Representative Matt Huffman (R-Lima) held a press conference on Monday, December 12, 2011 to outline changes to a proposed statewide voucher program. The “PACT” scholarship program was proposed in House Bill 136 which had narrowly passed the House Education Committee and has yet to reach the House Floor. OEA strongly opposes HB 136, a bill [...] Continue reading → “Why is Congress Redlining Our Schools?” is Linda Darling-Hammond’s incisive piece on No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and the marginalization of our poorest children in the Nation (www.thenation.com) magazine’s most recent issue. There are many things in the Darling-Hammond piece that surprised me, such as why the U.S. ranks so low in international education rankings – poverty! – and how the Reagan revolution dismantled reforms that really worked in the 1970s. Continue reading → House Bill 153, signed into law on June 30, 2011, significantly changes the way teachers in Ohio will be evaluated. HB 153 creates mandates at both the state and local level that will shape teacher evaluation policy development and teacher evaluation practices and procedures over the next several years. If we commit to take the lead as the architects of this process in each of our districts, we can build high quality local teacher evaluation systems that work for our teachers and their students and strengthen the teaching profession. Continue reading → A newly released report highlights incentives that can be much more effective in attracting and retaining quality teachers than simple merit pay programs. The report shows how merit pay programs that reward teachers based on their students’ standardized test scores do little to improve student achievement and offers information on other incentives that could be more successful. Learn more at www.greatlakescenter.org. Continue reading → Larger class sizes and cut backs on supplemental services have negative consequences for students with special needs. As a special education teacher, parents not only trust me to educate their child; they also want me to make sure their child is safe. Issue 2 will hurt our students, not only their education, but their safety too. For me, that’s just too much to risk, which is why I am voting NO on Issue 2. Continue reading → Educators step up to do their part by providing the stable, nurturing, inspiring environment that makes it possible to reach each student individually. If we are serious about preparing all young people—from pre-K to high school to college and beyond—then we all need to work together, but some Columbus politicians think they’re excused from the kinds of sacrifices we’ve all had to make. Simply put, the rules don’t apply to them. That’s not fair to my students, their families or mine—and that’s why I am voting NO on Issue 2 to repeal Senate Bill 5. Continue reading → My name is Tina Adams, and I am the lunch lady. Every school day for the past 27 years, I have cooked healthy meals and nutritious treats to feed hundreds of hungry kids. For many of my students, the food I serve may be the only meals they receive all day. I keep my students’ bellies full, so teachers can feed their minds. My current salary is just under $20,000 a year, which has grown only a measly amount since I started as a school food service worker nearly three decades ago. Falling under the federal poverty level, my annual salary is so low that it ironically qualifies me for food stamps. Continue reading → Judith Krug2011 © American Library Association Another school year has begun and before you know it will be time to celebrate Banned Books Week (BBW), Sept 24-Oct 1. BBW was started in 1982 by American librarian and anti-censorship activist, the late Judith Krug, in response to the number of books that were being challenged in [...] Continue reading → Many of our students do not know life as it was before 9/11. September 11th is a day that they’ve heard about but neither remember nor fully understand. Because 9/11 falls on a Sunday, you will need to plan activities for the Friday before or the week after. There isn’t much time to pull ideas together so here are a few quick suggestions. Continue reading → My name is Sophia Rodriguez, and I am the American dream. The daughter of a migrant worker, my parents came to Mercer County in the ‘50s so they could build a better life for me and my three siblings. I vividly remember that day my mother received her GED—I was in the eighth grade and [...] Continue reading → 