The school lets students skip traditional classrooms and lectures if they don鈥檛 fit how a student learns best. They can work independently at their own pace, earning credit based on what they learn, not for sitting in a class all year.

Or students can leave school each afternoon to complete a paid internship, earning credit for what they learn in the workplace.

Mayfield High School, with an enrollment of 1,200 students, is one of many high schools across the country increasingly offering students flexibility to shape their class schedules and how they earn credits toward diplomas, as career demands keep shifting and students grapple with family and life challenges.

It鈥檚 an approach that has grown as students mix high school classes with early college courses or seek different ways to try out jobs and train for them, none of which fit neatly into days divided by class periods.

鈥淟et’s be real, our students have many more responsibilities in today’s world than we did back in the day,鈥� said principal Brian Linn added. 鈥淭hey may be working to support their family. They may need that internship, because they need to go right into the world of work.鈥�

Students 鈥渓ive in a personalized world outside of school,鈥� said Linn, 鈥渟o we have to personalize (school) to meet their needs.鈥�

It鈥檚 a shift that has drawn and Battelle for Kids. Personalized learning has also become a greater priority for states, including , Vermont and , while schools that adopt the approach are cropping up from Washington, D.C. to

Two new paths have taken hold at Mayfield High School with this flexibility:

• A Learn and Earn program that offers 127 of the school鈥檚 1,200 students paid internships in fields such as manufacturing and construction. Students often pick the chance to learn on the job over being trained in a trade in a school workshop as part of a career technical education program. 
• An alternative schedule and class experience that gives students more independence, simply called The Option. It鈥檚 a mix of study hall and class time with its own open space as big as a gym where students can do as much math or English as they want each day, as long as they finish all their work each week.

鈥淲e wanted to create a self-paced option for students,鈥� Linn said. 鈥淭o be very frank, we couldn’t think of a better name for it, so we called it The Option.鈥�

It鈥檚 a program about 20% of the school鈥檚 students choose over taking classes the traditional way, with teachers leading a lesson. The Option allows them to do classwork at their own speed, while teachers act as guides instead of lecturers. Students read materials or watch videos, then answer questions or write about the lessons independently, seeking teachers when they need help.

鈥淥ption time, for lack of a better word, is a structured study hall,鈥� said Paige Zenovic, an English teacher who chairs the program. 鈥淚t’s basically the idea that the students are with their teacher for study hall.鈥�

Students study multiple subjects 鈥� such as math, English, history 鈥� all within The Option鈥檚 high-ceilinged study space larger than a basketball court that was once a building trades workshop. It鈥檚 now renovated for tables that seat a handful of students and with a balcony and wide staircase where students can work. 

Teachers for multiple subjects are based there, so they and students can interact whenever they are there about any option classes at any time. Lessons are given to small groups of students and sometimes just in one-on-one sessions, in this version of what some call a 鈥渇lipped classroom.鈥� 

鈥淵ou just will not see a 50-minute specific lecture with 25 students in the class,鈥� Linn said. 鈥淵ou’ll see one 10- to 15-minute mini lesson.鈥�

Superintendent Michael Barnes called The Option a 鈥渇ully customizable鈥� school day that lets students pick what subjects to work on when, so long as regular assessments show they are on track in a limited form of mastery-based learning, in which students work on academic material until they know it and can show competency in it.

鈥淲e allow our students to exercise agency over their own learning so they have voice and choice,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淭hey set their schedule every single day. They can determine what they want to work on, when they want to work on and when they want to assess.鈥�

That independence helps teach students responsibility to do their work and time management skills.

鈥淭hat’s a really important piece that doesn’t typically happen in the traditional class, because everyone’s supposed to be doing the same thing,鈥� Zenovic said.

Because The Option is voluntary, students can choose to return to traditional classes. Some do, but many continue it all through high school. Senior Giovanna Zahedi has used The Option all four years of high school because she considers lectures unfocused and rambling.

鈥淚 find it really hard to concentrate in classrooms,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just want to get straight to the point, just finish my schoolwork.鈥�

Sophomore Madilyn Senning splits her classes between traditional classrooms and The Option, but says she prefers The Option.

鈥淚 have a hard time focusing when they’re lecturing the whole class,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can work ahead, because a lot of the time I get things done faster than some other people in my classroom. It’s just easier for me to get my work done.鈥�

The Option is joined by Learn to Earn as the two most aggressive ways the school gives students choices.

The school belongs to a consortium of 10 suburban school districts that share career technical education classes such as welding and auto repair between them. But those have become so popular that 17 out of 19 CTE programs are oversubscribed and turn students away. Welding, for example, has room for 35 students but had 175 applicants this year. 

鈥淲e don’t want to have to tell a student, no,鈥� said Deanna Elsing, the school鈥檚 director of innovation. 

鈥淎 typical high school isn’t in a position to build a million plus dollar facility鈥o support the needs of our students’ personalized interest,鈥� Elsing said. 鈥淏ut for the bargain price of free, we can partner with local industry, organizations and businesses and they can become the classroom.鈥�

So Elsing started recruiting local businesses to bring in student interns 鈥� and pay them. That鈥檚 rare nationally, with fewer than five percent of high schoolers doing an internship or apprenticeship before graduating, according to federal data and surveys by the American Student Assistance nonprofit, now known as Britebound.

Started with just nine students three years ago, Learn and Earn now has 127 鈥� about 10% of the school 鈥� doing internships in fields that include welding, manufacturing and home construction.

The program is open to juniors and seniors, who spend their first semester learning workplace etiquette, doing tours of companies and hearing presentations from different businesses. They then move on to working about 20 hours a week for businesses over the next year and a half, often including summer work.

That meant the school altering its schedule so the students can take academic classes in the morning, leave by 11:45 a.m. and be at their internships by 12:15. That lets them work all afternoon, often staying after school hours to keep working until the end of the work day, as many employers requested.

The school also added training sessions for employers, not just students, before interns would start at a company.

鈥淚t’s so important for our students to be able to look someone in the eyes, shake their hand, dress appropriately, test drug free, and have those professional skills,鈥� Elsing said. 鈥淏ut we found over the last three years that some of these industries have not quite yet mastered how to properly engage and train a Gen Z or Gen Alpha student. Because they are 16, 17, 18-year-olds, they’re not going to come in as polished as your college graduate is going to come in.鈥�

Jacob Reed, 19, who graduated from the high school last May, started working for nearby Kerek Industries, a manufacturer of parts for municipal transit systems, about 20 hours a week as an intern his junior year, continued as a senior and was hired after. He now works part-time while studying engineering at the local community college.

鈥淚’ve already been in a professional work environment for over two years now, so I know what it’s like working jobs, coming every day, knowing what鈥檚 expected of me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think that gives me a leg up for sure.鈥�

The company even adjusted his work schedule to accommodate final exams and for practices and games for the school鈥檚 football team. Because he could leave school to start work around noon, he could leave at 3 p.m. for practice.

Company owner John Kerek said he knows he has to train students more than when hiring adults, but he said manufacturing companies need employees and everyone has to start somewhere.

鈥淚 expect from day one I’m going to start at the very ground-level basics of 鈥楾his is a machine shop..this is what this machine is capable of doing鈥his is what we’re using it for. ..this is how we check the parts that it’s making,鈥� Kerek said. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned repetition is key. The more I say something, the better it sticks, and the more I let them fail a little bit, the better it sticks too.鈥�

Senior Mackenzie Lofton has a very different internship learning how to be a project manager for a construction business through the Brookes & Henderson Building Company, a builder of luxury homes. He first tried to do the traditional construction trades program through school, but too many students applied and he was shut out.

He has no regrets. Officially, he is a laborer that does low-skill jobs at houses under construction around the region. But the company is also giving him a look at construction he鈥檇 never see in class 鈥� how to run a project.

Zak Mowry, the company鈥檚 operations manager, said schools are good at teaching students specific trades, such as carpentry, electrical or plumbing work. But schools, he said, don鈥檛 provide an overarching look at how to plan and manage all those trades to finish a home. 

So most days Mackenzie sweeps floors and moves construction materials to help skilled workers. But he is also invited to company meetings to plan houses. And every Thursday, he shadows managers as they oversee different aspects of construction, ranging from foundations to heating and cooling. The company even created a hardcover manual and workbook for interns that explains key terms for each specialty and has questions they answer after each shadowing day.

鈥淵ou see all the trades come into action,鈥� he said. 鈥� So you see the foundation being made, you see the electrical running wires, you see the plumbing coming in, you see all the hardware coming in. All those things that are behind the scenes, you get to see out in the field that they don’t teach you in the classroom.鈥�

Just as importantly, Mackenzie is learning management skills by watching managers navigate disputes between different trades, architects and customers on multi-million dollar homes.

鈥淚 feel like I have way more experience because I’m actually in the field, while they’re just learning in classrooms,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’re interacting with people, getting your social skills up. You also have to be on time, so you’re becoming more responsible as a man and as a person.鈥�

Disclosure: XQ provides financial support to 麻豆精品. 

The school lets students skip traditional classrooms and lectures if they don鈥檛 fit how a student learns best. They can work independently at their own pace, earning credit based on what they learn, not for sitting in a class all year.

Or students can leave school each afternoon to complete a paid internship, earning credit for what they learn in the workplace.

Mayfield High School, with an enrollment of 1,200 students, is one of many high schools across the country increasingly offering students flexibility to shape their class schedules and how they earn credits toward diplomas, as career demands keep shifting and students grapple with family and life challenges.

It鈥檚 an approach that has grown as students mix high school classes with early college courses or seek different ways to try out jobs and train for them, none of which fit neatly into days divided by class periods.

鈥淟et’s be real, our students have many more responsibilities in today’s world than we did back in the day,鈥� said principal Brian Linn added. 鈥淭hey may be working to support their family. They may need that internship, because they need to go right into the world of work.鈥�

Students 鈥渓ive in a personalized world outside of school,鈥� said Linn, 鈥渟o we have to personalize (school) to meet their needs.鈥�

It鈥檚 a shift that has drawn and Battelle for Kids. Personalized learning has also become a greater priority for states, including , Vermont and , while schools that adopt the approach are cropping up from Washington, D.C. to

Two new paths have taken hold at Mayfield High School with this flexibility:

• A Learn and Earn program that offers 127 of the school鈥檚 1,200 students paid internships in fields such as manufacturing and construction. Students often pick the chance to learn on the job over being trained in a trade in a school workshop as part of a career technical education program. 
• An alternative schedule and class experience that gives students more independence, simply called The Option. It鈥檚 a mix of study hall and class time with its own open space as big as a gym where students can do as much math or English as they want each day, as long as they finish all their work each week.

鈥淲e wanted to create a self-paced option for students,鈥� Linn said. 鈥淭o be very frank, we couldn’t think of a better name for it, so we called it The Option.鈥�

It鈥檚 a program about 20% of the school鈥檚 students choose over taking classes the traditional way, with teachers leading a lesson. The Option allows them to do classwork at their own speed, while teachers act as guides instead of lecturers. Students read materials or watch videos, then answer questions or write about the lessons independently, seeking teachers when they need help.

鈥淥ption time, for lack of a better word, is a structured study hall,鈥� said Paige Zenovic, an English teacher who chairs the program. 鈥淚t’s basically the idea that the students are with their teacher for study hall.鈥�

Students study multiple subjects 鈥� such as math, English, history 鈥� all within The Option鈥檚 high-ceilinged study space larger than a basketball court that was once a building trades workshop. It鈥檚 now renovated for tables that seat a handful of students and with a balcony and wide staircase where students can work. 

