The presentation slides and related materials from KidsOhio.org’s May 7, 2008 Columbus Metropolitan Club forum-”Creating a Portfolio of High-Performing Schools: What Columbus is Already Doing and What We Can Learn from other Communities”-are now available. The program featured David Ferrero, Senior Education Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Josh Edelman, Director of New Schools for the Chicago Public Schools; and Abigail Wexner, KidsOhio.org Board Chair…

The Plain Dealer
3/12/2008
School districts returning to the ballot box in August or November, as many are sure to do, must focus their tax requests on their needs, not their desires.
There’s no other way to sell a tax increase, or in many cases a renewal, to a cautious public with money problems of its own […]

 By Tamar Lewin
The New York Times
3/13/2008
American students’ math achievement is “at a mediocre level” compared with that of their peers worldwide, according to a new report by a federal panel. The panel said that math curriculums from preschool to eighth grade should be streamlined to focus on key skills - the handling of whole numbers […]

 By Jennifer Smith Richards
The Columbus Dispatch
3/12/2008
The state’s largest teachers union urged its members to speak out against a hike that more than tripled the cost of a five-year teaching license.
Thousands of teachers e-mailed State Board of Education members, either by filling out a form or crafting their own, cramming members’ inboxes and crippling some […]

 Critics count 5 in 4 years; district says 42
By Bill Bush
The Columbus Dispatch
3/12/2008
A national campaign launched yesterday by an advocacy group called the Center for Union Facts needs to do a little more fact-checking, Columbus school district officials said yesterday.
The center said teacher contracts nationally are keeping bad teachers on the job, and […]