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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > October > 31
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Editorial: Ohio can’t blow chance to get help for schools
Republican Sen. Jon Husted, of Kettering, sees a way to get some things he wants by getting behind President Barack Obama’s ideas for education.
Specifically, he introduced legislation last month that would lift Ohio’s moratorium on new charter schools. A passionate supporter of charter schools, he cited the U.S. Department of Education’s plan to award $4.35 billion to states that are in sync with federal education policy. He said Ohio’s cap on these publicly funded, but privately run, alternative schools might prevent the state from competing for the money.
Democrats are confident that Ohio stacks up well when measured against the education priorities outlined by President Obama, and they aren’t worried about not qualifying. But they can’t take any chances — if only because Gov. Ted Strickland is counting on getting a chunk of the so-called “Race to the Top” money to fund portions of his education reform plan that was approved earlier this year.
Since those changes were passed, federal priorities have gotten more explicit. The state can still do better in showing that it’s committed to following the president’s lead.
Here’s what President Obama is focused on:
Standards and assessment
Gov. Strickland’s plan made strides in this area, ordering a revision of the state’s academic standards and tests. Overall, this could be a strong area for the state, but the new testing and assessment programs are far from ready, and some people question whether an education department hammered by budget cuts can rework them any time soon.
Data systems to support instruction
Ohio collects lots of education data and does that better than many other states. But it does not always do an effective job of helping teachers use the data to improve instruction. New thinking about how the data system operates is needed.
Great teachers and leaders
Gov. Strickland’s plan took many steps toward improving teacher quality by strengthening standards and evaluation and lengthening the tenure process. But there’s more to do.
Sen. Husted, for instance, would clear the way for programs like Teach for America to come to Ohio. That celebrated program places top college graduates in needy schools, and the Obama administration is a fan of it and others like it.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has also expressed support for teacher evaluation systems that explicitly consider student test performance as part of teachers’ evaluations. Ohio has mostly avoided having this debate or encouraging merit pay.
Struggling schools
The U.S. Department of Education says it wants to see aggressive plans to turn around the lowest performing schools. Lifting the charter cap and allowing good schools of all kinds to be replicated would likely please federal grant makers.
But more than that, Ohio’s efforts to shake up failing schools by bringing in all new staff have mostly fallen flat. An aggressive new approach is definitely needed, and “Race to the Top” money could provide an opportunity to try other approaches.
There is no guarantee Ohio will win some of these dollars. It has to stand out as a reformer. Secretary Duncan has warned that only a small number of truly innovative states will make the cut.
By taking Sen. Husted’s bill seriously and expanding it to address Ohio’s weaknesses, the state increases its chances of getting cash that can pay for reforms it should want to do anyway.
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