Friday September 7, 2007 Volume 5, Issue 18
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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE

2. UPCOMING EVENTS

3. INTERACTIVE REPORT CARD MAP

4. ED IN 08

5. FORMER WHITE HAT ACADEMIC ADVISER TELLS ALL

6. A 10-YEAR ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DATA

7. POVERTY AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

8. ANNUAL POLL ABOUT PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

9. NCLB DRAFT REAUTHORIZATION

10. GRANTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Mark your calendar, our next meeting is on September 8 from 11-2 in Columbus, at the First
Congregational Church, 444 E Broad Street in Columbus.

The focus of the July meeting was on strategic planning for the next several years. If you have
ideas you want to share with us about what needs to be done, please let us know. How
can we help local people be more involved? What do you need from us to make it easier
to get your local leaders on board to fix school funding?

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2. UPCOMING EVENTS
9/11- CORAS will meet at the Olde Dutch Restaurant in Logan from 9:00am to 1:00pm. School
finance expert and BASA Senior Fellow Dick Maxwell will provide an update and overview of
school funding for FY 08-09. A $15 registration fee includes breakfast and lunch. To register
contact Lori, by phone at (740) 593-4445 or (740) 593-4414 or FAX: (740) 593-9698 or
Email: mailto:stumpl@ohio.edu

10/2- JONATHAN KOZOL will be speaking at Ohio State University at 7:30pm in Weigel
Hall Auditorium, 1866 College Road, which is part of the School of Music. A book signing
will follow the event. For more info and to reserve a seat visit: http://www.osu.edu/access/

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3. INTERACTIVE REPORT CARD MAP
The Cleveland Plain Dealer created a map that shows school district report card ratings for
the whole state. Visit the link below and click on a school district to view data for that district.   
http://www.cleveland.com/pdgraphics/interactive/reportcard2007/map/m10000.html

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4. ED IN 08
We just found out about a group that wants to make education a top priority in the 2008
presidential election. Check out the Ed in 08 website, http://www.edin08.com/, where
you can order a free T-shirt.

On the “Get the Facts” page you can click the map to see stats about the states and read
about what the candidates are saying about education. ED in 08 is also encouraging people
to get the candidates to go on the record about America's schools. The Huffington Post,
along with Yahoo! and Slate, are hosting a candidate forum and they want questions about
education.  Here are three ways to submit your question:
1. Post a comment at http://www.myspace.com/huffingtonpost
2. Email mailto: mashup@huffingtonpost.com
3. Email mailto: questionthecandidates@slate.com

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5. FORMER WHITE HAT ACADEMIC ADVISER TELLS ALL
Amy Rankin spent a year as an academic adviser for Ohio Distance & Electronic Learning
Academy (OHDELA), an internet charter school operated by David Brennan’s White Hat
Management. In her expose printed in Scene Magazine, Ms. Rankin talks about how she
saw only 20 kids graduate out of 1,500 that attended the school and how weekly staff
meeting didn't focus on improving the educational experience of the students, but how
many phone calls and e-mails were generated

To read the article, visit:    
8/29 Cleveland Scene
Education at Its Worst
http://clevescene.com/2007-08-29/news/education-at-its-worst/

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6. 10-YEAR ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DATA
The Coalition for Public Education (CPE) has released a review of performance data over
the last 10 years. The review of data from the Ohio Department of Education finds that
“public schools continue to provide the best opportunity for children to learn and succeed”,
according to a press release from CPE. And that children who attend a traditional public
school have an “80 percent chance of receiving an effective or excellent education” and
that “children attending an Ohio charter school have just a 9 percent chance of receiving
such an education.” To read more about CPE’s findings, visit:
http://www.ohiofairschools.org/CPE_review.htm

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7. POVERTY AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Amy Wilkins, a spokesperson for No Child Left Behind, recently stated on National Public
Radio that our education system “has not served our children well”. This criticism sparked
researcher Gerald W. Bracey to refute the notion that our public school system is failing
and that our kids are doing worse than other industrialized nations. A recent editorial in
Tulsa World reports “Bracey produced statistics showing that schools with less than 10
percent of their students in poverty, outscored students in all the industrialized nations in
reading and science and were third in math. In schools with 25 percent of their students in
poverty the U.S. led the other nations in reading and science.” The editorial went on to say, 
"When most poverty is factored out of U.S. public school performance, U.S. schools rank
No. 1 in the world.

