by Jason on March 4, 2010
According to an article in today’s Columbus Dispatch, Ohio is among the top finalists to receive money from the federal government through the “Race To the Top” program to increase achievement in our state. In the application, Ohio states that it will:
The state’s goals include: increasing the high school graduation rate to 88 percent, up 2 percent; reducing graduation rate gaps between minority and majority students by 50 percent; reducing performance gaps on state and national assessments by 50 percent; and reducing by half the gap between Ohio and the best performing states in the nation on national reading and math tests.
As an educator at the secondary and post-secondary levels, it is my opinion that we must focus most of our energy on reducing the achievement gap between majority and minority students. As we all know, there are a plethora of reasons for which this gap exists, but that does not mean that we should ever rest in our efforts to erase this gap.
More research must be done to develop new and innovative ways to reach all of our students. Until we can claim that our minority students score equal to the Caucasian students on measures such as grades, graduation rate, and standardized testing, then we continue to fail those students that need the most help.
by Jason on March 6, 2009
It’s almost time once again for Ohio schools to beg for funding from their communities. The case of Canal Winchester is particularly dire. According to the Columbus Dispatch”
Canal Winchester schools sent notices to 23 teachers that they will lose their jobs if the school levy does not pass on May 5.
This school district has already made major cuts to their budget, including bussing. In fact, due to their lack of school transportation, Canal Winchester has had to cancel classes due to the inclement weather much more often than other surronding school districts.
Without going into great detail, we all know that Ohio school funding is a disaster. There are many issues that I do not want to go into detail to at this point, but I simply wanted to say that pressure needs to be put on the state to develop a better way to fund our local schools. As it is now, the students are the ones that suffer the consequences of the inaction of the Strickland administration and the state legislature. It’s time to to pressure our government, and the far too influential National Education Association into figuring a solution that works for Ohio’s students.
by Jason on February 21, 2009
As a blogger and an educator, I am very aware of the importance of the right to free speech. In the world of blogging, not only is it important to be accurate in what you write, bit it is perhaps just as important that you have the freedom to write on a number of topics. Throughout the world, other governmental entities attempt to limit what its citizens read, write, and have access to in an effort to affect the right of people to have access to a variety of news sources, not just those brought to us by the government.
As an educator, the right to free speech is just as important. It is paramount that those in academia have the priveledge to research a number of topics and to bring that information to the public. Outspoken Media is an organization that began its work in 1988. For over ten years, this group has worked globally to help people begin media ventures, on and off line. One of their main goals is to give the right to be heard to as many people as possible. Through education it works to attain those goals.
When I was little, I remember learning the “snow dance” and in particular I remember in elementary school when we must have had some sort of assembly, a teacher taught all of us how to perform the snow dance. I remember thinking that he must have some kind of magical powers because amazingly enough, we had a snow day the next day. Being young and naive, it never entered my mind that maybe he had checked the weather reports before that assembly.