•130th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold sessions and hearings this week.
•Primary on May 7, 2013: Not all Ohio counties will have issues or candidates on the May 7, 2013 Primary/Special Election this year. According to the Secretary of State’s web site 33 counties will hold special and primary elections; 38 counties will hold special elections; and three counties will hold only primary elections. There are a total of 351 local issues on the ballot in 71 counties, and 138 of those are school issues. A list of the school issues on the ballot is available at
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Voters/whatsontheballot/whatsOnBallot.aspx.
•New Chancellor Appointed: Governor Kasich appointed on April 24, 2013 former state legislator John Carey as Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. The position has been temporarily filled by Interim Chancellor Stephanie Davidson after Jim Petro resigned as chancellor in February 2013. The newly appointed chancellor is from Wellston, OH, and is currently an assistant to the president of Shawnee State University. He will take office on April 29, 2013. The appointment must be confirmed by the Ohio Senate.
•Credit Transfers Made Easier: The Ohio Board of Regents announced last week that it had created a web site to provide information to students about transferring credits within the University System of Ohio. The new web site will inform students about how to transfer educational courses/programs credits within the University System of Ohio earned at other institutes, such as high schools, career-tech centers, two-year or four-year colleges or universities, and the military. This initiative is part of an overall campaign called “Transfer to Degree Guarantee” to help traditional and nontraditional students earn degrees from Ohio’s institutions of higher education. The web site is at https://transfercredit.ohio.gov/ap:1:
- The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
•The Senate Finance Committee Education Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Randy Gardner, will meet at 11:00 AM in the South Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget from the Inter-University Council, Ohio Association of Community Colleges, the Ohio Association of Career Colleges and Schools, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
•The Senate Finance Committee Education Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Randy Gardner, will meet at 10:00 AM in the South Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget from the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Arts Council, the Ohio Educational Service Center Association, and the Ohio Association for Gifted Children. The committee will also receive testimony about College Credit Plus and Dual Enrollment.
•The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Gerald Stebelton, will meet at 4:00 PM in hearing room 121. The committee will receive testimony on two bills:
HB14 (Pelanda) School Records-Abused, Neglected, Dependent Child. This bill would change the way school districts withhold or transfer to another district or school the records of a child who is alleged or adjudicated an abused, neglected, or dependent child.
HB127 (Adams) Career-Technical Education and Skilled Workforce Development Month. This bill would designate the month of March as “Career-Technical Education and Skilled Workforce Development Month.”
Thursday, May 2, 2013
•The Senate Finance Committee Education Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Randy Gardner, will meet at 10:00 AM in the South Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget from Auditor of State Dave Yost regarding school performance audits; the State Library Board; and testimony about unfunded mandates, career technical schools, career and vocational education, community schools, and non-public schools.
3) Budget Bill Hearings in the Ohio Senate: Last week state agencies, departments, and statewide organizations presented testimony to several committees and subcommittees in the Ohio Senate about Sub. HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget, which was approved by the Ohio House on April 18, 2013. The Senate has scheduled hearings on Sub. HB59 throughout May, with the intent of passing the bill the first week of June.
Senate President Keith Faber also announced last week that alternatives for expanding Medicaid would not be included in the biennial budget. According to Senator Faber, the Senate will work with the House to find an acceptable plan that reforms Medicaid in a way that addresses the needs of Ohioans and achieves the goals set by the General Assembly. Senate President Faber also announced that the Senate will work to reform Ohio’s tax structure, focusing on small businesses, and will probably revise the House-passed formula for funding schools.
The Senate Finance Committee Education Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Randy Gardner, received testimony last week from State Superintendent Dick Ross and Assistant Policy Director Barbara Mattei-Smith of the Governor’s Office of 21st Century Education. They answered questions about Governor Kasich’s proposed budget and policy changes for K-12 education included in the Executive version of HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget, and noted concerns about House changes for the “Straight A Fund”; requiring school districts to report average daily membership each month; and providing parents with state per pupil transportation funds in lieu of transportation provided by school districts.
•Education Organizations Testify: Representatives from the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA), and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) also presented combined testimony regarding the policy changes for K-12 education and the school funding formula in the Executive version of HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget compared to the House version of the budget.
According to the testimony, which was presented by Barbara Shaner from OASBO, the education organizations agree with the Kasich administration that more resources above the basic level should be provided to school districts to support Targeted Resources, students in poverty, early childhood education, gifted education, special education, and students with Limited English Proficiency. The education organizations also support the proposal in the Executive Budget to provide state aid for transportation, supplemental transportation, and career tech education outside of the state school funding formula, so that school districts on the guarantee or subject to a “cap” on increases in state funding, still receive increases in state funds to support these vital components.
The organizations also support some of the changes made by the Ohio House to the “Opportunity Aid” formula. These include implementing a per-pupil base-aid funding component, even though the House per pupil levels in HB59 are $5732 in FY14 and $5839 in FY15, which “date back to FY2009”. The education organizations also urged lawmakers to establish a mechanism to determine the appropriate per pupil amount for the future. The organizations also raised the following concerns about the House version of the bill:
-Expansion of vouchers. The proposed expansion of the EdChoice Scholarship Program based on family income for students in Kindergarten and first grade, would provide state funds for eligible students to attend eligible private schools, even though the public school of residence could be an excellent school. The program has the potential to expand to 12th grade and could cost the state millions of additional dollars. Although the program will not be funded through transfers from the public school district of residence, the program will still divert millions of public dollars in excess lottery profit funds away from public schools, with no accountability for how the money will be spent.
-Expansion of vouchers. Another voucher program created in the bill would allow students in grades K-3 in schools not meeting the standards under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee/K-3 Literacy Component on the local report card to be eligible for a voucher to attend a private school. Concerns were raised about students moving from public schools, which are required to provide instruction to support the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, to private schools, which are not required to conform to the requirements of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.
-Monthly ADM counts. This change would increase administration costs and could destabilize funding for school districts and undermine their ability to plan programs and services for students.
-Six percent cap on state funding increases: The cap will not allow school districts to benefit fully from the formula or compensate school districts for increases in costs for fuel, supplies, utilities, and staff.
-Charter school deductions: Increases in state funding for school districts are capped in the new House formula, but funding for charter schools, which is deducted from the state aid that school districts receive, is not capped. This means that charter schools will receive the full increase in state aid, and students who remain in the district will receive less state aid per pupil than students attending charter schools.
-Special Education Catastrophic Aid: Although the House version of HB59 reinstates the current program for catastrophic special education aid, which reimburses districts for some special education costs in excess of the categorical amounts, only $40 million in each fiscal year is allocated for the program, while the Ohio Department of Education estimates the costs to be in excess of $110 million.
-All School Districts Need State Aid: “With funding reductions to school districts over the past two biennia, including reduction of TPP replacement funds and the loss of federal stimulus funds that had replaced state funding dollars, districts have found their budgets stretched dramatically. We are hopeful that your interest in the development of a new school-funding plan will result in a formula that will be stable and reliable in the future.”
•Analyses of School Funding Formula Presented: Dr. Howard Fleeter of the Education Tax Policy Institute (ETPI) also testified, explaining the history of school funding models used in Ohio over the past 25 years and the specific components of the Executive and House versions of the education budget included in HB59.
He also provided data to show why more lower wealth school districts are on the “guarantee” for a greater amount of state funds under Governor Kasich’s budget proposal, called Opportunity Grants, when compared to the Building Blocks formula under Governor Taft’s administration. According to Dr. Fleeter, “Because poorer districts receive a greater share of state aid, they are most adversely affected by the switch to a funding formula that is mathematically equivalent to a $732 reduction in the base cost. Similarly, the LSC example also shows that wealthier districts benefit the most from the effective reduction in the chargeoff from 23 to 20 mills.”
During his report about the House changes to the school funding formula, Dr. Fleeter states that many of the following features of the Executive Budget proposal in HB59 for education were retained in the House version of the budget, but were amended:
-Core Opportunity Aid. This provision is now based on $5,732 in FY14 and $5839 in FY15 per pupil with a modified state share index based on both district property wealth and median income determining the amount of state aid.
-Targeted Assistance. This provision uses the same formula as proposed in the Executive Budget, with the only modification being that the target millage rate remains at 6 mills in FY15 (rather than increasing to 7 mills as originally proposed). A second tier of targeted assistance funding based on the percentage of agricultural property in the school district is also added.
-Economically Disadvantaged Student Aid. This provision is modified. The per pupil amount is lowered from $500 to $340 in FY14 and $343 in FY15.
-Special Education Funding. This provision is based on the disability category weights in current law, applied to the per pupil amount, but is funded at 90 percent. The State Share Index is the same as that for Core Opportunity Aid. The 15 percent deduction in the Executive Budget for funding the catastrophic cost fund is eliminated.
-Limited English Proficient Funding. The House version is the same as the provision proposed by the governor, except that funding for category 4 students is no longer provided.
-Early Childhood Access Funding. This program is replaced with a new program called K-3 literacy funding. Rather than basing funding on $600 per pupil times the early childhood access index, funding is $300 per pupil in FY14 (increasing to $303 in FY15) for all pupils in grades K-3.