To read the article, visit:
9/2 Tulsa World
Blaming schools
http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?articleID=070901_7_G6_hPove16431

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8. ANNUAL POLL ABOUT PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Phi Delta Kappa has released results from their annual poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward
the Public Schools. According to the press release “ Americans worry the No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) Act is pushing art, science, health, and social studies out of the classroom”
and that “one in two Americans believe that NCLB is limiting what children are taught.” Other
findings of the poll include:
- 67% of parents give the school their oldest child attends an A or a B
- 43% of the public say that there is too much testing, a 12 percentage point increase since 2002
- 52% of parents say that there is too much testing, a 20 percentage point increase since 2002
- 1 in 4 Americans believe that NCLB is helping their local schools; the rest believe the law
is either making no difference or hurting schools.

To read more about the poll, visit: http://www.pdkintl.org/

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9. NCLB DRAFT REAUTHORIZATION
The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee released draft recommendations for the
reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The draft represents the recommendations
gathered from dozens of hearings over the past year, and responses from over 100 organizations.
Overall the draft recommendations include a variety of changes in the current law that would
lessen some requirements and penalties, and provide school districts (and schools) with
more flexibility to meet the accountability requirements. Legislation that includes these
recommendations may be introduced over the next few months.  To view an 11-page summary
of the draft bill and the 400-page draft bill , visit http://edlabor.house.gov/.

Summary excerpted from the 9-3-07 League of Women Voters Education, which can be
read on our website, http://www.ohiofairschools.org/learn/Ed_Updates/09_03_07.html

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10. GRANTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Grants for Youth Service Projects
Youth Service America will make grants for the annual State Farm Good Neighbor
Service-Learning program this fall. The group will award grants of up to $1,000 each in the
U.S. and Canada to support youth (ages 5-25), teachers, or school-based service-learning
coordinators in implementing service-learning projects for Global Youth Service Day 2008. 
Projects must take place during Global Youth Service Day, April 25-27, 2008.
The application deadline is October 16, 2007.
To learn more, visit: http://ysa.org/AwardsGrants/tabid/58/Default.aspx

Grants for Programs for Youth with Disabilities
The Bubel/Aiken Foundation serves to bridge the gap that exists between young people
with special needs and the world around them. Priorities for funding include development
of inclusion/integration curricula, primarily K-12; inclusion strategies for minority populations,
including those for whom English is a second language; educational approaches that
engage different learning styles; and recruitment of special education teachers.
The application deadline is October 31.
For more info, visit: http://www.bubelaiken.org/.

Kids in Need Foundation: Teacher Grants
The purpose of the Kids in Need Teacher Grants is to provide funds for classroom teachers
who have innovative ideas but lack the budgets to bring them to life. Projects that qualify for
funding make creative use of common teaching aids, approach the curriculum from an
imaginative angle, or tie nontraditional concepts together for the purpose of illustrating
commonalities. The application deadline is September 30, 2007.
For more info visit: http://kidsinneed.net/grants/index.php

Youth Literacy Grants
The Dollar General Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries
and nonprofit organizations to help with the implementation or expansion of literacy
programs for students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading.
The deadline is October 5, 2007.
For more info visit: http://www.dollargeneral.com/community/communityinvestments.aspx

Child of Appalachia Essay Contest
The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio is sponsoring the second annual “I’m a Child of
Appalachia” essay contest open to all 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students residing
in the 29 counties of Appalachian Ohio. The entry form and guidelines can be found in
the Essay Contest section of the Foundation’s Web site, http://www.appalachianohio.org/ican.
The deadline is Friday, September 21, 2007.