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2018 Ohio School Report Cards fail to account for local perspective

September 13, 2018
Democratic Newsroom

Today the State of Ohio released the 2018 annual Ohio School Report Cards. State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), the House Democratic Caucus education lead, believes we need a new state report card system to assess student performance and other measures for school districts.

“Local control and the local perspective is needed to adequately determine the success or growth opportunities for Ohio’s students and educators,” said Rep. Fedor. “Ohio has many different communities. There is no one size fits all approach. We need to be more responsive and responsible in issuing grade cards.”

According to the Ohio Association of Comprehensive and Compact Career Technical Schools (Ohio CCS), Ohio has 91 Career Technical Planning Districts and three career-technical delivery models at the secondary education level focusing on workforce development. The “Prepared for Success” component of the CTE Report Card, however, only includes credentials related to “Ohio’s In-Demand Occupations.” Institutions successfully preparing students for careers will be penalized with low component grades, even if students obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the workforce.

“The current report cards unfairly punish schools, students, and Ohio’s economy,” said Fedor.

Pointing to the role poverty can play in academic performance, Rep. Fedor said the Ohio School Report Cards A-F measurement doesn’t accurately reflect whether administrators and educators are working hard to address the complex challenges within their buildings.

“This GOP scam is just another way to slowly privatize our public school system. Applying a state-based standard to community specific issues opens the door for more school take overs and conversions to charter schools,” added Fedor. “We need to let our school districts have a stronger voice in evaluating their performance based on the specific needs of their school.”

Rep. Fedor is a former educator and an outspoken proponent of public education.