Teachers for multiple subjects are based there, so they and students can interact whenever they are there about any option classes at any time. Lessons are given to small groups of students and sometimes just in one-on-one sessions, in this version of what some call a 鈥渇lipped classroom.鈥� 

鈥淵ou just will not see a 50-minute specific lecture with 25 students in the class,鈥� Linn said. 鈥淵ou’ll see one 10- to 15-minute mini lesson.鈥�

Superintendent Michael Barnes called The Option a 鈥渇ully customizable鈥� school day that lets students pick what subjects to work on when, so long as regular assessments show they are on track in a limited form of mastery-based learning, in which students work on academic material until they know it and can show competency in it.

鈥淲e allow our students to exercise agency over their own learning so they have voice and choice,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淭hey set their schedule every single day. They can determine what they want to work on, when they want to work on and when they want to assess.鈥�

That independence helps teach students responsibility to do their work and time management skills.

鈥淭hat’s a really important piece that doesn’t typically happen in the traditional class, because everyone’s supposed to be doing the same thing,鈥� Zenovic said.

Because The Option is voluntary, students can choose to return to traditional classes. Some do, but many continue it all through high school. Senior Giovanna Zahedi has used The Option all four years of high school because she considers lectures unfocused and rambling.

鈥淚 find it really hard to concentrate in classrooms,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just want to get straight to the point, just finish my schoolwork.鈥�

Sophomore Madilyn Senning splits her classes between traditional classrooms and The Option, but says she prefers The Option.

鈥淚 have a hard time focusing when they’re lecturing the whole class,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can work ahead, because a lot of the time I get things done faster than some other people in my classroom. It’s just easier for me to get my work done.鈥�

The Option is joined by Learn to Earn as the two most aggressive ways the school gives students choices.

The school belongs to a consortium of 10 suburban school districts that share career technical education classes such as welding and auto repair between them. But those have become so popular that 17 out of 19 CTE programs are oversubscribed and turn students away. Welding, for example, has room for 35 students but had 175 applicants this year. 

鈥淲e don’t want to have to tell a student, no,鈥� said Deanna Elsing, the school鈥檚 director of innovation. 

鈥淎 typical high school isn’t in a position to build a million plus dollar facility鈥o support the needs of our students’ personalized interest,鈥� Elsing said. 鈥淏ut for the bargain price of free, we can partner with local industry, organizations and businesses and they can become the classroom.鈥�

So Elsing started recruiting local businesses to bring in student interns 鈥� and pay them. That鈥檚 rare nationally, with fewer than five percent of high schoolers doing an internship or apprenticeship before graduating, according to federal data and surveys by the American Student Assistance nonprofit, now known as Britebound.

Started with just nine students three years ago, Learn and Earn now has 127 鈥� about 10% of the school 鈥� doing internships in fields that include welding, manufacturing and home construction.

The program is open to juniors and seniors, who spend their first semester learning workplace etiquette, doing tours of companies and hearing presentations from different businesses. They then move on to working about 20 hours a week for businesses over the next year and a half, often including summer work.

That meant the school altering its schedule so the students can take academic classes in the morning, leave by 11:45 a.m. and be at their internships by 12:15. That lets them work all afternoon, often staying after school hours to keep working until the end of the work day, as many employers requested.

The school also added training sessions for employers, not just students, before interns would start at a company.

鈥淚t’s so important for our students to be able to look someone in the eyes, shake their hand, dress appropriately, test drug free, and have those professional skills,鈥� Elsing said. 鈥淏ut we found over the last three years that some of these industries have not quite yet mastered how to properly engage and train a Gen Z or Gen Alpha student. Because they are 16, 17, 18-year-olds, they’re not going to come in as polished as your college graduate is going to come in.鈥�

Jacob Reed, 19, who graduated from the high school last May, started working for nearby Kerek Industries, a manufacturer of parts for municipal transit systems, about 20 hours a week as an intern his junior year, continued as a senior and was hired after. He now works part-time while studying engineering at the local community college.

鈥淚’ve already been in a professional work environment for over two years now, so I know what it’s like working jobs, coming every day, knowing what鈥檚 expected of me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think that gives me a leg up for sure.鈥�

The company even adjusted his work schedule to accommodate final exams and for practices and games for the school鈥檚 football team. Because he could leave school to start work around noon, he could leave at 3 p.m. for practice.

Company owner John Kerek said he knows he has to train students more than when hiring adults, but he said manufacturing companies need employees and everyone has to start somewhere.

鈥淚 expect from day one I’m going to start at the very ground-level basics of 鈥楾his is a machine shop..this is what this machine is capable of doing鈥his is what we’re using it for. ..this is how we check the parts that it’s making,鈥� Kerek said. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned repetition is key. The more I say something, the better it sticks, and the more I let them fail a little bit, the better it sticks too.鈥�

Senior Mackenzie Lofton has a very different internship learning how to be a project manager for a construction business through the Brookes & Henderson Building Company, a builder of luxury homes. He first tried to do the traditional construction trades program through school, but too many students applied and he was shut out.

He has no regrets. Officially, he is a laborer that does low-skill jobs at houses under construction around the region. But the company is also giving him a look at construction he鈥檇 never see in class 鈥� how to run a project.

Zak Mowry, the company鈥檚 operations manager, said schools are good at teaching students specific trades, such as carpentry, electrical or plumbing work. But schools, he said, don鈥檛 provide an overarching look at how to plan and manage all those trades to finish a home. 

So most days Mackenzie sweeps floors and moves construction materials to help skilled workers. But he is also invited to company meetings to plan houses. And every Thursday, he shadows managers as they oversee different aspects of construction, ranging from foundations to heating and cooling. The company even created a hardcover manual and workbook for interns that explains key terms for each specialty and has questions they answer after each shadowing day.

鈥淵ou see all the trades come into action,鈥� he said. 鈥� So you see the foundation being made, you see the electrical running wires, you see the plumbing coming in, you see all the hardware coming in. All those things that are behind the scenes, you get to see out in the field that they don’t teach you in the classroom.鈥�

Just as importantly, Mackenzie is learning management skills by watching managers navigate disputes between different trades, architects and customers on multi-million dollar homes.

鈥淚 feel like I have way more experience because I’m actually in the field, while they’re just learning in classrooms,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’re interacting with people, getting your social skills up. You also have to be on time, so you’re becoming more responsible as a man and as a person.鈥�

Disclosure: XQ provides financial support to 麻豆精品. 

A new bipartisan bill would require more transparency for Ohio private schools receiving Education Choice and Education Choice Expansion vouchers.

Ohio Sens. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, recently introduced , also known as the Take the Dough, We Gotta Know Act.

鈥淭he key point with this piece of legislation is that if you are going to take state dollars, there has to be a degree of transparency and oversight,鈥� Blessing said.

鈥淭his is a cornerstone of conservative philosophy in this state, where we have a program 鈥� and we have oversight over something like that. This is no different.鈥�

The bill would require Ohio鈥檚 auditor to audit the funds of each school that is using EdChoice and EdChoice expansion vouchers each fiscal year.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce would be required to create a report card for chartered non-public schools in order to 鈥渉opefully get an apples-to-apples comparison,鈥� Blessing said.

Schools accepting EdChoice vouchers would have to submit weekly attendance records, conduct criminal background checks of its employees, report the tuition and fees charged by the school in a five-year cost trend, report how many of their students have an Individualized Education Program, and publish their dropout and graduation rates.

鈥淭he current voucher system is doing two things 鈥� providing tuition coupons for wealthy Ohio families to be able to send their children to private schools, and it鈥檚 underfunding Ohio鈥檚 public school districts with drastic ramifications for Ohio students,鈥� Smith said.

Lawmakers increased the EdChoice expansion eligibility to 450% of the poverty line in 2023 through the state budget 鈥� creating near-universal school vouchers.

This means K-8 students can receive a $6,166 scholarship and high schoolers can receive a $8,408 scholarship in state funding under the expansion.

Ohio spent more than a for the 2025 fiscal year, the second full year with near-universal eligibility. Nearly half of the money 鈥� $492.8 million 鈥� was from the EdChoice expansion.

鈥淲hy on earth would we spend billions of Ohioans鈥� hard-earned money on schools that don鈥檛 have to provide that level of transparency and accountability 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 make any sense,鈥� said Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what taxpayers deserve, that there would be accountability and transparency into all schools that receive public dollars.鈥�

Students in some counties don鈥檛 have the option to attend a private school.

鈥淢any of us barely know what vouchers are because we simply don鈥檛 have private schools,鈥� said Ohio Rep. Justin Pizzulli, R-Scioto County. 鈥淥ur best schools are our only schools, and those schools are public schools.鈥�

Carroll, Champaign, Hardin, Harrison, Holmes, Meigs, Morgan, Noble, Preble and Vinton counties had .

Pizzulli said rural Ohio is frustrated with how schools are funded.

鈥淲e see our tax dollars supporting a voucher system that largely benefits areas with access to private schools, while communities like mine receive no or little practical benefit at all because those options don鈥檛 exist,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen vouchers were expanded, many of us were told, well, private schools would begin magically appearing and popping up all over the state, that simply has not happened.鈥�

Nonpublic Ohio schools had 181,244 students enrolled in fiscal year 2025 鈥� a 4.6% increase compared to fiscal year 2024.

鈥淲hat frustrates us is seeing our taxpayer dollars increasingly flow towards families who already had the means to afford private tuition, and so we鈥檙e just asking for fairness,鈥� Pizzulli said.

The lawmakers stressed Ohioans deserve to know how their tax dollars are being used.

鈥淭he taxpayers deserve to know where the money is going, who is benefiting, and whether the investment is producing results,鈥� Pizzulli said.

Cleveland Heights Teachers Union President Karen Rego said her district is expected to lose $7 million over the next two years in layoffs and other cutbacks.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where that鈥檚 going to happen, we feel very stretched thin already, and to lose staff members that we鈥檝e lost this year, and the possibility of losing more next year is a really tough pill to swallow,鈥� she said.

Rego is not against people choosing what school they go to, but wants to see more accountability as far as how the taxpayer money is being spent.

This bill is being introduced late in the General Assembly 鈥� any bill that does not pass before the end of the year must be reintroduced in the new General Assembly to be considered.

鈥淚f it goes nowhere in this General Assembly, or even next, that isn鈥檛 the point,鈥� Blessing said. 鈥淲e have identified a major problem here. We also have a solution.鈥�

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, questioned how serious the senators are about this bill since they waited until now to introduce it.

鈥淥nce that money goes to those private organizations, we don鈥檛 audit that, and I think if we鈥檙e going to come up with a scheme where something like that would happen, we need to make sure that the privacy part of it for people 鈥� kids and families going to school, and the people running the school 鈥� all of those things are intact,鈥� he said.

More than 300 public school districts are suing over EdChoice. A trial judge ruled last summer that the program was unconstitutional, but a this month before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

Thousands of Ohioans were in line to get a break on their massive childcare costs. Then the Trump administration .

has gone final and is expected to take effect July 13. Some Ohio families will the be hardest hit in the United States.

In the midst of an already-existing affordability crisis, the government on Tuesday reported that inflation had . The spike has been driven 鈥� and before that by .

At the same time that Trump last summer , he . Trump and Republicans in Congress also allowed healthcare subsidies to expire, which is .

In the midst of all that, the administration moved in January to scrap a 2024 attempt by the Biden administration to cap the cost of childcare for families making $77,000 or less a year. The Trump administration did that by proposing a rule that goes beyond the 7% cap.

