Friday, January 08, 1999
Schools assessment has praise for KERA
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Education programs in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio are doing a better job than more than half the nation's states in academics, teacher quality and adequacy of funding, a new study finds.
But in school climate — which includes class size, student attendance, parent involvement and school autonomy — Kentucky ranked 34th and Ohio was 47th. Indiana was 18th.
The analysis, released Thursday, was done by the staff of Education Week, a magazine that focuses on elementary and secondary schools, and was underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trusts. It used public records and interviews with hundreds of educators and policy makers.
While the 206-page report gives Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio credit for setting good academic standards, it focused on the failure of most states to take action against schools that perform badly.
Only five states, Indiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas, have a complete system for rewarding and punishing schools, the magazine said. Kentucky was not included in that designation because its education reform system is in transition.
Here's what the report said about our states:
Kentucky
It was in 1990 that the state adopted the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). “And though ever-evolving, that new system... has proved to be much more than a short-term fix for schools,” the report said.
The report also said Kentucky's move this year to create a new test and more accountability shows KERA's strength, a statement state educators were happy to see.
“It's fairly unusual for KERA, which was really a change that affected so many people in so many profound ways, to withstand the criticism and opposition as well as it has,” said Jim Parks, spokesman for the Kentucky Education Department.
What educators don't like about the report is Kentucky's school climate rating of a D-.
“Kentucky does have minimum standards for class size and we've gotten parents involved with the school councils,” Southgate Schools Superintendent Bernie Sandfoss said. “The strength of the PTAs and the parents have done good stuff.”
Education Week interviewed only 120 teachers for that category, used to describe an atmosphere conducive to learning, Mr. Parks said. And the report does not count site-based councils as parent involvement, which is where Kentucky puts much of its parent involvement efforts.
Nationally, the report ranked Kentucky 11th in academic
standards; fifth in efforts to improve teacher quality; and 34th in school climate. In the area of financial resources, Kentucky was 18th in adequacy of funding; 30th in funding allocation and 30th in funding equity.
Indiana
“Indiana took a big step toward toughening graduation standards in the 1997-98 school year by administering to all 10th-graders a new test they will have to pass” before they can leave high school, the report said.
But almost half of the sophomores who took the test failed.
Remediation guides for math and English teachers were published, but teachers and education officials are disappointed there is not more money to help students pass the graduation exam. Gov. Frank O'Bannon set aside $5 million to help the Class of 2000 pass the test.
Nationally, the report ranked Indiana 24th in academic standards; 12th in efforts to improve teacher quality; 18th in school climate. In the area of financial resources, Indiana was seventh in adequacy of funding; 22nd in funding allocation and 21st in funding equity.
Ohio
Ohio's revision of its school funding formula got low marks from the report, which cited weaknesses.
Lawmakers worked against a tight deadline to create an equitable funding plan after a March 1997 state supreme court ruling called for an overhaul.
By adopting a baseline education cost lower than the $4,063 determined to be the ideal amount to spend for each student, legislators showed they are still calculating school funding after determining what's left after other items are paid for, William L. Phillis, director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, said in the report. His group filed the 1991 lawsuit that led to the supreme court's 1997 decision.
This year's base funding is $3,851 per student, with scheduled increases to reach $4,414 by 2002. This funding plan has yet to pass a scheduled review by the supreme court, to see whether it meets requirements of the 1997 ruling.
The state did receive praise for starting to use school and district report cards, to tell the public how well each school building is performing.
Nationally, the report ranked Ohio 17th in academic standards; 23rd in efforts to improve teacher quality; and 47th in school climate. In the area of financial resources, Ohio was 11th in adequacy of funding; 41st in funding allocation and 39th in funding equity.
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