6/24/08
Columbus Dispatch Blog
Simone Sebastian
There’s a lot of flap over the administrative changes at Africentric. The people in the school’s four top seats are being replaced and the structure of the administration is being overhauled. Some fear the changes are the beginning of an effort to oust the school’s Africentric theme.
Out are principals Bob Murphy (over […]

6/24/08
Columbus Dispatch Blog
Jennifer Smith Richards
A report released today by the Center on Education Policy points out that, since 2002 when No Child Left Behind hit schools, student achievement in math and reading is up in most states. And the achievement gap between black and white students is narrowing, the report says.
Ohio’s included. Here, students are […]

6/24/08
Plain Dealer Letter
The June 19 editorial “High-stakes tests are useful” perpetuates several harmful myths.
Most educators do not oppose high-stakes testing out of fear, but because the practice has a long record of failure and creates devastating collateral damage in terms of motivation, curriculum, learning, physical and mental health, student behavior, democracy and the burnout and […]

6/23/08
Columbus Dispatch
Charlie Boss
A glitch in the school-funding formula awarded some districts extra money and shortchanged others.
But fixing it will cost 188 districts statewide a total of $6.4 million, and 17 of the districts are in central Ohio.
As school officials prepare to close the books for the 2008 fiscal year, which ends June 30, those districts […]

6/23/08
Columbus Dispatch 
Jennifer Smith Richards
Teacher Mohamed Moallin makes sure ESL students grasp science concepts as he tutors them for the graduation test.
Mohamed Moallin stands at the chalkboard and, in a thick accent, says words such as phenotypes and heterozygous to a roomful of students who are still learning to speak English.
Down the hall at the Welcome […]