鈥淭he rule rescinds the requirement to cap childcare copayments at 7% of household income, rolls back the use of grants and contracts for care that the market doesn鈥檛 readily provide for (like care for infants, toddlers, and kids with disabilities), rescinds prospective payments to providers and also enrollment-based pay, which risks destabilizing provider payment schedules, since they rely on predictable, reliable payments to cover fixed operating costs,鈥� Hailey Gibbs of the Center for American Progress said in an email.

by her organization showed that some Ohio families will be hardest hit by the loss of the benefit. The researchers estimated that without the 7% cap, some eligible Ohio families are paying as much as 27% of their income on daycare.

For the maximum-earning family of three, that鈥檚 $1,700 a month. Under the Biden cap it would have been $452.

In other words, some Ohio families will now have to pay nearly $15,000 more for childcare than they otherwise would have. That鈥檚 nearly $4,000 more than the next-closest state, Vermont, the analysis said.

An extra bill of that size would plunge a huge number of Ohioans into poverty.

of government data earlier this year found that a $15,000 surprise expense would swamp the resources of single-earner, median income household of four in the Buckeye State.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

A recently added carveout to a math interventions bill would exempt some Ohio schools from teaching the science of reading curriculum 鈥� despite a statewide mandate.

Lawmakers in the Ohio House Education Committee recently approved changes to that would excuse Ohio鈥檚 classical schools from having to teach the science of reading, which is based on of research that shows how the human brain learns to read and incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

鈥淭his legislature and the governor placed a major emphasis 鈥� on science of reading to great effect, and now is not the time to start carving out loopholes for certain schools,鈥� said Devin Babcock, senior legislative director for ExcelinEd in Action.

Ohio school districts were required to starting with the 2024-25 school year after the law took effect in 2023 through the state鈥檚 two-year operating budget.

The budget gave $86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials and $18 million for literacy coaches.

鈥淲e鈥檝e held the line as a state for the last few years, as have all the other states that have made this move,鈥� Babcock said.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e a public school taking public money, then let鈥檚 do the best thing for kids and use the science of reading that we鈥檝e adopted here as a state.鈥�

have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based instruction since 2013, according to Education Week. the second-worst state for fourth-grade reading in 2013 to being ranked 21st in 2022 after implementing science of reading policy.

that follow the K-12 curriculum of Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts college in Michigan.

Some tenets of include teaching Latin and a close reading of Western classics, among other things, according to Hillsdale College.

Ohio S.B. 19 鈥� which passed in November 鈥� originated as an academic intervention bill to help students who score below proficient on state assessment tests.

The bill would allow a public school student who scored below proficient in a state assessment test in math or English language arts to receive academic intervention services at no cost.

The Ohio Education Association testified in opposition to the bill in March,

鈥淭he bill is well-intentioned, but the details matter,鈥� OEA President Jeff Wensing said in his testimony. 鈥淭hese tests provide useful information, but classroom educators have more information about a student鈥檚 knowledge and abilities in the subject.鈥�

The bill would require school districts or individual schools to come up with a math achievement improvement plan if 51% or less of the district or school鈥檚 students who took the third-grade math achievement assessment scored at least a proficient score on the assessment.

Under the bill, schools would be required to develop math improvement and monitoring plans for each student that qualifies for math intervention services within 60 days after getting the student鈥檚 third-grade assessment math results.

A math improvement and monitoring plan would identify the student鈥檚 鈥渟pecific math deficiencies,鈥� describe the additional instructional services they will receive, offer a chance for their parent or guardian to be involved, outline a monitoring process and offer high-dosage tutoring at least three days a week.

鈥淔rom the experience of Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plans (RIMPs), I can tell you that this is an onerous task that will often fall on classroom teachers,鈥� Wensing said in his testimony. 鈥淓ducators鈥� time is in too short supply to add more paperwork, administrative tasks and exercises in compliance.鈥�

Ohio Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, introduced the bill, which has had five hearings in the Ohio House Education Committee.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

But now, in the wake of a new focus among Ohio lawmakers on supposed fraud in the state鈥檚 childcare system, they are on the verge of ditching the idea altogether. A under consideration would require providers to be paid based on attendance rather than enrollment as they are by parents who pay out of pocket.

In December, conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video claiming to uncover widespread fraud in Minnesota鈥檚 childcare program, particularly among daycare centers run by Somali American residents. The video went viral and reached federal officials, and the Trump administration cited it as motivation to pursue an and various efforts to restrict federal childcare funding. Despite the video offering no verified evidence of fraud 鈥� and the fact that the state was several cases of fraud in its childcare system 鈥� some states have responded by intensifying their focus on supposed fraud. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott agencies to launch investigations into childcare fraud, while Idaho鈥檚 Department of Health and Welfare heightened reviews of funding. (The reviews found of providers guilty of any wrongdoing.)

Shirley鈥檚 video sparked an immediate reaction in Ohio, according to Tamara Lunan, a childcare organizer with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. The state has the Somali American population, just behind Minnesota. in Columbus, Ohio claimed centers were receiving public funding for nonexistent children even though evidence at least two of those claims. According to the at The Ohio State University, just 0.43% of all the providers who accept vouchers through the state鈥檚 publicly funded childcare program were found to be misusing funds in 2025. In a of 124 complaints sent to the state鈥檚 Department of Children and Youth last year, the agency found no evidence of fraud in 100 of them.

In January, Ohio lawmakers two proposals 鈥� House Bills 647 and 649 鈥� they said were aimed at combatting fraud in the state鈥檚 publicly funded childcare system.  

Marquita McClendon, who has operated a childcare program in Cincinnati since 2023, acknowledged that fraud exists. 鈥淏ut I feel like the systems that we already have in place already do the job necessary,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e changing laws over an unsubstantiated claim. It鈥檚 just beyond me.鈥�

The state made some changes ahead of implementing the new enrollment-based payment system that have led to sacrifices for providers. It a requirement for counties to use presumptive eligibility, which allows families to receive childcare vouchers if they already qualify for another program like food stamps, and allows parents to enroll immediately once they get a new job, rather than waiting weeks for their paperwork to be approved. Some providers accept children into their programs during that interim period anyway, Lunan said, but often aren鈥檛 paid for all of that time. The state also reimbursement rates for some types of in-home providers and increased the threshold for children to qualify as full time, which allows providers to be reimbursed at a higher rate. 

鈥淭here were things taken away from us,鈥� McClendon pointed out. With those reductions, she鈥檚 making $10,000 less each month, she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in the red.鈥� The loss of revenue has meant she can鈥檛 buy new equipment for the children in her care or do field trips this summer as she normally would. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 run an effective program,鈥� she said.

If providers were paid based on enrollment, it would help them weather children鈥檚 absences for illness or snowstorms, 鈥渢hings that providers can鈥檛 possibly be able to plan for when they鈥檙e making their budgets,鈥� Lunan said. It 鈥渨ould help to stabilize the programs.鈥� Instead, 鈥淧roviders are hemorrhaging income based on these changes,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 killing their bottom line.鈥�

Reversing the decision to pay based on enrollment is just one of the changes included in the legislative proposals Ohio lawmakers have put forward in the name of fighting fraud this year. Some others have since been toned down or removed. initially that would have given the state鈥檚 Department of Children and Youth the power to cut off funding or suspend a license for any provider merely suspected of fraud, waste or misuse of dollars without a hearing. That language has since from the bill; now those actions can be taken if 鈥渆vidence demonstrates鈥� that a provider knowingly engaged in fraud or misuse of funds. But providers remain concerned about lawmakers giving the attorney general more power to prosecute perceived fraud, which in the bill. 

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to see childcare providers get penalized because the state made an overpayment to them,鈥� Lunan said. Both overpayments and underpayments are included when states calculate their payment error rates, and those can be due to the state government鈥檚 error, not providers acting with ill intent. Her organization is pushing for the state to create a committee made up of childcare providers that could distinguish between clerical errors and actual, intentional fraud. 

The original proposal for , introduced by Republican lawmaker Josh Williams, would have mandated the installation of cameras in all childcare programs that receive government funding to 鈥渁llow visual inspections in real time,鈥� . It would have given the Department of Children and Youth the ability to view the footage at any time. McClendon pointed out that she has diaper changing stations in her classrooms. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way to protect my children鈥檚 privacy,鈥� she said, calling the idea 鈥渁 bit extreme.鈥�

While that idea has since been abandoned, lawmakers have adjusted the bill to facial recognition for children who attend programs that receive public funding. Such technology won鈥檛 work on young children, particularly infants, given how rapidly their faces are developing and changing, McClendon and Lunan pointed out. McClendon also noted the challenge of keeping kids still long enough to take a photograph. Lunan pointed out that there is already an existing mandate for programs to have an attendance system in place that takes pictures of parents when they sign children in.

An made to that bill the storing of photos of the children. But many parents are still opposed, Lunan said: a against mandating facial recognition has been signed by nearly 900 people. 

Lawmakers are also reducing the time given for allowing a child to be checked in retroactively, if their attendance was originally missed, from 30 days to seven. 鈥淭hat would be a tremendous hardship,鈥� Lunan said, on both providers and the parents who are the ones who have to go into the system and fix the problem.  

The legislation calls for spending up to over two years on data analytics to detect patterns of fraud or abuse. The facial recognition proposal alone would be 鈥渆xpensive for the state and providers, diverting scarce public dollars and provider time away from care itself and toward unnecessary surveillance infrastructure,鈥� said Ali Smith, senior project coordinator at Policy Matters Ohio, . Lunan agreed. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need funds to come out of childcare,鈥� she said. What Ohio childcare providers need instead, she said, is more funding, not less. 鈥淧roviders are not defrauding the system. They are barely breaking even 鈥� most providers are in the red,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he conversation really needs to shift from fraud to funding.鈥�

The anti-fraud bills 鈥渨ould just destabilize childcare, or destabilize it further, because it鈥檚 already unstable,鈥� Lunan said. 

Our home state of Ohio has put substantial energy into actively promoting credentials through various policy levers. For example, high school students can use state-approved credentials to meet certain graduation requirements, and schools receive credit in the state鈥檚 accountability system when students attain them. In the most recent state budget, policymakers renewed a that incentivizes those approved credentials that related to state-identified 鈥渉igh-priority鈥� careers such as advanced manufacturing and construction. With these incentives in place, attainment in Ohio has from 53,000 credentials earned by the class of 2019 to 170,000 by the class of 2024. 

But which of these credentials truly add value for students? 

A new examined the labor-market value that various credentials have for Ohio students. In general, credentials are associated with substantial expected wage increases in the early years after high school (almost $2,000 higher earnings in the first year after graduation). However, we found widely differing wage returns depending on field, with male-dominated careers in the skilled trades linked to larger income benefits. Students attaining manufacturing-related credentials, for instance, typically earn about 35% more than their non-credential-earning peers with similar backgrounds.

On the other hand, we also discovered that many credentials yield little to no economic value for students. For example, we found no significant differences in the annual incomes of students earning a nurse’s aide or culinary certificate six years after high school compared with peers who did not attain a credential. A few credentials, such as a cosmetology certificate, were even associated with reduced earnings after students leave high school.

Our findings lead to some important insights about how states can more effectively leverage industry credentials.

First, policymakers should not view credentials as an isolated indicator of career readiness, but rather as a key element within an integrated career pathway. In addition to finding variable wage returns by field, our study revealed that students who both attain credentials and complete a sequence of career-technical coursework reap larger wage returns than students who attain only a credential or do not participate in any career-focused education. This suggests that states’ accountability systems should count students as career-ready only if they both complete coursework and obtain an aligned credential.

