8/19/08

Jennifer Smith Richards

Columbus Dispatch

Schools can’t educate children without significant help from their communities, a state schools commission says.

The Public-Private Collaborative Commission, convened last year after the lawmakers adopted a tougher curriculum that requires students to take more math and science, says the way the state thinks about education has to change. It issued a report yesterday saying so and pushing for schools, superintendents and their communities to make improving education a priority.

The report doesn’t seek changes in law or call for specific tweaks to state education policy.

Headed by Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris and Nationwide CEO Jerry Jurgensen, the commission recommended that Ohio:

teach superintendents how to create better community partnerships.

extend learning time for students.

make dropout prevention, intervention and recovery a priority in every district.

“What’s being talked about here is a change in our culture,” said Gov. Ted Strickland in accepting the recommendations.

One of the commission’s specific ideas was to create a longer school day, although not necessarily by extending time inside the classroom. Harris suggested internships and specialized programs that go beyond basics, such as robotics competitions.

“No one believes that children should stop learning when the bell rings at the end of the day,” Harris said. “We’re still on an agrarian calendar as if our children are farming. They’re not.”

The report acknowledges that prioritizing community and parent involvement, investing in at-risk students and providing more options will be expensive, but the commission didn’t attach dollar amounts to their ideas. Instead, the focus was on encouraging leaders to find their own ways to improve schools.

It’s time for people to “stop pointing their fingers and saying ‘It’s your job to educate our kids,’ ” Jurgensen said.

Senate Education Committee chairwoman Joy Padgett said the governor must be a “pied piper” to spread the urgency of improving education through partnerships. Padgett, a Coshocton Republican, said it’s up to local communities to force change, and the commission’s report is important because it shows that school leaders are starting to embrace that idea.

“The legislature can’t create a new culture of learning. That has to happen at the local level,” she said.