Gov. Strickland’s Education Proposals

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland delivered his 2009 State of the State Address Jan. 28 in Columbus. The centerpiece of the speach is an outline of the Governor’s proposals for reforming public education in Ohio. Here’s what the Governor had to say:

I’d like to first recognize that one of Ohio’s great leaders, Senate President Bill Harris, was not able to be with us today. I know that he is in all of our thoughts and prayers, and we wish him a very speedy recovery.

Speaker Budish, Senate President Pro Tem Niehaus, Leader Batchelder and Leader Cafaro, Lt. Governor Fisher, statewide elected officials, members of the Cabinet, members of the General Assembly and the Supreme Court, distinguished guests, First Lady Frances Strickland, and my fellow Ohioans…

There was a time when Ohio State University played its football games on a dusty field surrounded by a humble collection of wooden bleachers.

Back then, OSU played teams from universities and small private colleges. They even scheduled a game against the soldiers from an army camp in Chillicothe.

Just after World War I came to an end there was a painful combination of high inflation and high unemployment that produced economic misery in Ohio and across the nation.

It was a truly frightening moment – hardly the time for a bold new idea. [Read more]

Scholarship to Honor Deb Delisle

 The Cleveland Heights High School Alumni Foundation and Reaching Heights are working together to raise funds for the Deb Delisle Scholarship Fund. This scholarship honors Deb’s achievements as Superintendent of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, with gratitude for all she’s meant for our community. The scholarship will be awarded to a graduating Heights High senior who is a first-generation college student, as Deb was. Please join us in honoring Deb by supporting our efforts. Though sorry to see her go, we’re happy to gain a friend and advocate in Columbus. To make a donation, use this form. Gifts, payable to CHHS Alumni Foundation, with DDSF on the memo line, can be sent to the CHHS Alumni Foundation, 2155 Miramar Blvd., University Hts., OH 44118.

Calming the Common Spaces at Wiley

Each day more than 500 early adolescents arrive at Wiley Middle School, bringing their youthful energy, shifting moods and diverse needs that must be channeled into learning.

During significant parts of the day, large numbers of students are together in hallways, the cafeteria, and restrooms, outside the responsibility of any individual adult. How students manage themselves in these places can set the tone for the school. Typically, the bulk of office referrals at Wiley have been for behavior in these out-of-classroom situations.

This year Wiley is implementing a new plan designed to create a respectful and calm environment in common spaces. Evidence that it’s paying off can be found in an 80% reduction in disciplinary referrals for behavior in the halls, cafeteria, and restrooms compared to last year. [Read more]

Supportive Behavior Agenda Promotes Student Achievement

Student achievement and student behavior go hand in hand. That’s why the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School district’s commitment to high achievement for all students includes a proactive and supportive approach to student behavior. The district’s transformation agenda promotes both engaging instruction and positive student behavior as means to high achievement. Each reinforces the other.

Last year the district hired Dr. Jeffrey Johnston for the newly created position of Coordinator of Student Support Programs. He works with principals and school-based teams throughout the school district to create a three-tiered “pyramid of support” to ensure the optimal conditions for student learning: safe, supportive and nurturing learning environments in every school.

For Johnston behavior isn’t an irritating distraction from the real work of schools, but one more opportunity to make a difference in the life of students. [Read more]

Boulevard Elementary

Boulevary has implemented an intervention-based tutoring program focusing on literacy skills. Thanks to Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, our primary community partner. To volunteer or for more information, contact Deanne Lentz at Deanne@lentzes.us

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Boulevard Blitz - Tutoring With Results

By Ben Cohen, Boulevard parent
Many of us are frustrated with the pace of educational reform, believing in the need for urgency to ensure that all of our children have a chance to succeed. This fall, testing at Boulevard Elementary School identified some fifteen 2nd graders whose literacy skills left them at risk of being left behind. Responding with urgency, Beth Rae, Literacy Coach for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District, teamed up with Reaching Heights’s Many Villages academic tutoring program to implement a volunteer tutoring program at Boulevard.

The intervention that Rae designed called for short but repeated flash-card instruction. Each volunteer provided one hour a week of tutoring, to three or four students in fifteen-minute sessions. Each child received four sessions a week. We had a great showing of support from Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, and even had some Boulevard alumni helping out. When we started the intervention, each of my three students had trouble recognizing all the letters in the alphabet, much less stringing them together into words. By the end of our intervention each had made tremendous strides.

Indeed, Rae reports that the statistical results from the intervention were outstanding. At the start, each child was struggling at identifying and reading sounds, by the end, fourteen of the fifteen children involved were passing in the 80% range or above. In September, the average for knowing the sounds of letters was 63%. By December, it was almost 100%. The average comprehension for reading words was 48% in September, and was over 80% when we were done. The individual growth in some instances was amazing: one of our students grew over 70% in her ability to read and recognize words. These percentages might not make sense at first, but imagine looking at this sentence and getting almost half of the letters wrong, failing to identify over half of the words.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all children are created equal.

For the kids, the Boulevard Blitz was an amazing success. Beth Rae is now turning her eye to other students ― even kindergarteners ― to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed. If you live in the Boulevard area, as a parent, older sibling, grandparent, community member, reach out to Deanne Lentz at Deanne@lentzes.us for an opportunity to volunteer. If you live outside the Boulevard area, look-up Chyrel Oates (chyrel@reachingheights.org) to see about helping with the Reaching Heights Many Villages program at the school closest to you.For me, and I suspect for many of the Blitz volunteers, the process was just as amazing. These students loved to grasp what we described

as the ‘keys to the kingdom.’ Once they learned how to identify letters, and recognize blends, they were able to teach themselves words. It started slow, but at the end it began to rush forward. On the last day of the intervention, I sat an extra moment with one of my students – she quietly looked up at the wall where she saw the Boulevard Pledge outside the bathroom. This is a child who had heard the Boulevard Pledge recited every day of school, since she started coming to Boulevard Elementary. Here she was, as I organized the flashcards and prepared to say good bye, sounding it out herself. She took ownership of the words; they meant something to her, they were her words. I got to watch that.

Fairfax Elementary

Benefits from volunteers providing more than 60 hours a week to implement its Village tutoring program.  Thanks to all of our tutors: Fairfax parents, John Carroll University, and Church of the Saviour for tutoring at Fairfax.  To volunteer or for more information, contact Stew Pharis at stew@bearoak.net

Gearity Elementary

Almost 50 volunteer tutor hours are in use at Gearity Elementary school each week. Thanks to Park Synagogue, an important part of the Gearity Village helping students reach their potential.  To become a part of their village, contact Nanci Stein at nancistein@hotmail.com

Noble Elementary

More than 25 volunteers are providing tutoring at Noble Elementary.  Thanks to Case Law Fraternity, our community partners at this site.  To volunteer, contact Wendy Burkey at w_burkey@staff.chuh.org

Oxford Elementary

 

At Oxford, Ursuline College student volunteers tutor while gaining required field experience.  To volunteer or for more information, contact Keesha Tolliver at lmtolliver1@yahoo.com

Roxboro Elementary

Incorporates a two-pronged approach with its program — an intervention based tutoring coupled with a general tutoring program which provides additional assistance to each classroom teacher.  Thanks to Roxboro parents and John Carroll students who make up the 47 weekly tutor hours.  To join this team of committed volunteers, contact Leslie Evans at lesliebevans@sbcglobal.net or Melissa Rink at msrink@yahoo.com.

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