Second, states must be selective about which credentials they approve and, in turn, incentivize. Here in Ohio, the credentials that provide the strongest and most enduring wage gains 鈥� lasting into people鈥檚 mid-20s 鈥� are linked to the transportation, manufacturing and construction industries. By contrast, credentials across a dozen other career fields provide no enduring wage returns. Policymakers should prioritize credentials that yield strong long-term economic payoffs. They should also be wary of approving credentials that lack a clear link to a specific occupation 鈥� for instance, a basic job-safety certificate versus a certified welder license 鈥� or those that might inadvertently encourage students to pursue low-paying jobs with limited opportunities for advancement. 

Third, states should create robust frameworks for valuing credentials. Our study focused primarily on wages, which ought to play a central role in systems that identify “high-value” credentials and promote their attainment through policies such as targeted funding. Yet pay isn’t the only factor to take into account. How well credentials align with employers’ needs and labor market demands should also be a priority, because while wages and employer demand for a credential often overlap, that is not always the case. For instance, credentials linked to health care or education might pay modest starting wages but could also lead to employment that opens doors to a better-paying job later on. Policymakers should create tiered systems that place more value on credentials that are both high-wage and high-demand, and then provide secondary consideration to those that meet only measures of industry demand.

Ohio illustrates the promise and pitfalls associated with incentivizing credentials through policy initiatives. On the one hand, more students than ever are earning credentials that might give them an edge in the job market. On the other hand, the state has also struggled to pin down the value of credentials and maintain stringent quality control in the face of proliferating attainment rates.

All students should leave high school with the knowledge and skills needed for their next steps. To support this, make sure industry-recognized credentials benefit students and overall economic growth.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Department of Education and Workforce Director Stephen Dackin have announced the launch of a statewide Attendance Dashboard in an effort to combat chronic absenteeism in K-12 public schools. 

Over 25% of Ohio students were chronically absent last year, missing nearly one month of school. 

A student is considered chronically absent in Ohio when they miss at least 10% of the minimum number of hours required in the school year, including excused and unexcused absences, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.

The dashboard announced last week is an that compiles self-reported data from districts and schools across the state, aiming to assist administrators, parents, and taxpayers in identifying trends in attendance patterns down to the grade level.

It will update weekly as more schools report their data. 

The dashboard is organized on a trend line that allows users to see the weekly percentage of statewide absenteeism. It can be viewed from the district down to grade levels of individual schools, with customizable features comparing specific absentee rates.

Dackin said this feature was designed with the intention of allowing districts to learn from each by these comparisons. 

The launch comes after DeWine鈥檚 emphasis on improving the lives of children during his address. During his final stretch in office, the dashboard is seemingly another step towards rounding out his agenda. 

鈥淲hen students are not in school they are not learning, and the consequences are significant,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淐hronic absence isn鈥檛 just a school problem, it is a community problem, it is a state problem. It is also a parent problem.鈥�  

Ohio is the second state to have a system that updates so frequently, Dackin said.

While districts and schools are not mandated to share their data, he said the more information that is provided will allow administrators to identify the root causes of chronic absenteeism, as they can widely differ between grade levels.  

鈥淭his helps communities understand the interventions needed at a particular grade level, and what kind of supports would be necessary based on the age group of young people,鈥� Dackin said. 

As of last week, 24% of Ohio鈥檚 districts and schools鈥� data is unreported, including Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland Public School Districts, who have some of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism.

鈥淲e鈥檙e working actually with a lot of those districts,鈥� Dackin said. 鈥淲e do not have a unified data system in this state, so one of the challenges we have is there are different data systems that have to talk to this system. Many of these 24% districts, we are actively working with them to solve and resolve those technical problems.鈥�

DeWine pointed to East Cleveland City Schools as a prime example of the benefits of attendance tracking, who used its attendance data to proactively reach out to chronically absent students and their families, which reduced its chronic absenteeism by over 10%.

He said the tracking also helped them identify key reasons why students were absent, including transportation barriers, health issues and difficult home situations.  

鈥淲e urge every school in Ohio to join the dashboard,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淭he more data each school and community have the more innovative and collaborative they can be to solve this huge problem in Ohio.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

The science of reading is being taught in classrooms across Ohio, but the state鈥檚 education department stresses it will likely take time to track students鈥� progress.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce聽is particularly interested in tracking the progress of the current kindergarten students.

鈥淭his year鈥檚 kindergartners will be the first class that all four years going up to third grade, they鈥檙e going to get the science of reading,鈥� state education department director Stephen Dackin said to the Capital Journal. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a pretty good barometer of where we will be as a state in terms of our implementation and then increased outcomes in literacy.鈥�

Ohio鈥檚 science of reading law took effect in 2023 through the state鈥檚 two-year operating budget, which gave $86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials, and $18 million for literacy coaches.

Ohio school districts were required to teach the science of reading curriculum starting with the 2024-25 school year. The science of reading is based on of research that shows how the human brain learns to read and incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

鈥淲hile we are certainly making great progress, this is not easy,鈥� Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said earlier this month during his state of the state speech. 鈥淩etraining seasoned teachers, who were taught the wrong way and now have to learn new methods, is certainly an exercise in perseverance. This shift takes time.鈥�

Ohio鈥檚 literacy scores were down from last year, with 61.3% of third graders reading at or above grade level compared to 64.5% from the 2023-24 school year, according to the most recent that were released in September.

鈥淭he report card data is lagging data, so it reports on data from the previous school year, and obviously, not all districts have probably been at the point where they鈥檝e implemented the science of reading in their districts last year,鈥� Dackin said.

He said the education department is not surprised by a dip in performance.

鈥淪ometimes you鈥檙e asking teachers who鈥檝e been teaching reading for 20 years to suddenly change what they鈥檙e doing and implement something that鈥檚 new to them,鈥� Dackin said. 鈥淲e know it takes a while to do this. That doesn鈥檛 mean there鈥檚 not a sense of urgency in our state, but we also anticipate that folks are going to need some support in helping to implement.鈥�

have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based instruction since 2013, according to Education Week. the second-worst state for fourth-grade reading in 2013 to being ranked 21st in 2022 after implementing science of reading policy.

College prep programs

A unique facet of Ohio鈥檚 science of reading law is the third-party audit of teacher preparation programs.

鈥淥ur law is the toughest in the country,鈥� DeWine said during his state of the state speech.

Ohio colleges and universities teacher preparation programs were required to be fully aligned with teaching the science of reading by Jan. 1, 2025, but 10 colleges were found to be not aligned, according to an .

Bowling Green State University, Central State University, Cleveland State University, Defiance College, Ohio Christian University, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio University, Ohio State University, University of Toledo, and Wright State University were not in alignment.

Ohio State University had , the most of any university, according to the audit.

鈥淢y concern is how seriously Ohio State is taking this process,鈥� Ohio House Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Township, said during a recent Ohio House Workforce and Higher Education Committee.

鈥淏y the way I look at it, you鈥檙e not taking it very seriously at all,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hings hang in the balance here, and I鈥檓 very serious about this, and I鈥檓 not going to play games with it.鈥�

Erik Porfeli, professor and interim dean of Ohio State鈥檚 College of Education and Human Ecology, said the university is taking this seriously.

鈥淲e mobilized quickly and addressed all 17 (issues),鈥� he said.

Binaya Subedi, professor and interim chair of Ohio State鈥檚 Department of Teaching and Learning, said there has been professional development with faculty every week this semester.

鈥淲e are concerned,鈥� he said. 鈥淎fter the audit report, we have systematically reorganized our curriculum.鈥�

Any college or university that does not become fully aligned by next December will have their approval revoked by Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Mike Duffey.

鈥淲e need all universities in compliance or we risk incongruity of literacy outcomes throughout the state for our kids,鈥� Ohio House Rep. Tracy Richardson, R-Marysville, said during a recent Ohio House Workforce and Higher Education Committee.

鈥淥hio State, you cannot drag on this issue. We will be following up.鈥�

Five colleges and universities were found to be partially in alignment and 33 higher education institutions were found to be in alignment, according to the audit.

鈥淚 have confidence that every college will be in full compliance by the end of this year,鈥� DeWine said during his state of the state speech.

Having educator training programs be compliant with the science of reading means school districts won鈥檛 have to retrain teachers, Dackin said.

Parents for Reading Justice and OH-KID President Brett Tingley said holding the universities responsible is real accountability.

鈥淥ur literacy crisis does not begin in the classroom鈥攊t begins in teacher preparation programs,鈥� she said during a recent Ohio House Workforce and Higher Education meeting.

鈥淲hen a child learns to read, you change the trajectory of that child鈥檚 life, and when a state gets reading right, you change the trajectory of the state itself.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

Ohio received a bump in funding for child care last week, a small win in a sector that is still facing uncertainty and an affordability crisis.

Analysis by advocacy group Groundwork Ohio shows at more than $9,500 per year for preschool-age care, more than $11,000 per year for toddler care, and more than $12,000 a year for infant care.

The Ohio Department of Children and Youth was awarded $14.7 million in federal grants 鈥渢o support access to early care and education services,鈥� according to a press release from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

The federal funding comes from the Preschool Development Grant 鈥� Birth to Five, distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

鈥淭his funding will help Ohio better support families and make sure young children have access to quality care and learning opportunities during their most important years,鈥� DeWine said in a statement.

The state said the money will be used to upgrade technology and research, help early childhood education workers with curriculum development, professional learning opportunities, and 鈥渂usiness support resources.鈥�

A total of $250 million was distributed through the federal grant program, and Ohio鈥檚 director of the Department of Children and Youth, Kara Wente, said the grant would allow the state 鈥渢o build on the work already happening in communities across the state.鈥�

鈥淏y improving coordination and planning, we can make it easier for families to find the services they need and ensure young children get a strong start,鈥� she said in a statement.

The state General Assembly approved funding for child care through its most recent budget, with funding going to the Child Care Choice voucher program and a pilot cost-sharing child care model.

But advocates were disappointed when eligibility for Publicly Funded Child care was left at 145% of the federal poverty level, despite pushes to raise the level to 160% or 200%.

Programs to provide state grant funding for recruitment and child care provider mentorship went down from previous budget drafts, ending up with $2.85 million in funds over the two years of the budget, .

Lynanne Gutierrez, president and CEO of child advocacy group Groundwork Ohio, has said Ohio faces after one-time federal dollars fade away for good in 2028.

State child care advocates have been pushing the federal government to bring current and further funding to the sector.

They have around the country to urge the government to continue funding the Child Care Development Block Grant, along with $10 billion in funding that was frozen in certain states after fraud allegations about Minnesota child care facilities were circulated by a right-wing YouTuber earlier this year.

The funding freeze for Minnesota and other states was blocked temporarily by a federal judge in January, but the lawsuit in which the ruling was made continues.

As funding comes and goes, the cost of child care continues to balloon, and a lack of access and affordability is costing the country billions, according to a new analysis by ReadyNation, a research group partnered with the Institute for Child Success.

The study, released this week, showed insufficient child care for children younger than 5 costs the U.S. economy $172 billion per year in 鈥渓ost earnings, productivity, and economic activity.鈥�

It showed a $5.3 billion economic impact for Ohio alone.

鈥淐hallenges mount over time: with less training and less experience, these parents face diminished career prospects, reducing their earning potential,鈥� the study stated. 鈥淎nd less parent income, along with parental stress, can have harmful short and long-term impacts on children.鈥�

National polling also shows bipartisan support for further child care support and changes to the system.

