Argument for scaling back Ohio charter school program falls short

Jamie Davies O'Leary / October 14, 2009

For its recent report analyzing the readiness of kindergarten students entering traditional district, charter, and magnet schools in seven Ohio urban districts (see here), Policy Matters Ohio deserves credit for selecting an important research question: are charter students fundamentally different from those attending district schools (more privileged, less “at risk,” more motivated, etc.)? The answer to this question has profound implications for the charter school debate, which continues to rage nationally as well as in Ohio.

Unfortunately, the kudos end here.

The report, “Ready to Learn: Ohio Assessment Shows Charters, Magnets Get a Head Start” examines student scores on the Ohio Kindergarten Readiness Assessment-Literacy (KRA-L) to learn if a child’s school readiness differs according to school type. The author concludes that because charter students in the study score higher on average on the KRA-L than their district peers, policymakers should rethink their reliance on charters as the solution to solving urban education problems, “if charters are getting better-prepared students and producing equal or lower achievement, then they should be scaled back, not expanded.”

This conclusion is flawed on several fronts.

First and perhaps most importantly, the data chosen (KRA-L scores) aren’t capable of telling us whether “charters are getting better-prepared students.” The Ohio Department of Education states that the KRA-L “is NOT a comprehensive measure of school readiness or of children’s potential for academic success” (caps and bold in the original text, see KRA-L policy paper here). Despite a glaring disclaimer from

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Argument for scaling back Ohio charter school program falls short

Massachusetts can offer some direction to Ohio's academic standards effort

Mike Lafferty / October 14, 2009

David Driscoll, former Massachusetts education commissioner, sat down with the Ohio Gadfly last week after the “World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio” conference. Driscoll is now a member of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Foundation board of trustees.

What was the genesis of the Massachusetts rebound in education?
It was passing a comprehensive law [in 1993] that some people called, potentially, the most effective law in the country. It was a compact that said that we’re going to give schools and districts the tools and hold them accountable for results. On the tools side it was $2 billion more over seven years—a foundation budget that gave more to poorer districts. But it demanded professional development, training for teachers, student testing and accountability for schools and districts.

At the conference, you mentioned how a large number of Massachusetts’ teachers lacked competency in math, communications, and literacy. Yet, the state has improved dramatically in education. Can you explain?
Standards and assessment sometimes drive the system in spite of a lack of teacher training. However, teacher quality is vitally important. But even if there hadn’t been progress in teacher training I think students would have progressed. What most people don’t realize is that student testing for high school graduation, which began in 2001, was big news but teacher testing for communications and literacy in 1991 was bigger news because 61 percent of teachers failed the test. The training of our teachers had to improve overnight

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Massachusetts can offer some direction to Ohio's academic standards effort

Ohio approaches a do-or-die watershed in education

Mike Lafferty / October 14, 2009

Top-notch academic standards will fail without good teachers, academically oriented administrators, and citizens who hold education dear, according to experts who headlined a conference on world-class academic standards in Columbus last week (see video of the conference here).

That last one may be particularly troubling. “We are so busy worrying about the adult comfort level of House Bill 1 [which spells out the state’s new, revamped education program], we’ve got to worry about what this means to kids,” State Superintendent Deborah Delisle told conference attendees. “I have yet to see a sense of urgency across the state about the importance of education.’’

The implication: Better testing, more challenging career- and college-oriented academic standards, better teacher quality and training, and even more money may, in the end, be inadequate if Ohioans don’t care enough about the education of their children.

The conference, “World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio,” was sponsored by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, KidsOhio.org, the Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy, Ohio Education Matters, and the Ohio Association for Public Charter Schools, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The conference was aimed, in part, at helping the Ohio State Board of Education complete revisions to its K-12 education standards by June 2010. Clearly the state must improve dramatically on its current standards according to panelists, and it appears from recent comments that both the state board and the state superintendent are committed

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Ohio approaches a do-or-die watershed in education

Lawmaker seeks improvements to school rating system

Emmy L. Partin / October 14, 2009

A bill sponsored by State Senator Gary Cates (R- Butler County) would lessen the blow to otherwise high-performing districts that fail to make adequate academic progress with a few subgroups of students. Currently, a district that fails to achieve federally mandated “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) for three consecutive years can be rated no higher than Continuous Improvement (or “C”) by the state. In August, Kettering City Schools saw its overall performance improve (the district met 29 of the state’s 30 academic performance indicators last year, up from 28 the year before and 26 two years ago) but was rated Continuous Improvement because it failed to make AYP with English language learners and special education students. Without the AYP provision, Kettering would have ranked four categories higher at Excellent with Distinction, the state’s highest rating (see here). Lebanon City Schools experienced a similar drop in its rating. 

Senate Bill 167 specifies that a district’s rating could only be negatively impacted by AYP if the district missed AYP for the same two subgroups of students for three consecutive years, and in that case the district’s rating would only drop one level, not directly to Continuous Improvement (see here). Cates introduced the bill in response to concerns from officials in Kettering, Lebanon, and other communities that such a swift drop in a district’s rating could have a negative impact on the community beyond the schoolhouse walls.

“Businesses, taxpayers, government leaders and parents all

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Lawmaker seeks improvements to school rating system

Tax increase may be lesser of two evils for Ohio's schools

Terry Ryan / October 14, 2009

Ohio has been handed a bucket of lemons when it comes to the economy and its impact on the state’s finances. But, state leaders have the opportunity to make lemonade if they work together around education in the coming weeks… Read the full post here.

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Tax increase may be lesser of two evils for Ohio's schools

Media can help reframe views on teachers unions. Wish Ohioans would pay attention.

Jamie Davies O'Leary / October 14, 2009

An opinion piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal is encouragement to anyone who bemoans the tendency of teachers unions to thwart reform efforts. “How Teachers Unions Lost the Media” points out that teachers unions increasingly have been scrutinized by the press, even targeted by “liberal” papers like the New York Times. The evidence of this media shift lies not just in the name-calling (”indefensible,” “barriers” etc.) of certain union practices but in the fact that many outlets have stood up for controversial figures like Michelle Rhee and have profiled the successes our nation’s most impressive charter school networks… Read the full post here.

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Media can help reframe views on teachers unions. Wish Ohioans would pay attention.

Assessing Common Core standards

October 14, 2009

In Fordham’s latest report, Stars By Which to Navigate? Scanning National and International Education Standards in 2009, expert reviewers appraised the draft “Common Core” standards and compared them to the reading/writing and math frameworks that undergird the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA). The strengths and quality of these efforts vary significantly. Read the report here.

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Assessing Common Core standards