Ohio needs to revamp policies for low-performing public schools, commentary contends

While federal law guarantees every Ohio student a public education, its quality varies drastically by school, a recent commentary notes.

“Every student deserves to attend an excellent school that prepares them for life after high school,” writes Aaron Churchill, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Ohio research director. “Unfortunately, thousands of Ohio students attend subpar schools that rob them of opportunities for success.”

To address this, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) has requested a waiver and accompanying amendments to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to “reduce unnecessary administrative burden and allow districts and the state to direct more resources into high-impact strategies,” according to its website.

“DEW’s tougher stance opens the door to actions that lead to better outcomes, yet the proposal received nothing but scorn from the public school establishment,” Churchill laments.

“If their complaints prevail and the department walks back its proposal (not yet finalized), low-performing schools will be allowed to continue poorly educating students without serious accountability or consequence.”

‘Bolder efforts’ needed to restructure, close low-performing schools

As previously reported by Heartlander News, a survey of economists blamed the state’s lackluster job growth on “misalignment” between public school education and workforce preparation.

“It has always been important for graduates to leave school with the work-ready skills (communication, responsibility, integrity, leadership, teamwork, etc.) that can spell the difference between success and failure in a career,” Bill LaFayette from Regionomics concluded.

“But now with the pace of technological change, schools need to keep up with the rapidly evolving needs of business, and graduates need to recognize that they must keep their skills current or run the risk of irrelevance.”

However, the current system fails to provide enough follow-through for schools failing their students, according to Churchill.

“While ESSA obligates states to help low-performing schools improve, the law does not prescribe how precisely to execute that assistance,” he explains.

“In Ohio’s initial–and still current–ESSA plan, state officials mention things such as light-touch ‘supports’ from regional educational service centers and vague ‘improvement reviews’ … . Nothing, however, is mentioned about bolder efforts to more fundamentally restructure low-performing schools or permanently close them.”

These schools reach “comprehensive support and improvement” (CSI) status when their graduation rates fall below 67% or they rank in the bottom 5% statewide, Churchill explains.

“DEW’s ESSA amendment is a critical step toward fixing what ails these public institutions,” he argues. “Ohio policymakers should disregard the critics, dig in their heels, and start the hard work of turning around the state’s most troubled schools.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has granted a record number of waivers, allowing states to use federal funds as they see fit.