A poll conducted in the beginning of January on behalf of the national First Five Years Fund showed 80% of voters find the ability to find and afford child care as 鈥渆ither in a state of crisis or a major problem.鈥�

The polling also showed 75% of participants believe child care funding should be increased or at least kept at current levels, with 75% of Republicans, 97% of Democrats, and 85% of independents giving that opinion.

A majority in all political parties polled said funding for child care 鈥渋s an important and good use of tax dollars.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

A panel of economists says that schools in Ohio aren鈥檛 producing workers that match employers鈥� needs.

The state鈥檚 labor force has declined by 91,000 between 2000 and 2020, the survey said. During that period, the state鈥檚 education system has changed markedly.

Since Republican John Kasich became governor in 2011, Ohio has diverted billions from traditional public schools. Ranked in K-12 education the year before Kasich took office, Ohio schools by 2023.

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Ohio also created such as the , which collapsed in 2018. The state couldn鈥檛 verify the politically connected school鈥檚 claims of student enrollment, much less whether kids were learning anything.

The state also is now spending in taxpayer money on private schools, while the state鈥檚 traditional public schools last year saw their .

In the midst of these radical changes to the Ohio鈥檚 education system, it still is not adequately preparing students to join the workforce, economists surveyed by Scioto Analysis said.

Eighteen were asked whether they agreed that 鈥淢isalignment between Ohio鈥檚 education and workforce training systems and employer skill demands is limiting statewide job growth.鈥� Eleven agreed, three disagreed and four were uncertain or had no opinion.

In the comment section of the survey, David Brasington of the University of Cincinnati said that Ohioans tend not to have gone very far in school. He added that even when they train for certain jobs, their training and the jobs available to them often don鈥檛 match.

鈥淥hio has pretty low educational attainment compared to other states, and even 40% of Ohio workers trained for manufacturing jobs tend not to get manufacturing jobs within a year, consistent with a mismatch of skills and demand for skills,鈥� Brasington wrote.

Educational attainment 鈥� or how far people go in school 鈥� can be important to employers in several ways. Some need students to go far enough to attain a basic education and possibly vocational training. Others need workers who have been to college.

U.S. News and World Report puts Ohio at in its rankings of educational attainment 鈥� well into the bottom half of states.

Bill Lafayette, an economist with Regionomics, said schools and employers need to work closely to address the problem.

鈥淏ased on my work with educational institutions, linkages between these institutions and business need to be enhanced,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚t has always been important for graduates to leave school with the work-ready skills (communication, responsibility, integrity, leadership, teamwork, etc.) that can spell the difference between success and failure in a career. But now with the pace of technological change, schools need to keep up with the rapidly evolving needs of business, and graduates need to recognize that they must keep their skills current or run the risk of irrelevance.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

For some programs, the promise of incoming funding will be enough to restart operations. But many won鈥檛 be able to open their doors until they receive their federal dollars, which could take up to two weeks, said Tommy Sheridan, deputy director at the NHSA. 

Sheridan said the Trump administration understands the urgency and is 鈥渕oving as fast as they possibly can.鈥�

That said, this interruption had an opportunity cost, and it’s led to instability for families and providers, he said, adding that the shutdown caused staff to focus on issues they “should not be worried about,鈥� such as fundraising and contingency planning.

Some providers fear greater delays since the Trump administration shuttered half of the Head Start regional offices earlier this year. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be working as hard as they can, but they鈥檙e going to be doing it with half the capacity,鈥� said Katie Hamm, former deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development under President Joe Biden.

And even once the funding comes through, closed centers will need to go through a series of logistical hurdles, including reaching out to families who may have found alternative child care arrangements and calling back furloughed staff, some of whom have found employment elsewhere. 

鈥淗ead Start is not a light switch,鈥� Hamm said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just turn it back on.鈥�

This interruption has also further eroded trust between grantees and the federal government that was already shaky, she added.

The Administration for Children and Families did not respond to a request for comment on when programs can anticipate communication from the office or their funding.

Since Nov. 1, approximately 65,000 kids and their families 鈥� close to 10% of all of those served by Head Start 鈥� have been at risk of losing their seats because their programs had not received their awarded funding during the longest government shutdown in history. The early care and education program delivers a range of resources to low-income families including medical screenings, parenting courses and connections to community resources for job, food and housing assistance. 

At the peak of the Head Start closures, roughly 10,000 kids across 22 programs lost access to services, according to Sheridan. A number of the remaining programs were able to stay open through private donations, loans, alternative funding streams and staff鈥檚 willingness to go without pay.

Valerie Williams, who runs a Head Start program with two facilities in Appalachian Ohio, was excited to tell parents that classrooms would be reopening soon. Her centers have been closed since Nov. 3, impacting 177 kids and 45 staff, many of whom already live paycheck to paycheck, she said.

A number of families were doubly impacted, losing access to Head Start鈥檚 resources as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, simultaneously. In the days leading up to the closure, Williams and her staff prepared families as best they could, sharing information about resources for food, assistance for utilities and heating and guidance on child care options. 

On Thursday, Williams wrote to parents via an online portal that she hopes to restart the normal school schedule sometime next week. The post was quickly flooded with comments. 

鈥淭his is super exciting!!鈥� wrote one parent. 鈥淏est news in a long time. Carter has been asking every day. Hope to see u guys very soon.鈥�

鈥淵ayyy,鈥� wrote another. 鈥淭he kids miss you guys so much!”

Still, Williams knows reopening won鈥檛 be seamless. Along with program leaders across the country, she鈥檒l need to call back furloughed staff, place food orders and handle a number of other operational challenges.

And despite the excitement, the transition back may also prove tricky for some kids.

鈥淚 do think that it will feel like starting school again for a lot of our classrooms,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been out for two weeks 鈥� You鈥檙e going to work on separation anxiety issues, you鈥檙e going to have to get into that routine again and the structure of a classroom environment. So I think that will be a big issue for a lot of our teachers.鈥� 

As of Friday afternoon, Williams was still awaiting communication from the federal Office of Head Start with information about the anticipated timeline for next steps. 

鈥淎s soon as we get that notice of award, [I want to] start our staff and kids back immediately,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he very next day.鈥�

Now that the shutdown has ended, what’s next for Head Start?

Funding for Head Start is complex. Some 80% comes from federal grants that are released to local providers on a staggered schedule throughout the year. This year, grant recipients with funding deadlines on the first of October and November were left scrambling, as the federal shutdown dragged on.

The government began to resume operations late Wednesday night after President Donald Trump signed a bill, funding through Jan. 30 and allowing programs that didn鈥檛 receive their funding on time, including Head Start, to use forthcoming dollars to backpay expenses incurred over the past month and a half.

Here鈥檚 what Hamm predicts will happen next: The Office of Head Start will recall all staff to resume, including those who were furloughed during the shutdown. The employees will review grant applications, a process which requires them to flag any language that might be reflective of diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Next, money will be sent along to the remaining regional offices, and eventually dispersed to individual grantees. The NHSA is hopeful that this process will be completed by Thanksgiving for all grantees.

There are two things the federal government can do to help centers open faster, according to Hamm. First, they could waive a typical protocol that leads to a period of seven days between when a member of Congress is notified that their state will be receiving funding and when the funding actually goes out, Hamm explained. 

Officials could also notify grantees, in writing, about how much money they鈥檒l get and when it鈥檚 expected to come through, so they can begin planning. 

Unlike SNAP, which received guaranteed funding through the budget year, money for Head Start remains uncertain beyond Jan. 30. While the fear of another shutdown has caused 鈥渜uite a bit of worry鈥� among the Head Start community, Sheridan said it would likely lead to fewer program disruptions, since it wouldn鈥檛 fall at the start of the fiscal year.

To prevent similar chaos moving forward, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin introduced in the final days of the shutdown that would guarantee uninterrupted service for fiscal year 2026. 

鈥淭he 750,000 children and their families who use Head Start shouldn鈥檛 pay the price for Washington dysfunction,鈥� Baldwin, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, wrote in a statement to 麻豆精品.

Multiple funding threats and deep staffing cuts by the Trump administration over the past year have plunged programs across the country into uncertainty. In the wake of that recent upheaval, a leadership change is also underway. The acting director of the Office of Head Start, Tala Hooban, accepted a new role within the Office of Administration for Children and Families and will be replaced by political appointee Laurie Todd-Smith, according to an email statement from ACF. Todd-Smith currently leads the Office of Early Childhood Development, which oversees the Office of Head Start. 

Sheridan described this move as anticipated and not particularly concerning, though others were less sure. Joel Ryan, the executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start, noted that Hooban was a longtime civil servant and strong supporter of the Head Start program. Without her, he fears 鈥渢here鈥檚 nobody internally with any kind of power that will push back,鈥� on future threats to the program.

Another worry plaguing providers: current funding for Head Start has remained stagnant since the end of 2024, meaning that through at least Jan. 30, programs will be operating under the same budget amid rising costs across the board.

In previous years, the program鈥檚 grant recipients typically got a cost-of-living adjustment, such as the bump ($275 million) for fiscal year 2024. In May, a group of almost 200 members of Congress signed to a House Appropriations subcommittee, requesting an adjustment of 3.2% for 2026. A recent statement from NHSA suggested that instead, the proposed Senate bill for next year includes a jump of just , or $77 million.

鈥淚f we don’t see a funding increase in line with inflation, that means that Head Start will be facing a cut of that degree,鈥� said Sheridan. 鈥淚t’s just kind of a quiet cut, or a silent cut.鈥�

鈥淚 think what will end up happening,鈥� said Ryan, 鈥渋s you鈥檒l end up seeing a massive reduction in the number of kids being served.鈥�

Public school districts have two options. They can sit back and hope the pendulum of support swings back to public education, or they can use increased competition as a driving force for innovation to best serve their students鈥� specific needs.

In Worthington, Ohio, where I became school superintendent 11 years ago, the district has embraced school choice as an opportunity. Serving students in a diverse, inner suburb of Columbus, hit its in 2025, without boundary or population shifts. Families are choosing neighborhood public schools despite an abundance of alternatives, and the community continues to invest in modernizing district facilities. 

The lessons learned demonstrate that public schools not only continue to matter to families, but they can set benchmarks for excellence in today鈥檚 competitive education landscape.

parents lean toward school choice is that they are searching for more rigorous and challenging learning experiences for their children. To remain competitive, districts need to think beyond the traditional classroom and create academic and extracurricular opportunities that fit students鈥� learning styles, interests and goals.

For instance, the allows Worthington’s second-semester high school seniors to complete their education in real-world settings, from working alongside business leaders to backpacking across Europe.

offers a mastery-based learning environment that emphasizes taking intellectual risks and reframing mistakes as learning opportunities. A key component of the program is Phoenix’s Connections class, a writing course that deepens students鈥� critical thinking skills across all core subjects. Teachers encourage inquiry by asking open-ended questions and posing thought experiments, helping students develop basic techniques of analysis, organize arguments and evaluate evidence, and learn how to engage one another respectfully in sustained discussions of current ethical and social issues.

Expanding to appeal to every student鈥檚 interests is a tall order on a small budget. However, keeping kids busy with positive learning experiences and connected to school and friends prevents them from filling their time with less favorable activities. Through a combination of community funding and participation fees, Worthington has expanded its extracurriculars offerings to include 33 varsity sports, a variety of music programs and 70 clubs. 

Because real learning happens through relationships, the district has also focused on ensuring that all students know they have an identified, trusted adult within the school system who cares for and believes in them. This one-on-one connection is a clear expectation for every member of the school community, whether they are a teacher, coach, nurse, custodian or other staff member. This individualized attention and support shifts the narrative that public schools can鈥檛 provide the personalized experience parents want for their children.

