6/30/08
Dispatch Blog
Jennifer Smith Richards
Training educators to teach Chinese, which is a difficult language, isn’t a simple task.
A student I talked to for a story about a Chinese immersion day camp at Metro High School that ran last week told me there is little difference between saying “Chinese dumpling” and “I want to eat sleep.” (Read […]

6/30/08
Columbus Dispatch Blog
Jennifer Smith Richards
Some states are moving their standardized testing online, or at least portions of it.
Not Ohio.
While, in past years, the state has said it was toying with the idea and seriously exploring how it might work, that dream apparently has died along with funding for such exploration.
Ohio Department of Education spokeswoman Karla […]

6/29/08
Plain Dealer Letter
Alicia Kundtz
The Ohio School Facilities Commis sion provides partial state funding to build and renovate schools.
The declining economy has had a severe impact on districts’ abilities to pass levies to pay the local share of the project costs. So, they ask, “Can we do one building at a time? We can get behind […]

6/27/08
Columbus Dispatch
Simone Sebastian
Columbus schools will seek a combined operating levy and bond issue in the fall that would extend and expand current offerings and fund more school construction.
But after residents expessed concern about a grade-reconfiguration plan that would have eliminated all of the district’s middle schools, district leaders have scaled it back.
Superintendent Gene Harris today […]

6/27/08
Columbus Dispatch Editorial
By calling for flexibility in Ohio primary and secondary education, Gov. Ted Strickland is injecting pragmatism into the debate over how best to prepare young Ohioans for the future.
With an open-minded approach, Ohio can show that it’s possible to use high expectations and strict accountability to help all children learn and send more […]