-Gifted Program Funding. This program is changed to unit funding and $5 per pupil is allocated for the identification of gifted students.
-Career Technical Education Funding. State funding for career tech is now included as part of the formula through a weighted pupil approach with the state share index used to determine the level of state support for each district.
-Transportation Funding. State support for transportation is now included as part of the formula. House modifications to the transportation funding formula simplify the calculation and base funding on the greater of per mile or per rider costs for each district. A Transportation supplement for low wealth and low population density districts has been added and is included in the application of the guarantee and cap calculations.
-Guarantees. Some districts will receive state aid based on FY13 funding, including Transportation and Career Tech funds. The number of districts on the guarantee is cut by more than half and the cost is reduced by 75 percent as compared to the Administration proposal.
-Gain Cap. Increases in state aid is limited to 6 percent from FY13 funding levels compared to the 25 percent cap in Governor’s budget. The exemption of Core Opportunity Aid from the cap is eliminated. The provision that the Gain cap is also based on 10 percent of district total state and local resources is also eliminated.
According to the testimony, an analysis of the Executive school funding formula compared to the House plan shows that the House funding formula provides $1.071 billion more for school districts than the Executive Budget in FY14, prior to the application of the guarantee and the gain cap, and after being adjusted for transportation and career tech education. However, after adjusting for the guarantee and the gain cap, school districts lose overall $48.2 million in FY14 in the House version. In other words, what the House adds to school district state aid through the House formula, is eliminated through the gain cap, also included in the formula.
The new State Share Index, which replaces the charge-off, is also discussed in the testimony. According to Dr. Fleeter the State Share Index is based on a districts’ relative property valuation per pupil and its relative median income level. This produces a variable millage charge-off for districts ranging from about 7 mills to about 23 mills. The charge-off in the past has ranged from 20 mills to 23 mills under the Taft administration.
Testimony from all witnesses is available at
http://www.ohiosenate.gov/committee/education-finance-subcommittee#
4) Support Increases for Addressing the Opportunity to Learn Gap: Over the past months education stakeholders, policy makers, researchers, and pundits have raised more and more questions about the efficacy of the current education reform movement, which is focused on the Common Core State Standards, standardized testing, the privatization of K-12 education, teacher evaluations based on student test score results, etc.
Will these market-based education reforms really increase student achievement and close the achievement gaps among groups of children who are poor, don’t speak English, have special education needs, are gifted, and come from diverse family and racial backgrounds? Or, have the results of these reforms reached a plateau?
Emerging from discussions about the current status of education reform initiatives is more support for addressing the “opportunity gaps” in our schools. “Opportunity gaps” are the differences in the quality and rigor of the learning experiences available for students of different races, family economic status, and educational needs, compared to the learning experiences available for students in more wealthy communities and schools. Even though opportunity to learn standards were formulated in the early 1990s in several areas, including the arts, they were passed over by many policy makers, who became focused on student and teacher outputs, and state accountability systems based on student test scores in math and language arts.
Last week, on the 30th anniversary of the release of A Nation at Risk (April 1983), David C. Berliner, Regents’ Professor Emeritus at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College of Arizona State University, and co-author with Bruce J. Biddle of The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America’s Public Schools, wrote that the public has endured thirty years of lies, half-truths, and myths about the failure of our nation’s public education system. He goes on to say that, “It really is not an achievement gap between the United States and other nations that is our problem. We actually do quite well for a large and a diverse nation. It’s really the opportunity gap, not the achievement gap that could destroy us. If only the wealthy have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for a post-industrial economy we are, indeed, a nation at risk.”
Three Decades of Lies by David C. Berliner, Education Week Op Ed on April 23, 2013 at
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/op_education/2013/04/three_decades_of_lies.html
David Berliner is not the only education policy expert talking about “opportunity gaps”. Last week several prominent education scholars released a new book entitled Closing the Opportunity Gap, What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance, co-edited by Kevin G. Welner and Prudence Carter.
Twenty-two education experts contributed to the book, including Hank Levin, Linda Darling-Hammond, Gary Orfield, Richard Rothstein, Amy Stuart Wells, Yong Zhao, and more. The book argues that federal and state education reform efforts to close the achievement gap among groups of students have not worked and won’t work until the opportunity gap among students is closed.
According to a press release the authors offer research based policies to address the opportunity gap that exists across the nation. They point out that supporters of the standards-based reform movement, which includes measuring outcomes through standardized testing and rating and ranking schools and districts, have focused on closing the achievement gap between groups of students based on race, family income level, and educational needs on standardized tests. However, in doing so these supporters have “...neglected the basic truth that achievement follows from opportunities to learn”.
According to a statement by the book's co-editor Prudence Carter from Stanford University, “Quite simply, children learn when they are supported with high expectations, quality teaching and deep engagement, and made to feel that they are entitled to good schooling; the richer those opportunities, the greater the learning. When those opportunities are denied or diminished, lower achievement is the dire and foreseeable result”.
The authors describe several policy recommendations to narrow the opportunity gap:
•Provide high quality early childhood education.
•End segregation in housing, schools, and classrooms.
•Provide crucial funding and resources so that high-need students can achieve outcomes.
•Provide more and better learning time, including summer and after school.
•Focus on childhood health.
•Focus on teacher experience and support.
•Provide access to libraries and the Internet.
•Provide tutoring
•Create safe and well-maintained school environments.
•Improve policies on student discipline.
•Understand student cultures and schooling.
•Change the focus of testing and accountability. “Instead of continuous batteries of high-stakes tests, the focus should be on low-stakes, informative testing that enables teachers to understand how well their students are learning. The focus should also be on a portfolio of work that expects students to use the full range of critical thinking skills expected of more advantaged children.”
•Address the needs of language minorities
The book is available at http://nepc.colorado.edu/book.
•Education Stakeholders Launch the Closing the Opportunity Gap Campaign: Along with the release of the book Closing the Opportunity Gap on the 30th anniversary of the publication of A Nation At Risk, the authors of the book also announced the launch of the Closing the Opportunity Gap Campaign, to build the capacity of stakeholders, communities, and schools to provide all children with rich learning opportunities.
According to the book's co-editor Kevin Welner, any gains in student achievement through current education reform initiatives, including high-stakes, test-centric teaching, have already been made, and now a different approach is needed. He states, “When we start creating more equitable opportunities and gauging how well states and districts are doing to create those opportunities, we will join our best international competitors in showing strong academic progress.”
In addition to a press conference held in Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2013, to publicize the Closing the Opportunity Gap Campaign, leaders of the campaign will address the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association and a meeting of the Education Writers Association next week. The campaign will also release in September a state by state “Opportunity to Learn” comparison. Model legislation will be available by this fall for advocates at the state level to use to address and remedy the causes of opportunity gaps.
Information about the campaign is available at http://nepc.colorado.edu/book
•More Support for Closing Opportunity Gaps: The Closing the Opportunity Gap Campaign is focusing on issues recently identified by The Equity and Excellence Commission and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, which released a report on April 15, 2013. (“Reversing the Rising Tide of Inequality: Achieving Educational Equity for Each and Every Child”, by Robert Rothman, principal author. An article about this initiative was included in the April 22, 2013 issue of Arts on Line, Education Update.)
The purpose of the report is to bolster efforts to achieve both quality and fairness in our nation’s public education system, and implement the recommendations developed by the Equity and Excellence Commission, chaired by Christopher Edley, Jr. The 27-member commission was chartered by Congress to provide advice about “....the disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap, with a focus on systems of finance, and to recommend ways in which federal policies could address such disparities.” The commission, which met for over two years, submitted a report to the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan in February 2013. The report summarizes “.... how America’s K-12 education system, taken as a whole, fails our nation and too many of our children.”
According to the report, the education reform initiatives of the past sixty years, based on standards and test-based accountability, have made some progress, but not enough. The report urges members of Congress to conduct hearings on the impact of fiscal inequity on under-served populations and on the nation’s well being, and target federal resources to students and communities most in need. Congress should reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and hold local educational agencies accountable for student outcomes and closing the achievement gaps among groups of students. The report urges the Obama administration to enforce compliance with federal civil rights laws barring discrimination and inequality, and enforce provisions in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The report is available at http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/Education-Equity-Report-webversion.pdf.
•Current Education Reforms Not Working: The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education released on April 22, 2013 a report by Elaine Weiss and Don Long that examines the impact of current education reform policies, included in Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind, in Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago. (Market-Oriented Education Reforms’ Rhetoric Trumps Reality: The impacts of test-based teacher evaluations, school closures, and increased charter school access on student outcomes in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. by Elaine Weiss and Don Long, The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, April 22, 2013.)
The report finds that the market-based reforms used to improve the education systems in these cities, including test-based teacher evaluation, increased school choice, closing failing under-enrolled schools, “...delivered few benefits and in some cases harmed the students they purport to help. It also identifies a set of largely neglected policies with real promise to weaken the poverty-education link, if they receive some of the attention and resources now targeted to the touted reforms.”