As centerpieces of their neighborhoods, Worthington schools host a variety of community activities, including art shows, Fourth of July fireworks displays and civic events, while sports stadiums and running tracks are open for use by the public. By building these connections, Worthington has in turn fostered essential public-private partnerships. Some of the area鈥檚 largest employers, including Worthington Industries, Honda of America, Abbott Laboratories and Columbus State Community College, work with the district to provide on-site job training. Students gain critical career skills, while businesses develop a strong workforce built on local talent, ensuring the region remains an economic powerhouse.

Because Worthington鈥檚 relationships with local residents don鈥檛 end when their children graduate, there is greater community support for essential capital projects. Over the past few years, Worthington has passed multiple levies and launched a three-phase, 15-year master facilities plan to renovate decades-old buildings into modern learning environments that align with diverse student needs. To secure buy-in from the community, the district has maintained complete transparency and engaged families throughout the planning process.

Between 2017 and 2021, Worthington redesigned four middle schools, and in 2022, voters passed a bond issue to rebuild a 1950s-era high school. Through the support of the community, today鈥檚 students enjoy bigger and better classrooms, children with special needs or English learners have access to more flexible learning spaces, and the community itself has new multipurpose rooms for public gatherings and events.  

In today鈥檚 competitive education market, when families see firsthand how deeply a community cares about the long-term success of a school district and the funds it is willing to invest in their children鈥檚 education, they are more likely to make public school not just their first choice, but their only choice.

The national debate around struggling student enrollment assumes public schools are in decline. Worthington鈥檚 experience shows there is another path. Public schools can grow, adapt and remain central to the community when they stay rooted in values, relationships and responsiveness. It鈥檚 up to forward-focused school and community leaders to rethink K-12 education and help public schools reclaim their status as the best option for families.

But this Monday, she won鈥檛 have a classroom to go to.

That鈥檚 because the ongoing government shutdown has forced her Highland County, Ohio, program to shutter, impacting 177 kids and 45 staffers. Across the state, at least three providers will close their doors, cutting off services to at least 1,000 young children and employment to 286 Head Start workers.

And Ohio is not alone. In all, 134 programs across 41 states and Puerto Rico serving are at risk of closing Monday morning as federal funds expire this weekend. Since the beginning of October, an additional six Head Start programs serving 6,525 children in Florida, South Carolina and Alabama have been operating without federal funding, drawing on emergency local resources to keep their doors open.聽

In total, these approximately 65,000 kids account for close to 10% of all of those served by the early learning and child care program for lower-income families.

News of their Head Start program鈥檚 closure has hit Price鈥檚 community in the Appalachia foothills particularly hard.

鈥淚 had a parent come up and grab me and hug me and she cried and I cried,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou know, a lot of parents really rely on our program. It’s pretty much invaluable in our county.鈥�

Sarah Allen’s family is among those feeling the pain. Her 3-year-old daughter Hallie attends Head Start while Allen, a former Head Start teacher herself, works on obtaining her state teaching license and substitute teaches at the local school to make extra money. Her husband is a firefighter.

Starting next week, they鈥檒l both have to work fewer hours to stay home with Hallie, creating financial hardship for the family.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 work if I don鈥檛 have a babysitter and prices keep going up for everything 鈥� and food costs are crazy,鈥� said Allen, who is also worried about the interruption to her daughter鈥檚 education.

Many Head Start families could face a double blow, losing access to the program and food assistance on the same day, with funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, set to run out Saturday as well. An infusion of contingency funding from the White House earlier this month for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, is expected

About 50 miles south of Highland, right along the Ohio river, sits Scioto County, another Appalachian stretch, parts of it so rural that some communities don鈥檛 have stop lights. Come Monday morning, Head Start classrooms across 10 centers in the region 鈥� serving 400 early learners and infants 鈥� will shut down and all 100 staff members, 60% of whom are former Head Start parents, will be furloughed. 

Communities in , leaving many kids to be raised by grandparents or other family members, who are heavily reliant on Head Start programming, said Sarah Sloan, early childhood director of the county鈥檚 Community Action Organization. Other parents are in recovery themselves, she added, and lean on Head Start to provide a safe and stable place for their kids.

Their programming is where families already under stress come to get help, she said. 

Despite this, the reception to the grim news that classrooms would close 鈥� from both families and staff 鈥� 鈥漢as just been so generous,鈥� Sloan said Wednesday, her voice cracking.

鈥淚 have not heard one negative word from our parents. They have said things like, 鈥榃e are in this together. We understand. We hate it for your staff. We’re worried.鈥欌��

Some states find last-minute funding, others don鈥檛

麻豆精品 spoke with over a dozen Head Start Association presidents, providers, teachers and parents in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, the six states with the largest number of seats at risk.

Some states, such as Ohio and Washington, are bracing for imminent closures, but others, such as Missouri and most of Georgia, have been able to access other sources of funding, giving them a runway of a week or two. This means that where a young child lives will determine whether or not they have a staffed classroom in a few days and if their families can access the range of other resources Head Start offers, from health care services to parenting courses.

While each state faces it own challenges, a few universal themes emerged: an assertion that even if local Head Start organizations are able to scrape together enough funding to keep their doors open, it will only be temporary, extending access for a few days or weeks; fear that the borrowed funds to stay operational may not be reimbursed once the federal government reopens; and concern that low-income families will lose access to food assistance at the same time. 

Head Start, which turned 60 this year, provides children at least two meals a day. All of this is setting off alarm bells about the unprecedented nature of the government crisis and the devastating effect it will likely have on the country’s most vulnerable families.

They will begin feeling the blowback from D.C. this weekend, as some parents are forced to choose between caring for their kids and showing up for work.

Funding for Head Start is complex. Some 80% comes from federal grants that are released to local providers on a staggered schedule throughout the year. Grant recipients with funding deadlines on the first of October and November are now scrambling, as the second-longest federal shutdown in history heads into its fourth week.

While there this week, Senate Republicans and Democrats have repeatedly failed to come to an agreement on a funding bill. Democrats are that have allowed millions of people to access health care since the pandemic, while Republicans say they won鈥檛 negotiate until Congress passes a bill to reopen the government. 

President Donald Trump has with cuts so far, though interruptions to Head Start funding would impact thousands of families across the political spectrum, with some of the severest programming losses falling on red states.

This has all compounded existing financial strain on local programs, many of which have struggled to hire and retain teachers, according to the National Head Start Association. It also follows multiple funding threats and deep staffing cuts by the Trump administration that have plunged Head Start programs across the country into chaos and uncertainty this year. 

鈥楾hese are actual people鈥�

No state has more seats at risk than Florida, with 9,711. While the majority of centers across the state will be able to remain open through the first two weeks of November, at least one program in West Palm Beach serving children of migrant families and seasonal workers will be forced to shutter this weekend, according to Wanda Minick, executive director of the Florida Head Start Association. The closure will impact 386 children and 283 staff across six centers, she said.

Minick wants Congress and the president to understand, 鈥淭hese are not just data points. These are actual people.鈥�

In neighboring Georgia, policymakers were preparing to potentially close centers serving 6,499 children and infants, until a last-minute, bridge loan from The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta鈥檚 Impact Investing Fund came through The $8 million means that three major providers, serving 5,800 kids, will remain open for at least 45 days, though that leaves hundreds of others throughout the state still in a lurch. 

Juanita Yancey, executive officer of the Georgia Head Start Association, expressed her gratitude for the money while emphasizing that it鈥檚 only a stopgap measure.

鈥淭ime is running out,鈥� she said. 鈥淧rograms are doing everything possible to keep their doors open, but they cannot run a program on reserves or goodwill. Every day of inaction is another day of uncertainty for families who count on Head Start services.鈥�

鈥淭his shutdown is pushing programs to the breaking point when children and families can least afford it,鈥� she added.

The bulk of Head Start seats in Missouri also appear to be safe 鈥� at least for now, according to Kasey Lawson, director of the Mid-America Regional Council, which serves 2,350 kids across 17 providers. Though that still leaves about 1,500 seats unaccounted for. 

For Lawson鈥檚 17 providers, the choice to remain open is both temporary and a risk, she said, since the centers don鈥檛 have that money 鈥渏ust sitting in the bank,鈥� and they fear they won鈥檛 receive backpay once the federal government does reopen.

Lawson said they鈥檝e asked legislators, members of Congress and the federal Office of Head Start, which is under the Department of Health and Human Services, to guarantee reimbursement as they have in the past, yet 鈥渘obody’s willing to do that. And so it is the reality of where we sit right now, that it is a true risk that all of our agencies are taking.鈥�

And even though most Head Start families in Missouri will have a place to send their kids Monday morning, many may still face a significant burden as at least 1,100 rely on expiring SNAP benefits.

In North Carolina, where 4,697 seats are at risk, at least one center will be forced to close this Friday, said Terry David, president of the state鈥檚 Head Start Association. Classrooms that are based in the local school district should be able to remain open through the end of the calendar year, he said, but that only accounts for about 140 kids.

Across the country, in Washington state, at least one program in the city of Vancouver, which serves at least 175 kids, will close this weekend. Another in the same region, The Margaret Selway Early Learning Center, will remain open through Nov. 7, but each day beyond that is uncertain, according to Nancy Trevena, chief strategy officer at the Educational Opportunities for Children and Families.

Kimberly Gusey鈥檚 foster son, Ranger, is a student at Margaret Selway and is especially dependent on Head Start services. The program was able to secure a one-to-one certified nursing assistant for Ranger, who has cerebral palsy, is nonverbal and is fed through a G-tube. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing,鈥� Gusey said, her voice breaking. 鈥淚t brings me to tears how much they鈥檝e done for us.鈥�

If the program closes next week, Gusey鈥檚 husband will have to quit his job as a mechanic to care for Ranger.

鈥淲e鈥檙e talking a large amount of money not coming into our home, but we鈥檙e willing to do that because we love these children,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut in so many ways it affects us. Not [just] the pocketbook. The routines for the kids. The routines for us. Everything is affected by this.鈥�

Even with millions spent on new textbooks, and teachers required to take online science of reading training, third grade English Language Arts proficiency fell from 62% in spring of 2023 to 61% earlier this year.

A jump in 2024 to 65% proficiency turned out to be a mirage, as third graders fell right back again last school year.

It鈥檚 still unclear whether the scores are cause for alarm or just a as Ohio joins the flood of states shifting to phonics-heavy lessons to help students decode and understand words better. Some supporters of the science of reading believe small gains should happen almost immediately, even if it takes longer for large improvements statewide.

鈥淲e haven’t seen much progress yet,鈥� said Chad Aldis of the Fordham Institute, one of the advocates of adopting the science of reading. 鈥淭his is disappointing.鈥�

Others urge patience, with some districts that adopted the science of reading early, saying they are on the verge of students showing improvements.

In the Elyria school district about 30 miles west of Cleveland, educators are hoping their patience will soon pay off. 

Andrea McKenzie, Elyria literacy specialist acknowledged that scores haven鈥檛 improved since the district switched to the science of reading in 2022. But she said this year鈥檚 third graders, the first to be using the new curriculum since kindergarten, are on track for an 11 point jump in proficiency rates, according to scores on standardized progress tests.

