It was about 10 p.m. when I received a voice mail from Jeff Langdon.  Jeff is superintendent of the Deer Park City School District which borders the northern edge of Cincinnati, Ohio.  I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was excited.  In his message, he told me that he was driving home from a coffee discussion held at the home of one of his residents.  A dozen citizens participated in the informal discussion which focused for much of the time on the usual school stuff:  district finances, passage of the district’s recent operating levy and student academic performance.  Then, just before concluding the discussion, Jeff commented that “the next time we get together we need to talk about the future of Ohio’s public schools which are currently being slowly dismantled by our education policymakers.”  He said they wouldn’t allow the conversation to end there and asked him to be more specific about what he meant. Responding to their request, he cited the fact that a significant portion of their tax dollars is not staying in Deer Park.  It is going to charter schools.  Jeff said everyone sat… Continue reading →

This week end, I was sent a cartoon – courtesy of Kenji Matsudo, Assistant Superintendent, Madeira City Schools – which captures the essence of one of my recent blogs.  Madeira is involved in the grass roots initiative to provide Ohio’s citizens with a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy.  In my blog, I pointed to “a great irony” that is now taking place in education.  While leaders of the education reform movement in our country are trying to model our education system after countries whose students have historically outperformed America’s students on high-stakes tests, some of those very countries are trying to make their education system more like ours.  For example, internationally known scholar and author, Dr. Young Zhao, explains that even though China has an effective system to prepare students to pass exams, unless the Chinese only want obedient, compliant and homogeneous workers, they know they have to shift the emphasis of their educational system.  According to Dr. Zhao, the West is where China is working to find the inspiration it desperately needs for this new educational focus.  With Kenji’s permission, below is the cartoon and his insightful commentary:

This morning, I received an email from Brad Neavin, superintendent of the Vandalia-Butler City Schools. Brad is one the leaders of the superintendent-led initiative to provide Ohio citizens with a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy.

Brad’s email to me

Corky – Just wanted to share what I sent out to staff today.  This was an item as part of several that I sent as an update.  I’ve received several thank you’s from staff members.  I am in my 30th year and the state of education in Ohio is the worst I have seen.

His email to his staff

Happy Friday!

I wanted to provide you with some updates and thoughts as we finish off what has been a short but busy week here in VBCSD.

On Thursday, selected teachers and students throughout our district will participate in a test of our technology infrastructure to determine if our network, our A-Site, and our internet provider are ready for the ramp up of the actual testing.   As I am sure you are aware, there are many concerns about the testing – including the question of the capacity of technologies to handle the tasks.  … Continue reading →

If you are concerned that our school children are spending too much time preparing for and taking high stakes tests, it is now time to contact your members of Congress and let them know how you feel.  This morning, Madeira City Schools Superintendent Steve Kramer pointed me to an article in the Washington Post announcing that the U.S. Senate will focus on testing as it begins debate on the education law.  The reporter writes that “the Senate began its most serious attempt in years to rewrite the country’s main education law with a hearing Wednesday focusing on an issue that has caused an uproar nationwide: Whether states should be required to test students every year.”  I know that it may sound trite but contrary to what some people may think most of our elected representatives are trying to a good job and they will listen to what we have to say.  Besides, drawing upon the quote in 1765 from John Lewis, a poor Alabama farmer, “If not us, who?  If not now, when?”

Ohio’s superintendent-led initiative to provide citizens a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy received a positive shot in the arm last week.  On Tuesday, I had an opportunity to lead my first book discussion of America’s Schools at a Turning Point:  And how we THE PEOPLE can help shape their future. It was hosted by the Sycamore City Schools and included 60 school board members, school administrators, teachers and community leaders from  22 school districts in the Cincinnati area.  What came through loud and clear in our two-hour conversation resonates with what I’ve seen bubbling up and coming to a head during the past year throughout Ohio.  Our educators are tired of being thrown under the bus by the leaders of our nation’s education reform movement.  They are tired of being demeaned for the work they are doing and they are tired being left out of the process of creating education policy to improve their schools.  There are even indications that some of our school board members are ready to draw a line in the sand and say “thanks but no thanks” to the reforms that are… Continue reading →

Building principals in the Kirtland Local School District in Kirtland, Ohio, recently hosted parent meetings to talk about the upcoming PARCC tests which are being used to measure student performance against the Common Core Standards.  At the end of each discussion session, the parents completed feedback forms so they could share their feelings about these newly created high stakes tests.  Kirtland Superintendent Steve Barrett who also attended the parent meetings provides this report on what Kirtland’s parents had to say:

As I reported in an earlier blog, 60 superintendents met in Columbus on November 21 of last year to discuss an initiative that I believe will prove to be historically significant for the children who attend Ohio’s public schools.  The initiative is to provide citizens with a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy, and it is being led by a coalition of superintendents from 29 school districts in the Buckeye State.  Following the November meeting, I asked the participants to share their insights and suggestions, and here is what I learned. The vast majority of superintendents are well aware that Ohio’s public schools are being overwhelmed by our state’s education reform movement and many, if not most, of them clearly realize the urgency of the situation and believe it is time for them to do something about it. There is also widespread support for expanding this grass roots initiative to include other school districts in Ohio.  While many of the superintendents who met in Columbus intend to utilize the educational documentary, “Rise Above the Mark,” and the book, America’s Schools at a Turning Point, as tools for setting the stage for… Continue reading →

Yesterday, Firelands (Ohio) Local Schools Superintendent Bob Hill took a simple but important step in exposing to the American people how the education reform movement is impacting our public schools.  He suggested on his school district blog that citizens in his community take advantage of two “valuable sources of information” about what is happening.  Here is what he wrote:

This morning, I road tested a new website designed to help citizens in Ohio better understand how the 400 publicly-funded charter schools in their state compare to their traditional public schools.  The website is called KnowYourCharter.com.  For my road test, I selected my alma mater, the Milton-Union Exempted Village Schools.  A 1,500-student district located 12 miles north of Dayton, Milton-Union not only lost $252,223 this year in state funding to publicly-funded charter schools but received less in state funding than all of its charter school counterparts.  While Milton-Union received $4,115 per student, state funding per student for eight area charter schools was as follows:  Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow ($6,440), Virtual Community School of Ohio ($6,131), Ohio Connections Academy, Inc. ($6,142), Pathway School of Discovery ($6,435), Life Skills Center of Dayton ($8,046), Greater Ohio Virtual School ($6,484), Mound Street Health Careers Academy ($8,076) and Summit Academy Transition High School of Dayton ($16,745).  Statewide, Ohio’s public schools are losing more than $900 million a year in state funding to publicly-funded charter schools.

This past Friday, something really important happened in Ohio.  On November 21, sixty superintendents met in Columbus to discuss an initiative that I believe will prove to be historically significant for the children who attend Ohio’s public schools.  The initiative is to provide citizens with a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy, and it is being led by a coalition of superintendents from 29 school districts in the Buckeye State.  While I will be contacting all of the meeting participants to gain additional insight into the impact of what was discussed, this is my initial takeaway from what occurred.  First, I think that Friday’s discussion is ultimately going to make a significant difference for our children.  By giving citizens a stronger voice in determining education policy, they will be able to address with Ohio’s education policymakers the fact that our children are being over tested, our teachers are physically exhausted and emotionally demoralized, and our tax dollars are being diverted to the corporate sector to replace our public schools with a privately managed, free-market system of education.  Second, the meeting validated the hard work of this superintendent-led coalition and has given the initiative… Continue reading →