The researchers found the following:
-Test scores increased less, and achievement gaps grew more, in “reform” cities than in other urban districts.
-Reported successes for targeted students evaporated upon closer examination.
-Test-based accountability prompted churn that thinned the ranks of experienced teachers, but not necessarily bad teachers.
-School closures did not send students to better schools or save school districts money.
-Charter schools further disrupted the districts while providing mixed benefits, particularly for the highest-needs students.
-Emphasis on the widely touted market-oriented reforms drew attention and resources from initiatives with greater promise.
-Real, sustained change requires strategies that are more realistic, patient, and multi-pronged.
The report also found that in all three cities, “...a narrow focus on market-oriented policies diverted attention from the need to address socio-economic factors that impede learning.”
“Achievement gaps have their root in opportunity gaps. Only by closing the latter can we begin to shrink the former. Effective reform must recognize the huge impact of community factors, leverage the community’s resources, and establish supports to compensate for gaps. Without such supports, gaps in kindergarten readiness, physical and mental health, nutrition, and extracurricular enrichment opportunities will continue to thwart even the most effective reforms that stop at the classroom and school walls.”
As a comparison the report describes the successful reform efforts used in Montgomery County, Maryland to increase student achievement among an ethnically diverse student body. According to the report, Montgomery County has been able to produce some of the highest test scores among minority and low income students, decrease the achievement gaps, and increase high school graduation and college attendance rates, without using student test scores to evaluate teachers or charter schools. Instead the district supports teachers, professional development, and collaboration; small class size; intensive literacy instruction; art, music and physical education teachers in every school; high quality prekindergarten; health clinics; after school enrichment; and other opportunities to ensure that all students have high quality learning opportunities.
The report states, “Every school district has unique needs and resources. But providing all students with the enriching experiences that already help high-income students thrive would represent a big step forward, and away from narrow reforms that miss the mark.”
The report is available at
http://www.epi.org/files/2013/bba-rhetoric-trumps-reality.pdf.
FYI ARTS
1) Dance Opportunity for Elementary Students Comes to Vern Riffe Center: Momentum engages 800 elementary-aged boys and girls in movement, music, and choreography to develop confidence, self-discipline, focus, and an appreciation for the arts. Classes are held weekly during the school day at nine Columbus City Schools and one Hilliard City School throughout the school year.
Momentum participants will perform Moving Lives: A Year In the Life of a Momentum Dancer in May at the Capitol Theatre in the Riffe Center for the Performing Arts in Columbus, Ohio. The performances, which will bring the dancers’ year-long Momentum journey to life on the stage, will be held in Columbus on May 14 and May 17, 2013 at 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM. Admission is free and reservations are not required. Seating is general admission.
For information please visit
http://calendar.dailycamera.com/columbus_oh/events/show/313806903-moving-lives-a-year-in-the-life-of-a-momentum-dancer
2) NPR Series Highlights the Benefits of Arts Education: Last week National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast four programs describing the “intersection of education and the arts”.
•The Case For the Arts in Overhauling Education by Rachel Martin (Weekend Edition Sunday on April 14, 2013. In this broadcast Rachel Martin, host of Weekend Edition Sunday, interviews Elizabeth Blair about “...her reporting on the role the arts play in helping low performing schools improve and in nurturing creativity that can help young people in all subjects.”
In her research about cuts to school district budgets Ms. Blair found that middle-class/upper-class school systems still have instruction in the arts, but instruction in the arts is less available in poorer neighborhood schools.
The report notes that in a “very small but strategic way” the Obama administration is introducing a rigorous and aggressive arts curriculum in eight low performing schools called the Turnaround Arts Initiative to see if the arts can affect student attendance and overall school environment. The success of the program will be judged on student attendance, behavior, school climate, and, of course, student test score results, including creativity. Ms. Blair explains in the interview that she has observed a disconnect between what schools want to do, help children become creative and innovative thinkers, and what is actually happening in schools, where children are learning that there is only one right answer on a multiple choice test. Instruction in the arts might be a way for students to explore their creativity.
The broadcast is available at
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/14/177204419/the-case-for-the-arts-in-overhauling-education
•Creative Classes: An Artful Approach to Improving Performance by Elizabeth Blair (All Things Considered on April 16, 2013). This show describes how low-performing schools serving students from poor families in Denver, Portland, New Orleans, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and Montana are implementing the Turnaround Arts Initiative, an intensive arts curriculum supported by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
The initiative provides resources for the schools to support instruction in music, dance, drama, and visual arts in the schools, and bolster learning in math and reading as a result. According to the initiative, integrating the arts in the schools improves the conditions for learning in the school, motivating students to come to school and learn. As part of the initiative, members of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities have adopted one of the participating schools. The members, including Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Yo-Yo Ma, teach master classes and mentor students.
The program notes, however, that researchers have not found a causal link between teaching the arts and performance on test scores, according to child psychologist Ellen Winner, who was interviewed for the broadcast. Professor Winner, who is chair of psychology at Boston College and co-author of the book Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, still believes that the Turnaround Arts Initiative can help students, because the arts lead to engagement and attendance and “interesting teachers and engaged teachers”.
The broadcast is available at http://www.npr.org/2013/04/16/176671432/creative-classes-an-artful-approach-to-improving-performance
•More than 50 Years of Putting Kids’ Creativity to the Test by Elizabeth Blair (All Things Considered on April 17, 2013. In part two of the series on arts education, Elizabeth Blair discusses how creativity is being measured and why it is important to find a measure for creativity.
Some of the early research about measuring creativity was conducted by E. Paul Torrance, who, as a psychologist, observed that some troublesome children were actually the most creative people. Teachers often ignored these children, because they were harder to control. He developed the Torrance Test to measure creativity and to prove that creativity was important to success in every field, not just in the arts. The test is still used today.
James Catterall, a psychologist and director of the Centers for Research on Creativity in Los Angeles, is still “field testing” his Next Generation Creativity Survey, but has already found that elementary school children score better on the survey than high school students. According to the interview he believes that schools have a tendency to “suck the creativity out of kids over time”.
The broadcast is available at
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/17/177040995/more-than-50-years-of-putting-kids-creativity-to-the-test
•In D.C., Art Program Turns Boys’ Lives Into ‘Masterpieces’ by Elizabeth Blair (All Things Considered April 18, 2013). This third part of the series about the intersection of education and the arts describes the Life Pieces to Masterpieces arts program, an after-school program that serves the Ward 7 neighborhood in Washington, D.C., and teaches African American boys and young men how to express themselves through painting.
The broadcast explains that Ward 7 is one of the poorest neighborhoods in D.C. with a poverty rate over 40 percent for children and a juvenile detention rate of 23 percent. The Masterpieces program, co-founded by Mary Brown, helps boys, ages 3-25, learn the four Cs: connect, create, contribute, and celebrate.
Participants learn to express their sometimes horrific life experiences through art, including painting, songs, and poems, and have formed a “brotherhood” where they feel comfortable and safe. They also learn how to meditate and reflect about what has happened in their lives in order to rejuvenate themselves. Although the program has had some setbacks, an estimated 1000 young men have completed the program since its founding in 1996, and 100 percent of participants have graduated from high school and have either gone on to college or vocational school.
The broadcast is available at
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/18/177608823/in-d-c-art-program-turns-boys-lives-into-masterpieces
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Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
Arts on Line Education Update
April 15, 2013
Joan Platz
•130th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week.
•House Committee Accepts Substitute Budget Bill: The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, accepted on April 9, 2013 a substitute bill replacing House Bill 59 (Amstutz), Governor Kasich’s budget bill for FY14 and FY15 (Executive Budget), which was introduced in February 2013. The Finance Committee accepted the substitute bill 19 to 12 mainly along party lines, with Representative Sears (R) also voting against the substitute bill.
As anticipated, the substitute bill includes a variety of changes in HB59. The substitute bill reduces the income tax cut proposed by Governor Kasich to a permanent 7 percent reduction, rather than a 20 percent reduction phased-in over three years, and removes provisions to expand the sales tax, reduce the income tax for small businesses, increase the severance tax on oil and gas drilling, and expand Medicaid. Changes have also been made to Achievement Everywhere, the governor’s state funding plan for schools/districts.
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee received testimony on the substitute bill last week. Additional amendments to the bill will be considered by the committee on April 16, 2013. Once the bill clears the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, the full House will consider it. Lawmakers expect this to happen on April 18, 2013. The Ohio Senate will begin informal hearings on HB59 starting on April 16, 2013.
More information about the changes in HB59 are included below.
Information about the hearings on Sub. HB59 is available at
http://www.ohiohouse.gov/committee/finance-and-appropriations
•Senate Hearing Schedule for Sub. HB59 Posted: The Ohio Senate, Keith Faber president, released last week the Senate schedule for considering Sub. HB59 (Amstutz) the Biennial Budget. The bill will be debated in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Scott Oelslager, starting on April 16, 2013, and then in Senate subcommittees for education, general government, and Medicaid, and in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The subcommittees have a target date of May 23, 2013 to complete their reports for the full Senate Finance Committee to consider. According to the Senate plan, a substitute bill will be developed by May 28, 2013 and reported by the Senate Finance Committee by June 4, 2013. The full Senate is scheduled to vote on Sub. HB59 by June 5, 2013.