鈥淭his is the moment I have been waiting for,鈥� McKenzie said. 鈥淚’ve been waiting for these students to get to third grade to see this through, so I feel like this is the year.鈥�

Though most schools adopted the science of reading right after DeWine started his push early in 2023, Ohio law gave schools until this fall to fully make the switch. Teachers need time to adjust and embrace a new approach. And even Mississippi, whose 鈥渕iracle鈥� reading gains are the model for Ohio and other states, took a few years before making gains that caught notice.

鈥淟ast school year, we had districts who were in very different places in their implementation of science of reading,鈥� said Chris Woolard, chief integration officer of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. 鈥淲e had some of those early adopters that have been doing this for a few years. We had others who are (still in) early stages.鈥�

He stressed that this ongoing school year is the first that all schools must be fully using the science of reading, a 鈥渞eally important鈥� consideration when evaluating results

Melissa Weber-Mayrer, Ohio鈥檚 chief of literacy, said this year is 鈥減ivotal鈥� since schools now have to be fully using science of reading, but she also cautioned that it could be three to five years before scores grow statewide.

鈥淟ooking locally, we will see things start to move,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it might be in a grade level, in a school, maybe in one elementary building within a larger district.,鈥� she said.

Elyria, a district of just under 6,000 students, could be one of those pockets. The district鈥檚 four elementary schools were named Science of Reading Champions by DeWine last spring for quickly adopting materials and instruction, even as that district鈥檚 reading scores are still not rising.

Third grade reading proficiency in that district fell from 45.8% of students in 2023 to 43.8% on state tests this spring.

But the district has been pushing hard to adopt the science of reading, with the school board voting in 2022 to shift to the Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum and start using it that fall.

The district had 34 teachers start two-year Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading (LETRS) training 鈥斅燼 program many consider the gold standard of science of reading 鈥斅爄n 2022, with 30 more starting in 2024 and another 22 starting this school year.

The district also hired two literacy specialists in 2022 to help the one already there work with teachers on reading lessons and with students that need extra help.

The change now has kindergarten teacher Lindsay DeCoster giving students focused lessons on聽letters, their sounds and how to move their tongues and teeth to pronounce them.

鈥淚n the past, we have been skipping over this part鈥� like they don’t need to know how to rhyme, they don’t need to know initial sounds and things like that,鈥� DeCoster said. 鈥淚f you don’t understand how your mouth needs to look and what your mouth needs to do to make those sounds, then you’re not gonna be able to.鈥�

DeCoster, now in her 17th year as a teacher, said LETRS training improved her teaching immensely.

鈥淚 just didn’t know what I didn’t know as far as everything that really goes into teaching a child how to read,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’ve now broken it down to the smallest, smallest component.鈥�

With so many states adopting the science of reading in just the last few years, experts were unable to point to many strong studies showing how fast scores change after adopting the science of reading. That鈥檚 partly because districts and schools adopt new curricula, add coaches, and train teachers at different speed and intensity, often varying within a single school, as in Elyria.

But Stanford University professor Thomas Dee, who studied how low-performing schools in California improved using that state鈥檚 Early Literacy Block Grants, said changes can happen quickly if classroom methods truly change too.

He found that low-performing California students improved by about a third of a year鈥檚 worth of learning over two years, after changing the curriculum, training teachers,and adding tutoring and afterschool programs using the grants..

鈥淚 think it’s reasonable to expect measurable improvements in student literacy to follow fairly quickly on the heels of evidence-aligned changes in teacher pedagogy,鈥� Dee told 麻豆精品. 鈥淭he major concern I have is that state declarations for the Science of Reading may not translate quickly鈥攐r indeed ever鈥攊nto responsive changes in classroom practices.鈥�

Teachers, he said, can fall back into old practices of having students 鈥済uess鈥� at words using context or pictures – practices that Ohio banned in its 2023 state reading law – but which can鈥檛 be tracked.

Aldis also noted that Ohio is not gaining in another important way that can show progress聽鈥� whether lower-scoring students are doing better and closing the gap to becoming proficient. Fordham reported last month that the opposite is happening. More third graders are scoring as 鈥渓imited,鈥� the state鈥檚 lowest rating, an equivalent to an F, than before 鈥� 20.9% this year compared to 19.1% in 2023.

One factor, Aldis said, could be Ohio dropping its requirement in 2023 that third graders must read well to advance to fourth grade, which motivated students and teachers to show gains on a deadline.聽

Casey Taylor, the literacy policy director for ExcelinEd, the education advocacy group formed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, worked on reading efforts in the early days of Mississippi鈥檚 shift, as well as in North Carolina, which started a similar push in 2021.

She said Mississppi saw some gains in schools that used literacy coaches extensively within two years, but she cautioned, 鈥淚t still took several years before we really started to see those performance levels shift at a broad, systemic approach.鈥�

Mississippi, the second-worst worst state in reading when its literacy campaign launched in 2013, didn鈥檛 really excel for six years, she said.

鈥淲e saw some gains in the 2015 NAEP, but it wasn’t until 2019 that the nation really took note, because that was the first time we reached the national average on fourth grade reading,鈥� she said.

North Carolina, she said, has started seeing gains on standardized progress tests teachers give their students, but not on tests like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) yet.

Though he wants to see faster improvement in Ohio, Fordham鈥檚 Aldis agreed with Taylor in one major way – making real gains takes a long-term commitment. 

Ohio, Aldis said, has a history of abandoning improvement projects that don鈥檛 show quick results and moving on to something else.

鈥淭hese reforms are just too important to follow that same path,鈥� Aldis said. 鈥淲e need to stick with it.鈥�

More Ohio students are being homeschooled now than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of Ohio students being homeschooled was trending upward pre-pandemic, spiked to about 51,500 students during the COVID-19 pandemic and dipped back down slightly.

But homeschooling recently saw another surge with about 53,000 homeschooled students during the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.

The number of homeschooled students in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce:

• 2023-24: 53,051 students
• 2022-23: 47,468 students
• 2021-22: 47,491 students
• 2020-21: 51,502 students
• 2019-20: 33,328 students
• 2018-19: 32,887 students
• 2017-18: 30,923 students

There were about 3.1 million homeschooled students nationwide in 2021-22 鈥� quite the jump from 2.5 million in spring 2019, according to the.

鈥淗omeschooling was already on a slightly slower upward trajectory, and had been for a number of years,鈥� said Douglas J. Pietersma, research associate at National Home Education Research Institute. 鈥淲hat COVID did, from our perspective, is just infused it.鈥�

He expects the number of homeschooled students to keep growing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to put public schools out of business or anything like that, but it鈥檚 going to be a slow growth that is certainly going to be measurable over time,鈥� Pietersma said.

Remote learning during the pandemic made parents become more aware of what was being taught in schools, said Melanie Elsey, Christian Home Educators of Ohio鈥檚 legislative liaison.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that it was a mass exodus from the public or private schools into homeschooling, but for parents who felt like they could accomplish more with one-on-one attention to learning 鈥� You can tailor the education to meet the needs of their children,鈥� she said.

Not everyone who switched to homeschooling stayed after the pandemic, Elsey said.

鈥淪ome of them put their children back in because it was too much of a commitment,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I think it was sort of a time period that parents felt comfortable trying something different to see if they could help their children learn more.鈥�

The modern home education movement sprung out of the 1970s and 鈥渟kyrocketed鈥� in the 1980s, Pietersma said.

鈥淧eople were either upset with the quality of education in general,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen another group of people, it was more about the content of education.鈥�

Today there are many reasons why a family might opt for homeschooling.

鈥淥bviously, the quality of education is still one of the big issues,鈥� Pietersma said. 鈥淪afety issues are a huge thing. People who have had their children in schools where they鈥檝e been bullied or assaulted or had exposure to drugs 鈥� given the size of school, it may be not impossible to prevent some of those things.鈥�

The reason for homeschooling varies and it is not always because a family is not satisfied with their local school district, Elsey said.

She homeschooled her children, but did not originally think it was for her family. However, she changed her mind after she enjoyed being home with her children through their preschool years.

鈥淲e prayed about it and really felt like it was something that was worthwhile,鈥� Elsey said.

Jeannine Ramer has homeschooled her four children 鈥� two are now in college and two (ages 17 and 13) are currently being homeschooled.

鈥淗omeschooling has really strengthened our family relationships, my kids are very, very close and supportive of one another, and I think that鈥檚 all of the hours spent at home and just really learning together,鈥� said Ramer, who lives in Alliance.

They were not initially planning on homeschooling their children, but Ramer鈥檚 sister-in-law homeschooled her children and encouraged them to think about it as their oldest approached preschool age.

They decided to try it for a year or two, but found it worked well for their family.

鈥淲e loved it,鈥� Ramer said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had the ability to tailor each child鈥檚 education to that child.鈥�

A parent does not need to be a licensed teacher in order to homeschool their children, Elsey said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing how well families do because they have access to resources, really, all over the world, when you can get curriculum from anywhere that meets the needs of your students to learn to pursue their interests,鈥� she said.

Families who decide to homeschool their children enjoy the flexibility, Pietersma said.

鈥淭hey can tailor the education that they鈥檙e providing to their child in so many ways that an institutional school can鈥檛 just because of sheer numbers,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne teacher in a classroom with 30 students can鈥檛 take the lesson plan and tailor it to each of the 30 students.鈥�

Ramer鈥檚 oldest child was interested in printing and design work as a teenager, so they were able to craft his high school education to those areas. Now he is studying industrial and innovative design in college.

鈥淚t just allowed us the ability to foster that,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here was much more flexibility.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

This is largely because the transfer process is inefficient and not designed for non-traditional students. Students who transfer after earning an associate degree often lose significant credits and must retake courses, which is a considerable barrier to earning a baccalaureate, or bachelor’s.

Community colleges could be a big part of the solution by expanding their capacity to offer bachelor鈥檚 degrees in fields that are in high demand in their regional labor market, and by doing more to help students transition to four-year colleges.

Today, over 200 community colleges in 24 states offer more than 736 . The focus on business, health care and nursing, education, information technology and other areas that address shortages in these and other fields. The bachelor鈥檚 degrees conferred by the community colleges typically cost about half the tuition charged by four-year public colleges. The programs help award four-year degrees to many underserved college students, keeping them close to home, putting them on pathways to good jobs and helping communities thrive.

At MiraCosta College in San Diego, for example, college leaders learned from biotech industry partners such as Pfizer and Abbott Labs that they needed more employees with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biomanufacturing production. After coordinating with four-year college partners, MiraCosta created the first-ever community college biomanufacturing bachelor鈥檚 degree program conferred by a two-year college.

The program not only has significant employer buy-in and a 93% completion rate, but it also provides equitable opportunities to students. About two-thirds of MiraCosta鈥檚 biomanufacturing graduates are women (62%), two-thirds are non-white (64%) and 20% are the first in their family to attend college. The school is clearly meeting an industry need, employers are engaged, and together they have created a pathway to good-paying jobs in an expensive region of the country. Likewise, graduates of similar baccalaureate programs delivered by community colleges nationwide are 50% people of color and 64% female.  

In northeast Ohio, Lorain County Community College has offered 100 bachelor鈥檚 and master’s degrees on its campus for nearly 30 years as part of a voter-approved

University Partnership that includes 13 colleges and universities. The degrees 鈥� in everything from biology, human resources, nursing, public safety and respiratory care to computer science and supply chain management 鈥� and include the kind of personal attention, career guidance, tutoring, writing instruction and nonacademic assistance with child care, transportation and food that are more common at community colleges than at four-year institutions.

But state officials recognized that more community college baccalaureate degrees were needed to fill talent gaps in emerging fields in the state. Lorain County Community College was given permission to launch an applied bachelor鈥檚 degree in microelectronic manufacturing, to prepare workers in fields such as advanced manufacturing, automation, aerospace and biomedical technology.

