Alternatives

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Exploring the range of alternatives to traditional education practices and policy.

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March 11, 2013

Ohio Charter Schools Let Students Who Fail Graduation Tests Earn Out-Of-State Diplomas

Adam Schwegler / Flickr Can’t pass the Ohio Graduation Tests? No problem, some charter schools say. You can still graduate. At some Ohio charter schools, if a student can’t pass Ohio’s five graduation exams — in reading, writing, math, science and social studies — the schools enroll them in a series of correspondence courses through an [...]

February 17, 2013

Reuters: Charter Schools Screen Out the Students They Don’t Want

_Bunn_ / Flickr Charter schools use a range of practices to ensure only the “right” kind of students get in, Reuters reports. Those practices can include mandatory family interviews, long application processes and demands for Social Security cards and birth certificates. And they sometimes put charter schools in violation of state and federal law, Reuters reports. In Ohio, federal [...]

February 4, 2013

Kasich Education Plan Would Make Half of Ohio Children Eligible for Private-School Vouchers

Philip Howard / Flickr Nearly half of Ohio students would be eligible for vouchers to attend private schools under a dramatic expansion of the state’s existing voucher programs proposed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich in this year’s budget. Vouchers are publicly funded tuition subsidies for students attending private-school. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice writes: Gov. Kasich’s proposal will [...]

January 12, 2013

Ohio Moves to Regulate Seclusion, Restraint in Some Schools

Morgan Linnabary of Defiance says he was placed in a seclusion room dozens of times.

Morgan Linnabary was eight years old when he was sent to a special school for children with behavior problems. At the new school, when he mouthed off to teachers or got upset, he was sent from his classroom to the isolation room: a plywood box inside a separate room down the hall. It happened dozens [...]

December 28, 2012

Faced With Tight Budgets, More Ohio Schools Consider Open Enrollment

Faced with a tough financial situation that shows no signs of improvement, more Ohio school districts are considering the idea of opening their doors to their neighboring communities via open enrollment. Cincinnati Public Schools is considering it to help fill its budget, and not for the first time either. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the district [...]

December 20, 2012

Ohio Charter Schools Under Federal Scrutiny for Low Enrollment of Children with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether charter schools in Ohio and three other states discriminate against students with disabilities.

December 18, 2012

What Happens When Charter Schools Rebel Against White Hat

Joey Carr used to attend a White Hat operated Life Skills Center. Now he's at Towpath Trail High School, where he says things are much better.

White Hat runs more than a dozen charters, giving parents of kids in struggling public schools a choice. But some of its schools came to dislike White Hat’s practices.

December 12, 2012

High-Performing Charter Schools Get Wooed Hardcore

Like the prettiest girl in a room full of ugly ducklings, charter schools that get a reputation for being high-performing get wooed hardcore. Districts and states looking for schools that have solved the puzzle of educating low-income, non-white students want these high-performing charter schools bad. Cincinnati is the latest successful suitor in the dance of [...]

Ohio Department of Education Investigates Troubled Columbus Charter School

Pat Kight / Flickr Ohio charter school ScholARTS Preparatory and Career Center for Children opened in 2004. It received an F from the state every year it has been rated. It posted an operating loss of $1.2 million. The nonprofit group that oversees the school wants to cut ties. But ScholARTS is still open and could [...]

December 11, 2012

How MOOC’s are Changing Higher Ed

OSU runs the Generation Rx lab at COSI to teach visitors about the dangers of prescription drugs and household items. The lab will be turned into a MOOC this coming summer, one of the first to be offered by OSU via Coursera.

MOOC’s, aka Massive Open Online Courses are changing the way Higher Ed views technology in the classroom. But some worry MOOC’s aren’t the cure Higher Ed needs.