•Senate Passes Legislation: The Ohio Senate approved on April 10, 2013 SB42 (Manning-Gardner), which authorizes school districts to seek tax levies to support school safety and security upgrades. The bill now moves to the Ohio House for consideration.
•Representative Szollosi to Leave the House: Representative Matt Szollosi (D-Oregon) announced last week that he will resign his 46th House District seat to become executive director of Affiliated Construction Trades of Ohio. No time was set for his departure.
•Two More Districts Under Academic Distress: The Department of Education this week granted the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s request to waive the formation of an Academic Distress Commission, but instituted a commission for the Lorain City Schools. The Youngstown City School District has been under an academic distress commission since January 2010.
Both school districts, Cleveland and Lorain, are subject to state intervention, because they have received an “academic emergency” rating by the state for three or more consecutive years, and have failed to meet the adequate yearly progress measure for four or more consecutive years.
According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Richard Ross, Cleveland was granted a waiver from forming an academic distress commission, because it is implementing the “Cleveland Plan”, which was developed by stakeholders in Cleveland to improve student achievement, and was included in law, 129-HB525. Forming another commission would be redundant. The Cleveland school district must also report to the governor and the legislature by November 15, 2017 the school district’s progress in raising student achievement.
Superintendent Ross appointed last week three members of the Academic Distress Commission for the Lorain City Schools. The commission will include William Zelei from the Ohio Schools Council, Cathy Dietlin, retired educator and Executive Director of REACHigher Lorain, and Rosa Rivera-Hainaj, Lorain County Community College Dean of Science and Math. Timothy Williams, president of the Lorain board of education, also appointed Raul Ramos and Henry Patterson Jr. to the commission.
•Simulations of New Report Cards Released: The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released last week simulations of how school districts, schools, and community schools would rate on the new report card measures that will be phased-in over the next few years. The simulations are based on 2011-2012 data, but, according to ODE documents, are not projections for the 2012-13 report card. Beginning August 2013 schools will receive letter grades, rather than the labels “excellent”, “effective”, “continuous improvement”, etc., on nine measures. The measures will be grouped into six broad components, which will also receive grades by August 2015. Eventually schools and districts will receive an overall letter grade for their report card, but not until the measures and components are fully phased-in.
The six components are:
-Achievement, which includes two performance measures: Performance Indicators and Performance Index measures.
-Progress, which includes four measures for All Students, gifted students (math, reading superior cognitive only), students with disabilities (all students who have an IEP and take the OAA), and students in the lowest 20 percent of achievement statewide.
-Graduation Rate, which includes a four year graduation rate and a five year graduation rate.
-Gap Closing, which includes annual measurable objectives for specific groups of students based on race, and students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency.
-K-3 Literacy, which includes a measure for K-3 literacy improvement.
-Prepared for Success, which includes measures based on the student results of college admission tests; dual enrollment credits, industry credentials, honors diploma, advanced placement exams, and International Baccalaureate exams. These measures will not be graded, but will be reported on the report card. The “Prepared for Success” component grade will be based on the percentage of a school’s or district’s graduating class that demonstrates college and career readiness. Any student included in any of the six ungraded measures, would be considered college or career ready. The State Board of Education may also decide to include the results of a state selected college and career readiness assessment in the component grade.
Information about the report card measures, components, how the grades will be determined, and the simulations for school districts and schools are available at http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDedicatedPage.aspx?page=1071
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
-The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 10:00 AM in Hearing Room 313. The committee will consider amendments for Sub. HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget. No testimony will be accepted.
-The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 11:00 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on Sub. HB59 from the Office of Budget and Management and the Legislative Services Commission, and testimony on tax reform.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
-The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 9:30 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on Sub. HB59 (Amstutz) regarding the budgets for K-12 and higher education.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
-The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 9:30 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on Sub. HB59 (Amstutz) regarding Medicaid.
3) More Details on HB59: The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Ron Amstutz, held hearings on the substitute version of HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget last week. Compared to Governor Kasich’s Executive Budget for FY14-15, the House substitute bill reduces total state funding in the General Revenue Fund from $63.2 billion to $61.4 billion for the biennium. The reduction is mainly due to the removal of approximately $2.1 billion of federal funds to expand Medicaid.
General Revenue funding for the Ohio Department of Education is also reduced by $55 million in FY14 and $26.9 million in FY15, making total General Revenue funding for the ODE $16.2 billion for the biennium ($7.976 in FY14 and $8.248 in FY15). All Funds for the ODE equal $23.2 billion for the biennium, compared to $23.58 billion in the Executive Budget.
Sub. HB59 also includes a $1.7 million increase in funding for the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) over the biennium, which brings the All Funds total for the OAC to $23.8 million for the biennium.
The following are some of the other line-item changes included in the substitute bill:
-Increases Passport provider rates by $6 million.
-Increases funding for food banks by $2 million a year.
-Increases funding for educational services centers (ESCs) by $52.5 million over the biennium.
-Increases funding for higher education by $8.1 million to provide a “bridge fund” during the transition to the new formula.
-Increases funding for Ohio College Opportunity grants for proprietary school students by $2.3 million over the biennium.
-Increases funding to counties for mental health services to $30 million per year and provides an additional $20 million per year for drug treatment.
4) Highlights of HB59 Changes for K-12 Education: The House Finance and Appropriations Committee’s version of HB59 changes several K-12 education provisions included in Governor Kasich’s budget proposal as introduced, but also retains provisions, such as the expansion of the EdChoice voucher program and funding community schools as a deduction/transfer from school district funds.
According to Chairman Amstutz the House school funding plan ensures that no school district receives less state funding than in FY13. The substitute bill also reduces the number of school districts on the guarantee from 396 to 175 in FY14, and caps state aid increases at 6 percent.
When compared to the Executive Budget, the House substitute bill changes funding levels for the following K-12 education line items:
-Provides $505 million in FY14 and $518.5 million in FY15 for transportation, and includes transportation in the school funding formula. This is an increase of $37.6 million in FY14 and $58.3 million in FY15.
-Adds $25.3 million in FY14 and $23.1 million in FY15 to supplement transportation for low wealth/density districts.
-Increases funding for educational service centers by $22.5 million in FY14 and $30 million in FY15.
-Increases funding for Career-Technical Education Enhancements from $8.8 million to $9 million in FY14 and from $8.2 million to $9 million in FY15.
-Increases Line Item 7017 (Lottery Profits) 200612 Foundation Funding by $50 million in FY14 and by $100 million in FY15 to $775 million and $850 million respectively.
-Reduces funding for Educator Preparation by $1 million over the biennium.
-Reduces funding for Auxiliary Services from $133.1 million to $130.5 million in FY14, and from $137.1 million to $134.8 million in FY15. This amount is still higher than the FY13 level of $126 million.
-Reduces funding for Nonpublic Administrative Cost Reimbursement from $60 million to $58.9 in FY14 and from $61.9 million to $60.9 million in FY15.
-Reduces Line Item GRF 200550 Foundation Funding by $114.3 million in FY14 and by $99.6 million in FY15. Total Foundation Funding in this line item is $5.8 billion in FY14 and $6 billion in FY15.
-Reduces the Straight A Program by $50 million in FY14 and by $100 million in FY15, and moves the program into temporary law, Section 263.325.
The following are highlights of some of the policy changes included in Sub. HB59 (Amstutz):
-Removes the proposed changes in the governance structure for educational service centers.
-Removes the expansion of the parent trigger.
-Maintains the current ratio for school psychologists and speech pathologists.
-Eliminates College Credit Plus language and changes for dual enrollment programs.
-Eliminates the ability of a school district to offer a payment in lieu of transportation and instead sends the district’s per pupil transportation amount directly to the student.
5) School Funding Formula Changes in Sub. HB59: The substitute bill changes the formula used to determine state aid from an equal yield formula, proposed in the Executive Budget, to a foundation formula. The substitute bill includes a per pupil “formula amount” of $5732 in FY14 and $5789 in FY15. The formula amount is multiplied by an “annualized average monthly”, average daily membership (ADM), and a “state share index” to adjust for wealth. Adjustments to that product are made to address student educational needs, including special education, limited English proficiency, poverty, career technical education, etc.
School districts that receive increases in state aid are capped at 6 percent over the previous year. According to information provided by the Ohio School Boards Association, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, and the Ohio Association of State Business Officials, 364 districts are projected to be capped in FY14, and 312 districts in FY15.
Whereas the governor’s proposed formula in HB59 led to 396 school districts on the guarantee, the formula proposed in the substitute bill decreases the number of school districts on the guarantee to 175 in FY14 and 161 in FY15. And, according to OSBA, BASA, and OASBA, the amount of the guarantee that districts receive is less, so that districts are less dependent on the guarantee.
The substitute bill also retains the Targeted Assistance provision included in the Executive Budget. This provision distributes additional state aid to schools with low property and income wealth. A new provision is added to Targeted Assistance in the substitute bill to take into account districts with a high percentage of current agricultural use value (CAUV) property.
