here), Mark Miller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, uses Twain to illustrate that America's 15,000 local school boards (more than 600 of which are in Ohio) are a huge roadblock to education reform and that they have to be replaced by a more centralized state or even national system of school governance. Consider this in light of Governor Strickland's proposal to appoint a director of education to usurp the powers of the State Board of Education.
Miller compares the mediocre results in U.S. classrooms with those in other nations. A 2003 assessment by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (see here) found that even though America spent more on education than nearly every other nation, out of 29 developed countries examined we ranked 15th in reading, 18th in science, and 24th in math.
Reconsidering these numbers five years later should give pause to those who beat their breasts with the recent Education Week study that gives Ohio's overall efforts a "B" in comparing our schools with those in the other 49 states. While the state and the nation have some very fine schools, collectively we are just not nearly good enough. We haven't been even adequate for a very long time. In fact, 25 years after the report A Nation
School boards: fish, cut bait, or get out of the way
Education/Evolving predicts the future
Alex Karas / February 13, 2008
Wondering what the future holds for public education? Then check out Education|Evolving's predictions and proposals in "The Other Half of the Strategy: Following up on System Reform by Innovating with School and Schooling."
E|E calls for drastic changes, like new and innovative schools and practices to provide alternative modes of student learning and assessment. One idea: expand the role of technology in schools to capitalize on the strengths of the tech-savvy student population and allow them to explore real-world applications of their learning. Another idea: boost pupil motivation by allowing each student to customize his or her education. The Gadfly can't help but fear a whole generation of students who focus their academic pursuits on "The Life and Times of Hannah Montana."
E|E imagines that traditional schools, as we know them today, will still have a place and the report is a bit starry-eyed in its optimistic expectations for reforms. Nonetheless, this report is an easy read that presents an array of possibilities for the future of public education. Read the report here.
Education/Evolving predicts the future
Wauseon school has four-legged counselor
Mike Lafferty / February 13, 2008
WAUSEON, Ohio--New members of a school's staff sometimes can take some time to work in, although it's easier when a new staffer has four legs, like Kramer, the new counselor at Burr Road Middle School.
Kramer, a 2 1/2-year-old, part Lab-part Poodle, or Labradoodle, has been bow-wowing Burr Road's 500 students since his first day on the job in October.
"This is so awesome," sixth grader Jake Fitzpatrick told the Toledo Blade's Janet Romaker. "He looks nice. He's going to be good to talk to too. I have always wanted a dog, and now I have one."
A specialist in unconditional love, Kramer greets students arriving at school in the morning and listens to students needing a friendly tail wag. In fact, listening to student problems is a big part of Kramer's job, Principal Joseph Friess told The Gadfly.
"Just about every one of these kids touches him some day, either dropping down and hugging him or just brushing a hand over him," Friess said. "He puts in some pretty long days....He'll go to the basketball games with me. Sometimes we don't get home until 7 PM."
Kramer lives with Friess, who feeds and cares for him. Students help, occasionally hauling big bags of dog food to school. A local vet also donates care.
Both man and dog received training from Assistance Dogs of America in nearby Swanton, Ohio, before going on the job.
Wauseon school has four-legged counselor
Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik
Mike Lafferty / February 13, 2008
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Princeton University Press
2008
Chester E. Finn, Jr. found he didn't want to make a career out of teaching when he left Harvard. A year teaching at Newton High School in Massachusetts was enough to reveal teaching just wasn't for him, so Finn did the next best thing and became an education policy expert.
Finn, the president-and the original gadfly-of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, has been out and about in Washington, D.C.'s political and education circles for more than 40 years, rubbing elbows both the right way and often the wrong but always educating.
He pours some of that acquired insight and reflection into his new book, Troublemaker: a Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik, describing not only the history of American education policy over the last 50 years but quite a bit of his own education.
Newton High, Finn said, convinced him that teaching was tough, underappreciated, and that there were serious things going wrong with American education since his days in the public schools of Dayton, Ohio. He also learned that, to make a difference, he would have to get out of the classroom, a move that pushed him into graduate school at Harvard and into the arms of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Moynihan helped shape Finn's early ideas on education and social policy and also was responsible for getting him to the nation's capital, where he began his intimate view of every national education endeavor America has