The substitute bill also includes adjustments in the formula to address the educational needs of students. The following is an overview of some of the changes in the substitute bill related to student subgroups. This is not a comprehensive analysis, because some of these provisions might be changed on Tuesday, when the House Finance and Appropriations Committee amends the bill again.
•Accountability/Consistent Progress: School districts/schools are still required to account for the expenditure of state education funds provided for services to subgroups of students, including students who are gifted, students with special needs, students who are disadvantaged, and students with limited English proficiency.
The provision in the Executive Budget regarding “consistent progress” is changed, however. The State Board of Education is required to determine measures of “satisfactory achievement and progress” for subgroups of students not later than December 31, 2014. The ODE is required to use the measures established by the State Board to determine if a district or school has made satisfactory achievement and progress for the subgroups by September 1, 2015, and annually thereafter.
Districts and schools not meeting satisfactory progress for subgroups of students are required to submit an improvement plan to the ODE. The ODE is permitted to require that the plan include a partnership with another entity for services to that subgroup.
•Gifted Students: The substitute bill makes significant changes in the funding for gifted education, returning to a unit-funded model. First, the substitute bill provides $5.00 in FY14 and $5.05 in FY15 for the identification of gifted students, rather than $50 per ADM in the Executive Budget. Next, the bill defines “district gifted unit ADM” as a district’s average daily membership minus community school and STEM school ADM. One gifted coordinator unit is provided per 3,300 students in a district’s gifted unit ADM with a minimum of 0.5 units and a maximum of 8 units. One gifted intervention specialist unit is provided for every 1,100 students in a district’s gifted unit ADM, with a minimum of .3 units. Funding for the units is $37,000 in FY14 and $37,370 for FY15. $3.8 million is also provided for educational service centers to support gifted units.
•Special Education: The substitute bill provides additional aid for students in addition to the formula amount based on the six special education categories that are unchanged from the governor’s version of HB59. However, the substitute bill uses a weight for each special education category rather than a specific additional amount, and funds the special education weighted amounts at 90 percent.
•Economically Disadvantaged Students: The substitute bill funds economically disadvantaged students through a formula that provides $340 in FY14 and $343 in FY15 times an “economically disadvantaged ADM” times an economically disadvantage index.
•Limited English Proficiency (LEP): The substitute bill provides funds equal to the sum of (ADM for each LEP category x an amount for each LEP category) x state share index. The substitute bill reduces the number of LEP categories to three, and increases the amounts by one percent in FY15.
•Career Technical Education: The substitute bill provides funds to traditional and joint vocational districts for career-technical education through the funding formula, based on the formula amount x the district’s total career-technical education weight x state share index. Sub. HB59 also retains the five categories of weights included in the Executive Budget, and requires the payment of these funds to be reviewed and approved by the lead district of the career-technical planning district (CTPD) to which the district is affiliated.
•Joint Vocational School District: Sub. HB59 replaces the Executive Budget provision with the following formula: (Formula amount x formula ADM) - (0.0005 x three year average property valuation), where formula amount equals $5,732 in FY14 and $5,789 in FY15. If the result is negative, then the amount is “0”.
•Educational Service Centers: The substitute bill establishes in temporary law the per pupil state payment for educational service centers at $37.00 per pupil in FY14 and $35 per pupil in FY15. The bill increases funding for ESCs to $43.5 million in FY14 and $40 million in FY15.
- The House Finance and Appropriations Committee received testimony on Sub. HB59 last week from several education organizations and individuals, including representatives from the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy, the Ohio 8, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio School Boards Association, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, KnowledgeWorks, students, and
Most individuals and organizations thanked lawmakers for making changes that they believe set a “positive direction” for funding school districts in Ohio. Some of the provisions approved by witnesses include using a base cost amount in a formula and increasing the base cost amount for FY15; reducing the number of school districts on the guarantee; including transportation funds in the formula; providing supplemental transportation funds to districts; eliminating the parent trigger; changing the catastrophic reimbursement for special education; restoring funding for educational service centers; clarifying the Straight A fund; removing the changes proposed for the governance of educational service centers; and more.
Witnesses also noted that more time is needed to thoroughly analyze the proposed school funding formula included in the substitute bill. The following are some of the issues and concerns identified by those who testified on the substitute bill last week:
-There is less money for K-12 education in the substitute bill compared to the Executive Budget.
-The “formula amount” is still not determined based on the cost of the components of a quality education: The substitute bill returns to a base cost amount of $5732 for FY14, which is the base cost amount used in FY09 under Governor Taft and the Building Blocks model, rather than a base cost amount based on research about the cost of a quality education for 2014-15 and the future.
-Simulations are not comparable: The simulations of the amount of state aid projected for school districts and schools through the proposed school funding formula in Sub. HB59 are not comparable with previous simulations, because funding for transportation and career tech are now included, but were not in the Executive Budget.
-Monthly ADM count: The way that school districts count students for funding purposes would change under the substitute bill. The student count currently happens in October, with adjustments made at the end of the fiscal year. The substitute bill requires students to be counted monthly, which could increase the administrative costs for school districts. Constantly changing attendance numbers could also destabilize funding for school districts and therefore affect services for students, and destabilize planning for programs and services for future school years.
-Six percent cap: The proposed cap of 6 percent for school districts on increases in state aid could be hard on poorer districts that need more than a six percent increase in state aid to restore education programs like art, music, and AP courses, that have been cut due to budget constraints.
-Charter schools: Charter schools should not be expanded, because they have not lived-up to their promise of improving student achievement at a lower cost, and have, instead, diverted tax payer funds (including state and local funds) to some nonprofit entities that are not accountable to the public.
-Vouchers: There is no evidence that voucher programs improve student achievement, and no accountability for the public funds transferred to privately operated schools. The expansion of the EdChoice voucher program in the Executive Budget and in the substitute bill undermines public education, by diverting limited public funds away from traditional public schools.
-”Consistent progress” provision: Although this accountability provision was changed in the substitute bill, it is still not practical to implement. According to the witnesses, federal, local, and state funds are mingled when services are provided to subgroups of students. A variety of differently funded services are provided to students based on their needs, making it difficult to determine which services could be responsible for not making “satisfactory progress”. In many communities there are no organizations to partner with to provide students with services. Also, there are no provisions for holding the partnership organizations equally accountable for state funds to achieve “satisfactory progress”.
-Special education: The cost of special education programs, including catastrophic costs, are much higher than the state reimbursements. Although the substituted bill changed the catastrophic reimbursement program, $80 million for the biennium is too low. Also, the reimbursements rates for catastrophic costs are different for school districts and community schools.
-Transportation: State aid for transportation has not kept pace with the cost of buses or gasoline, or the added complexity of transporting more and more students to charter schools and private schools. The motor fuel/excise tax, which supports mass transit and school bus transportation, has not increased for several years.
-More funding for preschool is needed: The Ohio 8 recommended that $50 million in additional dollars be used to provide full-day preschool for Ohio’s three and four year old children. Preschool providers should be required to meet at least a two-star standards in the Step Up to Quality rating system. Priority should be given to districts with children who score low on the Kindergarten KRA-L assessment.
-English language learners: Students learning English need more than three years from the time that they enter the United States to learn English. In many cases these students not only have to learn English, but also must learn about going to school. Funding for these students is also subject to the “consistent progress” accountability provisions, which is not practical, because Ohio’s schools are going to be held responsible for the progress of students who might have attended schools in other states before moving to Ohio.
The testimony on Sub. HB59 is available at
http://www.ohiohouse.gov/committee/finance-and-appropriations
The State Board of Education, Debe Terhar president, met on April 8 and 9, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. Board members expressed condolences to the family of District 10 representative Jeff Hardin, who passed away on March 13, 2013, and to other members of the State Board and the Ohio Department of Education who have recently lost loved ones.
The Board welcomed Dr. Richard Ross to his first meeting of the State Board of Education as newly appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction. A formal swearing-in ceremony for Dr. Ross was held on April 8th conducted by Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Ohio Supreme Court. Dr. Ross told the Board that he is reaching out to superintendents through regional meetings of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and through weekly calls to groups of superintendents. He is also holding “open door” weekly meetings with the staff of the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to learn more about department initiatives. He will soon present to the State Board a revised mission, strategic plan, and goals to clarify a common purpose and direction for the ODE. There will also be a search to fill recent vacancies due to the resignations of Deputy Superintendent Michael Sawyers and Associate Superintendent Jim Herrholz.
The State Board also received reports from the following committees:
•The Achievement Committee, chaired by C. Todd Jones, discussed Career Connections and the definition of college and career ready.
Career Connections is a joint initiative of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, the Board of Regents, and the Ohio Department of Education. Senate Bill 316 requires that career connections learning strategies be embedded in model curricula so that students have more opportunities to identify and develop career interests and make academic and career plans. Regional working groups of teachers, curriculum experts, and school counselors are drafting the learning strategies, which will be presented to the State Board in May, and adopted in June 2013.
The committee also discussed college and career ready, and agreed that there is no desire to develop separate definitions for college ready and career ready.
•The Capacity Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, discussed the following four issues.
-States with Inadequate Licensing Standards: The committee identified five states in which teachers would not qualify for a reciprocal Ohio license. The states are Alaska, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming. This recommendation will be considered by the full Board in July 2012.
-Teacher Evaluation Framework for State Agencies: The committee recommended that teachers in state agencies be evaluated using the same framework as other teachers in Ohio. The full Board will consider this recommendation before June 30, 2013.
-Career Technical Education report card: The committee tabled a proposed report card for Career Technical Education. The committee requested that the report card for Career Technical programs be similar to the new state local report card. Incomplete data is a barrier for developing a report card for career technical programs. The committee discussed how the issue of incomplete data could be resolved.
-Update on the SEED School: A new proposal has been developed for the SEED School, which is a boarding school which will open in Cincinnati for certain eligible students. The ODE and the SEED management company are discussing the new proposal. The committee is concerned about who would own the property and assets of the school, if it closed.
Next month the committee will discuss career technical education, cut scores for the new teacher certification assessments developed by Pearson, which will be used starting in August 2013, and the SEED school.
•The Urban Committee, chaired by Angela Thi-Bennett, discussed three items: expanding comprehensive health and mental health related services for students to address non-academic barriers; the results a survey of persistently low performing schools; and a framework to support persistently low performing schools.
The committee received information from Susan Ackerman, Director of Regulatory Services at the Ohio Association of health Plans, Ms. Amy Swanson, Vice President of Marketing, Advocacy & Member Experience for United Health Care, and Ms. Toni Fortson-Bigby, Director of Consumer Advocacy at Care Source about ways to collaborate to increase student access to health services. Mr. Mark Smith, the supervisor of Medicaid programs at ODE, also participated in the presentation.
According to the presentation, Ohio’s Medicaid Program currently covers 2.2 million Ohioans, which includes 1 out of every 5 people and 2 out of every 5 children under the age of 18. There are around 105,000 Ohio children eligible, but not covered by Medicaid.
Some of the ideas presented to increase student access to health and mental health services include identifying more Medicaid eligible students; establishing a single parent consent form to allow schools to exchange information with the Medicaid plans; and leveraging the Medicaid health plan care managers to make contact with families if a child is experiencing difficulties in learning.
The committee also reviewed a summary of 7,072 responses to a survey sent to 966 persistently low performing schools by the ODE. Respondents identified comprehensive support services; reducing the nonacademic barriers for learning; and professional development as important strategies to improve student outcomes.
Dr. John Richard and the directors within the ODE Center for Accountability and Continuous Improvement shared with the committee a framework based on Ohio’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver to support persistently low performing schools. In May 2013 the Committee will review the recommendations in preparation for a full Board review.
•The Legislative and Budget Committee, chaired by Bryan Williams discussed the following nine amendments that the Ohio Department of Education submitted to the House Finance and Appropriations Committee regarding HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget:
-Community School Contract Suspension: To place a limit on the time that community school contracts can be under suspension to one full academic year.
-Multi-age Groups Pk-K: Several schools/districts are requesting to group preK and Kindergarten students. Current law only allows Montessori schools to do this. The ODE is asking lawmakers to permit all schools/districts to do this.
-Waiver consolidation: The ODE is requesting that waiver provisions be streamlined and consolidated to provide more clarity about the waivers. Currently various waiver provisions are included in several parts of the law, and are not aligned. Waivers can also be granted by the ODE, Superintendent, or State Board.
-Collection of Personally Identifiable Student Data: The State Board at their October 2012 meeting approved a motion recommending that the ODE have access to personally identifiable data of students in relation to their Student State Identification number.
-Physical Activity Pilot Program: The ODE is requesting that school buildings, rather than all schools in a district, be able to participate in the Physical Activity Pilot Program. The ODE is also requesting that schools/districts be allowed to meet the time requirements to implement the program either daily or weekly.
-HB555 Flexibility: This amendment would align the Ohio Revised Code with U.S. Department of Education’s waiver giving Ohio more flexibility to meet No Child Left Behind requirements.
-Graduation Rate Definition: This amendment would align the graduation rate included in the ORC section for assessment with the new definition of graduation rate.
-HB555: Technical amendment to correct incorrect references.
-Sponsor Termination: The ODE is requesting that it have the authority not to sponsor community schools with contracts that have been terminated by their sponsor.
The committee also discussed Ohio’s recommendations for the reauthorization of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The Legislative and Budget Committee held an additional committee meeting on March 25, 2013 to discuss the Medicaid for Schools Program and what it would take to expand services for students in Ohio. According to Mr. Williams, some individuals have estimated that Ohio could receive up to $200 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements for services that Ohio schools are providing students. One of the issues that was identified during the discussion is the amount of time that it takes for the federal Medicaid program to reimburse school districts for services. Ohio school districts and schools are currently waiting for about $56 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements for services already provided. Over half of Ohio’s school districts are not participating in the program, because of the amount of case management work involved, which includes verifying services, the qualifications of the staff, and the alignment of the services provided with a student’s individual education plan. Some districts say it just costs too much money to get the reimbursements. One of the categories for Medicaid expansion could be teachers’ aides.
•The Accountability Committee, Tom Gunlock chair, provided the Board more details about some of the decisions that the committee has been making regarding the components of the local report card. There was a discussion about using attendance as a graded component. In the new version of the report card attendance is reported, but not graded separately. Board members expressed how the attendance grade was very important to some school districts and helped them reach effective or excellent status.
On Tuesday, April 9, 2013 the State Board recognized 17 Blue Ribbon Schools in Ohio (13 public and 4 private.) The No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools Program (NCLB-BRS) is a national program that recognizes elementary and secondary schools that make significant progress in closing achievement gaps or whose students achieve at the highest levels in their state.
The Ohio Department of Education is allowed to nominate up to 14 public schools and the Council for American Private Education is allowed to nominate four school from Ohio each year. Nominations are submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. There are two categories for nomination: exemplary high performing schools and schools with exemplary improvement. Exemplary High Performing Schools are defined as performing in the top 15 percent of schools in the state as measured by state assessments in both reading and mathematics. The schools with 40 percent or more poverty may fall into either category. Schools with less than 40 percent poverty only qualify for the high performing category. At least five of Ohio’s 14 nominations must have 40 percent or more students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
This year the Ohio Department of Education nominated 13 public schools and the Council for American Private Education nominated four private schools. All were selected. State Board President Debe Terhar, presented the following schools with a special recognition from the State Board:
Arcadia High School, Arcadia Local
Bassett Elementary School, Westlake City
Butternut Elementary School, North Olmsted City
Chippewa High School, Chippewa Local
Fairbanks High School, Fairbanks Local
Hilliard Elementary School, Westlake City
Horizon Science Academy, Columbus High School, Sponsor: Lucas County ESC
Independence Primary School, Independence
Jefferson Avenue Elementary School, Shadyside Local
Lincoln Elementary, Tiffin City
Lincoln Elementary, Wadsworth City
Rocky River High School, Rocky River City
Western Reserve High School, Western Reserve Local
Youngstown Community School, Sponsor: Mahoning County ESC
St. Edward Elementary School, Ashland
St. Dominic School, Shaker Heights
Our Lady of the Elms Elementary School, Akron
Holy Family School, Stowe
The Board also received a presentation from two students, Makayla Grover and Breanna Jutte, representing the Fort Recovery School District, Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). The students were invited to the April 2013 State Board meeting by Board member Tess Elshoff, who had heard their presentation at a Fort Recovery School District board of education meeting.
The students were advocating for family and consumer science classes at their school. The students had prepared the presentation as a Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) competition event, and had earned a “gold rating” in a regional FCCLA competition in March 2013. During their presentation they expressed concern about the elimination of family and consumer science courses in schools due to budget cuts. According to the presentation, family and consumer science classes are middle and high school electives that support students as they transition to college, careers, and life, by helping students identify careers and develop skills, including financial literacy and resource management skills, interpersonal skills, and leadership skills.
Under new business Mr. Williams recommended that the State Board investigate a report alleging that an educational service center serving the Medina City Schools paid for certain expenditures for the school district without the approval of the elected board of education. President Terhar recommended that this issue be addressed by the Capacity Committee.
Mr. Williams also proposed that the State Board invite students to attend State Board meetings and showcase what they are doing in their schools. Mrs. Elshoff further recommended that the State Board invite school arts groups to perform during lunch.
During the State Board’s business meeting, members voted on the following resolutions, included in the Report and Recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
#2 Approved a Resolution of Intent to Adopt Rules 3301-28-01 TO 3301-28-06 of the Administrative Code Regarding Local Report Card Measures and to Rescind Rules 3301-58-01 TO 3301-58-03 of the Administrative Code Regarding the Value-Added Progress Dimension. (VOLUME 2, PAGE 6)
#3 Approved a Resolution of Intent to Amend Rules 3301-51-10, 3301-83-09, -10, -16, -17, -21, AND -22 and to Adopt Rule 3301-83-24 of the Administrative Code Regarding Pupil Transportation. (VOLUME 2, PAGE 21)
#14 Approved a Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-24-08 of the Administrative Code Entitled Professional or Associate License Renewal.
#15 Approved a Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-24-19 TO -22 of the Administrative Code Regarding Alternative Educator Resident Licenses. (VOLUME 3, PAGE 288)
#16 Approved a Resolution to Adopt Rule 3301-35-15 of the Administrative Code Entitled Standards Concerning the Implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion. (VOLUME 3, PAGE 304)
FYI ARTS
•Governor Appoints Robb Hankins to the Ohio Arts Council: Governor Kasich appointed last week Robert J. Hankins of Canton, Ohio to the Ohio Arts Council for a term beginning April 8, 2013, and ending July 1, 2017. Mr. Hankins is the President and CEO of ArtsinStark, a nonprofit organization that awards grants, manages the Cultural Center for the Arts in Canton, and manages the annual arts campaign, which raises funds for the Canton Ballet, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Canton Museum of Art, Players Guild Theatre, Voices of Canton, Inc., the Massillon Museum, and the Canton Palace Theatre.
Robb Hankins has spent over 30 years directing city, county, and state arts agencies in eight different states, including Wisconsin, Connecticut, California, and Oregon. He has managed annual arts campaigns, arts festivals, public art projects, arts education programs, and downtown arts districts.
•More STEM to STEAM: A guest editorial in The Seattle Times urges policy makers to add the arts to STEM education. The author, John Maeda, is an electrical engineer and computer scientist, with a doctorate in design from the Tsukuba University in Japan, and currently the president of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Growing up in Seattle, he experienced the tremendous influence of the fields of technology, art, and design on the software industry during the 1990s. He writes, “....there is great power in these fields taken separately, and even more when they are put together. It’s why I believe we need to add an “A” for art to the national STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education agenda — to turn it to STEAM.”
He goes on to say that even at an early age he understood that there was a prejudice about being accomplished in the arts. His elementary school teachers told his parents that he was good in math and the arts, but his parents only focused on math. This situation led him to focus on interdisciplinary thinking, so that he could infuse artistic design concepts into his work. As a professor at the MIT Media Lab he advocated that artists and designers write their own computer programs to create a new kind of artistic material.
He writes, “I remain convinced that artists and designers will be the innovators of this century, and that the problem-solving, the fearlessness and the critical thinking and making skills that I see every day are what is needed to keep our country competitive. Designers and artists create objects, devices and services that are more engaging, more efficient, more desirable and ultimately, more human.”
He goes on to say, “Most important, developing this creativity needs to start in the K-12 schools. Sustaining arts education in its own right remains critically important. But equally important is taking a page from schools that have been successful at integrating the arts into STEM curriculum with a STEAM approach.”
The guest editorial, “Turn STEM into STEAM with arts education” by John Maeda is in the April 6, 2013 edition of The Seattle Times at
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2020721289_johnmaedaopedxml.html
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Joan Platz
Director of Research
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
77 South High Street Second Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-446-9669 - cell
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
Arts on Line Education Update
Joan Platz
April 8, 2013
***Celebrate National Poetry Month April 2013: National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. The purpose of the monthlong celebration of poetry is to:
-Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
-Introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry
-Bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways
-Make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum
-Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
-Encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books
-Increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry
A variety of individuals, organizations, and businesses are involved in promoting National Poetry Month. Many resources are also available for teachers to use to involve students in reading and creating poetry.
Information about teacher resources and activities to promote poetry is available at
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/47
1) Ohio News
•130th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will be back in session on April 9, 2013 with hearings and sessions scheduled for the week.
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will be introducing a substitute bill for House Bill 59 (Amstutz) the FY14-15 budget bill. Representative Amstutz told reporters last week that lawmakers need more time to deliberate on some parts of the bill, and so some provisions might be removed and placed in separate legislation. House lawmakers are seeking resolutions on several controversial components of Governor Kasich’s $63.3 billion two year budget, including expanding Medicaid to cover uninsured Ohioans; cutting the income tax; expanding the sales tax and the severance tax on gas and oil drilling; and developing a state funding system for Ohio’s schools.
Some advocates for public education are urging lawmakers to make changes in HB59’s proposed state aid program for school districts. They are recommending that the state amount per pupil be raised to over $6000 in FY14, and a new per pupil amount, that represents the cost of the components of a high quality education, be developed by a bipartisan commission for FY15. Under HB59 the per pupil amount works out to be around $5000.
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet this week on April 9, 2013 at 3:00 PM; April 10, 2013 at 9:00 AM; April 11, 2013 at 9:00 AM; and April 12, 2013 at 9:00 AM. All hearings will be held in room 313 at the Statehouse. A substitute bill is expected to be introduced on April 9th.
The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on April 10, 2013 in the South Hearing Room at 10:15 AM. The committee will receive a presentation from Frank DePalma, superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center, on the history, role, and funding of ESCs. The committee will also consider for approval Governor Kasich’s appointment of Darryl Mehaffie, Angela Thi Bennett, C. Todd Jones. and Mark Smith to the State Board of Education.
•Transportation Budget Signed: Governor Kasich signed on April 1, 2013 HB51 (McGregor/Patmon) the Transportation and Public Safety Budget for FY14-15. The $7.6 billion budget includes a plan to fund statewide highway projects using $1.5 billion in Ohio Turnpike bonds. Governor Kasich vetoed a $7.5 million per year reimbursement to railroads for grade crossing maintenance. In the veto message the governor explained that this provision was already addressed in another section of the budget.
•ODE Regional Meetings: The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is hosting a series of regional meetings on recent changes for K-12 education. The ODE Division of Learning will lead sessions for teacher leaders and school district leaders around the state through April and May focusing on the following topics:
-Ohio Principal Evaluation System
-Ohio Teacher Evaluation System
-Ohio’s New Learning Standards
-Third Grade Reading Guarantee
-Next generation of assessments
-New online teacher licensing program
-Ohio Resident Educator Program
-Lesson and unit development and evaluation using content-specific rubrics aligned to the new standards
The meeting for Columbus was held on April 2, 2013. Meetings in other areas are scheduled for,
-Wednesday, April 10 in Dayton
-Friday, April 12 in Cincinnati
-Tuesday, April 16 in Cleveland
-Friday, April 19 in Youngstown
-Wednesday, May 8 in Toledo
-Friday, May 10 in Zanesville
-Thursday, May 16 in Findlay
Sessions for school districts will run from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Sessions for teacher leaders will run from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM.
To register visit the STARS website by searching the key words “Division of Learning Regional Meetings” and “Division of Learning Teacher Work Sessions” at http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1286&ContentID=3787.
•Administration will Introduce Federal Budget: President Obama will release on April 10, 2013 his administration’s FY14 budget plan, which would take effect on October 1, 2013.
According to an article in the Washington Post, the budget includes the same offer President Obama made to House Speaker John Boehner last December during talks about ways to avoid drastic budget cuts known as sequestration. That offer includes $1.8 trillion in deficit reductions through cuts in spending and tax increases. The proposed budget is expected to include cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and other measures to replace the across the board cuts made in the federal government on March 1, 2013. The budget also expands preschool programs for students from low-income and moderate income families, and includes investments in brain research. (“Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases” by Zachary A. Goldfarb and Karen Tumulty, Washington Post, Updated: Friday, April 5, 12:38 PM)
In addition to the debates that will now take place in Congress about appropriations levels for FY14, lawmakers and the White House will also have to deal with another fiscal challenge in early summer about raising the federal debt ceiling.
The President’s budget, which is usually introduced in February, was delayed this year due to continuous negotiations between the parties about FY13 allocations and the debate about sequestration, which eventually went into effect in March.
The U.S. House and Senate approved their budget plans last month. The U.S. House approved a non-binding FY14 budget sponsored by Representative Paul Ryan (House Concurrent Resolution 25: vote 221 to 207), while the U.S. Senate approved on March 23, 2013 a non-binding FY14 budget sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (Senate Concurrent Resolution 8). Both measures take different paths to balancing the national budget in the future. The Republican budget plan maintains funding for the military while decreasing funding for domestic programs, including education. It also includes a provision that would allow parents to use Title 1 funds for private schools. The Democrat’s plan increases taxes while also reducing spending, and ends sequestration cuts for education. The plan would increase funding for Title 1 and special education, and calls for more investment in early learning programs.
Budget resolutions are not binding, but do provide guidance for appropriations bills to fund federal agencies and governments. FY14 appropriations bills for all federal agencies and departments must be approved by October 1, 2013.
More information about the President’s proposed budget is available at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-budget-would-cut-entitlements-in-exchange-for-tax-increases/2013/04/05/2ee93f82-9dd6-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html?tid=pm_pop
The State Board of Education, Debbie Terhar president, will meet on April 8-9, 2013 at the Ohio Department of Education Conference Center, 25 South Front Street, Columbus, OH.
On Monday, April 8, 2013, the State Board’s agenda includes a formal swearing-in ceremony for the new Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Richard Ross, led by Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Ohio Supreme Court. Hannah News reports that Governor Kasich might also announce two appointments to the State Board. Currently the 19-member Board has two vacancies: an open “at-large” seat, formerly held by Stanley Jackson, whose term expired in December 2012, and the District 10 elected seat held by Jeff Harden, who passed away last month. (Hannah News, Friday, April 5, 2013.)
The State Board’s Achievement, Capacity, and Urban Education committees will meet on Monday morning, and the Accountability Committee will meet at 5:00 PM on Monday. The Achievement Committee will discuss college and career readiness and the Accountability Committee will discuss the new report card design.
On Monday the State Board will also conduct a 119 hearing on Rules 3301-102-09 regarding approving applicants of new internet or computer-based community schools. The State Board will then discuss Governor Kasich’s state school funding proposal included in HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget. The Board will receive testimony from the following witnesses:
-Chris Burrows, Superintendent, Georgetown Exempted Village
-Rusty Clifford, Superintendent, West Carrollton City
-Barbara Mattei-Smith, Assistant Policy Director for the Governor’s Office of 21st Century Education
-Chris Pfister, Superintendent, Waynesfield-Goshen Local
-Lori Snyder-Lowe, Superintendent, Morgan Local
The State Board will also receive a presentation from Philanthropy Ohio, led by Dr. Suzanne Allen, President, and Lisa Gray, Education Project Director.
On Tuesday, April 9, 2013 the State Board’s Legislative and Budget Committee will meet at 8:30 AM to discuss the development of the federal IDEA platform. The full Board will meet at 9:30 AM to begin its business meeting. The Board will discuss the education components in HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget; receive reports from committees; and receive the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Board will also recognize Ohio’s Blue Ribbon Schools.
In the afternoon the Board will receive public testimony on public and non-agenda items, and vote on the Recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Board will then consider old business, new business, miscellaneous business, and adjourn.
Recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
#2 Approve a Resolution of Intent to Adopt Rules 3301-28-01 TO 3301-28-06 of the Administrative Code Regarding Local Report Card Measures and to Rescind Rules 3301-58-01 TO 3301-58-03 of the Administrative Code Regarding the Value-Added Progress Dimension. (VOLUME 2, PAGE 6)
#3 Approve a Resolution of Intent to Amend Rules 3301-51-10, 3301-83-09, -10, -16, -17, -21, AND -22 and to Adopt Rule 3301-83-24 of the Administrative Code Regarding Pupil Transportation. (VOLUME 2, PAGE 21)
#14 Approve a Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-24-08 of the Administrative Code Entitled Professional or Associate License Renewal.
#15 Approve a Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-24-19 TO -22 of the Administrative Code Regarding Alternative Educator Resident Licenses. (VOLUME 3, PAGE 288)
#16 Approve a Resolution to Adopt Rule 3301-35-15 of the Administrative Code Entitled Standards Concerning the Implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion. (VOLUME 3, PAGE 304)
Information about the State Board of Education meeting is available at
http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=576&ContentID=137918&Content=142074
4) Teacher Evaluations In the News: Last week several articles were published about the new evaluations for teachers based on student achievement and other criteria, and stirred- up more national debate about this latest education reform.
•New York Times Article: On March 30, 2013 the New York Times published an article entitled “Curious Grade for Teachers: Nearly All Pass” by Jenny Anderson. The article explains that nearly half of the states now require new teacher evaluation systems to provide meaningful and critical information to administrators to “weed-out” poor teachers. However, when the teacher evaluations were completed this year using the more rigorous evaluation systems, Florida still rated 97 percent of teachers as effective; Tennessee found that 98 percent of teachers were “at expectations”; and in Michigan 98 percent of teachers were rated effective or better.
The article notes that the “rosy” results are “worrisome” considering the millions of dollars that have been spent developing the new systems, and the thousands of hours that have been used to train principals and others to evaluate teachers using the new criteria, including student academic growth.
Some experts opine that the high stakes consequences of the evaluations - in some states teachers with ineffective ratings over time can lose their jobs - and the amount of flux that has been occurring in assessments and standards, have made principals more cautious about giving teachers low marks.
Others believe that some states have set the academic growth bar too low, so that it raises the ratings of teachers rather than helps to identify weaker teachers.
Some teachers and principals are also raising questions about the consistency and fairness of using student test score results to evaluate teachers, because they believe that there is no scientific evidence for rating teacher effectiveness based on student academic growth.
The article is entitled “Curious Grade for Teachers: Nearly All Pass” by Jenny Anderson, New York Times, March 30, 2013 at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/education/curious-grade-for-teachers-nearly-all-pass.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
•Bill Gates on Teacher Evaluations: Then on April 3, 2013 Bill Gates added to the national discussion about teacher evaluations by publishing an opinion piece in the Washington Post. (“Bill Gates: A Fairer Way to Evaluate Teachers”, by Bill Gates, Washington Post Opinions, April 3, 2013.)
According to the column, “Efforts are being made to define effective teaching and give teachers the support they need to be as effective as possible. But as states and districts rush to implement new teacher development and evaluation systems, there is a risk they’ll use hastily contrived, unproven measures. One glaring example is the rush to develop new assessments in grades and subjects not currently covered by state tests. Some states and districts are talking about developing tests for all subjects, including choir and gym, just so they have something to measure.”
Mr. Gates then refers to Ohio’s 165 page PE assessment as an example of an excessive use of testing, and states that he “understands” teachers’ “concerns and frustrations”, when student test scores are used as the primary basis for making decisions about “firing, promoting and compensating teachers.”
Mr. Gates recommends that teacher evaluation systems provide feedback that teachers can trust, and “...include multiple measures of performance, such as student surveys, classroom observations by experienced colleagues and student test results.”
•Anthony Cody's Responds: In response to Mr. Gates’ Washington Post column, Anthony Cody writes in Education Week’s “Living in the Dialogue” blog that, “No one in America has done more to promote the raising of stakes for test scores in education than Bill Gates”. His influence (billions of dollars) on the U.S. Department of Education, the Data Quality Council, the National Council on Teacher Quality, and groups such as Teach Plus has led to labeling schools as failures; closing neighborhood public schools; narrowing the curriculum; using test scores as a significant component for evaluating teachers; and promoting charter schools and voucher programs.
Mr. Cody then states that Mr. Gates’ Washington Post column “...amounts to an attempt to distance the Gates Foundation from the asinine consequences of the policies they have sponsored, while accepting no responsibility for them whatsoever.”
The blog is entitled “Bill Gates Dances Around the Teacher Evaluation Disaster He Sponsored” by Anthony Cody, Education Week Living in the Dialogue Blog, on April 4, 2013 3:32 PM and is available at
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/bill_gates_dances_around_the.html
For more comments about teacher evaluations please read the following posts:
-Valerie Strauss “Wrecking physical ed: Ohio’s P.E. assessment for kids” by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, posted on April 5, 2013 at 10:06 AM.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/05/wrecking-physical-ed-ohios-p-e-assessment-for-kids/
-Diane Ravitch “Cody: Time to Hold Bill Gates Accountable” by Diane Ravitch, posted on April 6, 2013 at http://dianeravitch.net/2013/04/06/cody-time-to-hold-bill-gates-accountable/
HB113 (Antonio/Henne) High School Physical Education: Allows school districts and chartered nonpublic schools to excuse from high school physical education students who participate in a school-sponsored athletic club.
SB96 (LaRose) High School Social Studies Curriculum: Requires one unit of world history in the high school social studies curriculum.
FYI ARTS
•Governor’s Appointment: Governor Kasich announced last week the appointment of James F. Dicke, II of New Bremen to the Ohio Arts Council for a term beginning on April 5, 2013 and ending on July 1, 2017. Mr. Dicke is the chairman and chief executive officer of Crown Equipment Corporation. He is also recognized as an artist and photographer in his own right. He graduated from Trinity University, Texas, in 1986 with a B.S. in Business Administration, and has served as a trustee at Trinity University and chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1997-2000. He is recognized for his art collections and philanthropic contributions, including support for the Dicke Art Building in the Ruth Taylor Fine Arts Center, at Trinity University. He has also been chairman of the Commissioners of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is Chairman Emeritus of the Dayton Art Institute.
•More on STEAM Schools: The Tri-City Herald in the state of Washington reports that the Pasco City board of education is considering building two new elementary schools that will focus on the STEAM educational model. (“Pasco School Board Wants to See If New Schools Can Focus Around STEM, STEAM Programs” by Ty Beaver, Tri-City Herald, March 30, 2013)
All of the subjects taught in the new schools would focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and also include the arts (STEAM). According to principal Deidre Holmberg, students would not only learn to paint, but learn to make their own paints. Students studying the oboe would also understand how it works. Currently STEM subjects are integrated in the middle and high school curricula. This effort would ensure that students in the early grades would also have a STEM/STEAM integrated curriculum starting in Kindergarten.
The article is available at
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/03/30/2335906/pasco-school-board-wants-to-see.html
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Joan Platz
Director of Research
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
77 South High Street Second Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-446-9669 - cell
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