In the first two years, students spend three days a week working in paid internships and two days in the classroom. They graduate with an associate degree and up to two years of real work experience, then enter the bachelor’s degree program already holding a full-time job, often by the company where they interned. 

The college also launched a bachelor鈥檚 degree program to prepare technicians and engineers who are helping companies digitize and automate their operations, integrating robotics, control systems, machine learning and cyber-physical systems into modern factories. More than 100 companies have offered internships, advised on curriculum and committed to hiring graduates. 

But making baccalaureate programs available where they are needed is only one aspect of what community colleges do. Achieving the Dream, the reform network of more than 300 community colleges, includes more than 50 that offer baccalaureate degrees. These colleges are making it easier to transfer to four-year degree programs by creating better advising and support so students can move seamlessly from adult learning programs that provide certificates but not degrees; dual enrollment programs in which high school students also earn college credits from community colleges; and associate degree programs that lead to four-year degrees. 

These community colleges are also working to connect their students and graduates to programs and careers that pay a family-sustaining wage. In focusing on areas from which people from similar demographics have previously been excluded, the schools are sparking upward mobility.

The debate over who and where bachelor’s degrees should be offered is too often driven by institutional priorities and policies set in the past. As jobs increasingly require a bachelor鈥檚 degree and employers continue to seek skilled workers, and as too many high school graduates and employees neither master new skills nor earn a living wage, it is time to shift the discussion from what type of institution offers a bachelor’s degree to their programs’ costs, benefits and value to students, employers and communities. 

Community colleges can play a central role in helping graduates achieve a bachelor鈥檚 degree. States and all colleges should support these low-cost, high-value degree pathways. 

Whether that ruling 鈥� from a Democratic judge in a county-level court 鈥� survives appeals to the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court will be the real test. 

If it stands, the ruling would cut off the $700 million Ohio now pays for 140,000 students to attend private, mostly religious schools, through its EdChoice voucher program. Voucher opponents, who say EdChoice takes away money from school districts, hope the money will now go to public instead of private schools. 

EdChoice makes up nearly 90% of Ohio鈥檚 voucher programs by giving students and schools nearly $6,200 a year each through eighth grade and $8,400 for high school.

In a late June ruling, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page found that EdChoice, once a small program limited to only low-income students or those at schools with low test scores, has expanded so much after Ohio opened it up to any student in 2023 that it violates parts of Ohio鈥檚 constitution calling for the state to fund 鈥渁 system of common schools.鈥� 

In the EdChoice case, filed by school districts against the state in 2022, Page agreed that the vouchers, which are used mostly at religious schools that can choose who they accept and what they teach, have created a second, parallel school system that鈥檚 selective, not common.

鈥淚n expanding the EdChoice program to its current form, the General Assembly has created a system of uncommon private schools by directly providing private schools with over $700 million in funding,鈥� she wrote.

Page, though, recognized that EdChoice has grown so fast that ending it would cause “significant change to school funding in Ohio.鈥� She held off ordering EdChoice to shut down until after appeals, even as she ruled against it.

Yitz Frank, a suburban Cleveland rabbi and president of School Choice Ohio, vowed to appeal Page鈥檚 ruling. He praised her, though, for delaying ending the vouchers just a few months before the start of a new school year. 

鈥淵ou would essentially have well over 100,000 students lose their scholarships,鈥� Frank said. 鈥淭ens of thousands of them would have no ability to even figure out how to possibly make those tuition payments. I’m sure there are some more middle class families that might be able to figure it out with great sacrifice, but it would be pretty devastating for the families.鈥�

The ruling, if upheld, is high stakes for Ohio, but will have little impact on vouchers in other states because it centers on language in the state constitution and falls under state courts. 

It鈥檚 the latest, however, in a string of state court findings against state aid for private school tuition, including in and , where a bid to change the state constitution to allow state money to pay for private schools also failed.

The case is also significant because Ohio鈥檚 voucher program is among the largest in the country. Ohio spends the fourth-most of any state on private school tuition assistance, relative to total state spending on education, , the nonprofit school choice advocacy group.

Florida leads the way, with just over 10% of state spending on education going to private school tuition through vouchers, tax credits or related Education Savings Accounts. Arizona is close behind at 7% and Wisconsin at 5% before Ohio and Indiana follow at around 3.7%.

Voucher opponents, though, hope EdChoice clears appeals and ends soon. They disagreed that cutting off vouchers would be so harmful to families, noting that many sent their children to private schools without vouchers until the Republican majority in the legislature lifted income limits over the last few years.

鈥淭axpayers are being ripped off,鈥� said Dan Heinz, a school board member of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district, the district historically most affected by EdChoice. 鈥淲ealthy families that have always used private schools and afforded private schools are now having that tuition subsidized by much poorer families.鈥�

Smaller Ohio voucher programs, including two for students with disabilities and one only for Cleveland residents, are not part of the case. The Cleveland program is well-known as the center of the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court case Zelman v. Simmons-Harris that allowed vouchers to be used for students to attend religious schools.

Page also ruled that Ohio鈥檚 requirement for 鈥渃ommon schools鈥� means that public schools, the 鈥渃ommon鈥� ones, should be fully funded. She agreed with districts that the state legislature has not met that mandate, particularly by under-funding the planned phase-in of the 鈥淔air School Funding” formula it passed in 2021.

鈥淭he state provides hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to private schools through EdChoice while at the same time Plaintiffs are unable to educate their students because the General Assembly decided not to fully fund public schools,鈥� Page wrote.

Voucher advocates promise to appeal, saying they are not surprised by this ruling by a Democratic judge in one one the most Democratic-leaning counties in Ohio, even as the state has trended strongly Republican in recent years. 

Advocates including Keith Neely, a lawyer for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice who helped defend EdChoice on behalf of families using the vouchers, said he expects to easily win at the Supreme Court for a few reasons, including that Ohio has no ban on funding additional schools if the state also pays for a 鈥渟ystem of common schools.鈥�

鈥淭here’s no provision鈥� that prohibits the general assembly from enacting scholarships, or even providing for this other system of uncommon schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think plaintiffs are wrong to try and argue that there is a restriction in Ohio’s constitution that prevents the state from providing for educational alternatives like Ed choice.鈥�

Voucher opponents, who say they now have half of Ohio鈥檚 611 school districts, including large ones, as plaintiffs in the case, praised the ruling and hope that public pressure will overcome the political leaning of the state Supreme Court. Six of the seven members, all of whom face election, are Republican.

鈥淧ut on the political lens for these people (justices) when they’re looking at 75% of the state’s voters living in districts that have signed up for the lawsuit,鈥� said Heinz. 鈥漈hat’s not a very promising outlook for their political futures.鈥�

Not likely. Yet in Republican-dominated states, that鈥檚 exactly what the future holds. This is arguably the most profound change in American education since the development of universal public education over a century ago.

Over the past five years, 14 states have passed laws creating , often known as Education Savings Accounts 鈥� public money families can use to pay private school tuition.聽All are Republican states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Two more, , have passed refundable tax credits available to all families.

Every family in those states is eligible, or will be within a few years, for somewhere between per student. Counting programs limited to low-income students, more than half of all K-12 students in the U.S. .

This will accelerate the process of the rich getting richer while the poor fall further behind. And now, Republicans in Congress have quietly slipped worth $5,000 per child into their 鈥渙ne big beautiful bill.鈥�

Equal opportunity has always been a fundamental principle of public education: the idea that every child, no matter how poor, would have access to the same quality school. This has long been more an ideal than a reality, but after decades of legal battles, in poor and affluent districts.

States could preserve equal opportunity in a voucher system if parents were barred from topping up vouchers with their own money. But telling Americans they can鈥檛 help fund their child鈥檚 private school would never fly. So families will add to the value of their vouchers and buy the best education they can afford 鈥� because they love their children.聽

Other parents will have no money to add. Their kids will attend public schools or the least expensive private schools. And equal opportunity will fly out the window.

Vouchers will segregate students by income, since private school tuition varies widely. Hence, they will no doubt increase segregation by race as well.

Over time, as more and more people use vouchers, the education market in Republican states will stratify by income far more than it does today. It will come to resemble any other market: for housing, automobiles or anything else. The affluent will buy schools that are the equivalent of BMWs and Mercedes; the merely comfortable will choose Toyotas and Acuras; the scraping-by middle class will buy Fords and Chevrolets; and the majority, lacking spare cash, will settle for the equivalent of used cars 鈥� mostly public schools.

Meanwhile, the billions spent on vouchers will be subtracted from public school budgets, and the political constituency for public education will atrophy, leading to further cuts.

It鈥檚 obvious why vouchers appeal to people who already send their kids to private school, or would like to. But pro-voucher referenda have never won a majority. They have on state ballots, and three of those defeats occurred last fall, even in red states 鈥� in .

Yet, GOP funders donate millions to state legislators to support vouchers. And Republican lawmakers are heeding their wishes.

So far, studies have shown in private schools that accept vouchers. This is just common sense: Expensive private schools are often excellent, but cheap private schools are often worse than neighboring public schools.

Yet only one state, Louisiana, denies schools voucher money if their students perform poorly on state standardized tests. In West Virginia, voucher students who fail state tests lose their eligibility for the program. Most states , not even publishing test scores for schools that receive voucher money.

Private schools have the right to select their students, and some will no doubt discriminate 鈥� against gay students, transgender students, Muslim students or all of the above. State voucher laws often do not have comprehensive prohibitions against discrimination, and there are reports of bias in Wisconsin’s program, which is only for low-income students.

Finally, recent research suggests another common-sense reality: Heightened demand fueled by vouchers leads schools to .

None of these outcomes would draw support from a majority of Americans. Yet they are happening, and they will surely deepen the growing divide between rich and poor.

Is there an alternative, other than the status quo of struggling public school systems? Indeed there is. States and school districts could reduce bureaucratic controls, empower educators and increase choice, competition and accountability for performance within the public school system, through the spread of charter schools. Cities that have done so, including , have produced some of the nation’s most rapid improvements in student performance.

Voucher advocates are right, in my opinion, to want more choice, more competition, more diversity of school models and more accountability for performance in the nation’s education system. Traditional districts are operating with a centralized, standardized model that emerged more than a century ago, which makes creating quality public schools an uphill battle, particularly in low-income areas.

I also have no problem with vouchers for low-income students who are now trapped in failing public schools. But for too long, American society has been divided 鈥� economically, socially and politically 鈥� between those fortunate enough to have earned college degrees and those for whom college was out of reach. Turning the K-12 education system into a marketplace, in which the quality of a child鈥檚 school depends upon how much their parents can afford to pay, will only widen the gaps between haves and have-nots. Sadly, 16 Republican states have taken a huge step down that path.

鈥淭hey teach you ABCs,鈥� Pobrega said as he picked up her third grader after school. 鈥淭hey teach you how to write. They teach you small little words and it prepares them for first grade.鈥�

But not all parents value kindergarten as much as Pobrega. So many parents treat kindergarten as less important than other grades that it adds up into a major problem 鈥� nationally, across Ohio and particularly at Lincoln Park and other high-poverty schools.

Kindergarten has the highest absenteeism problem of any elementary grade in several states, studies have shown. In Ohio, attendance can be so bad that state data show some kindergartens approaching 90% chronic absenteeism.

Though chronic absenteeism 鈥� students missing 10 percent or more of school days 鈥� is drawing national attention for high school students, there has long been a second, less publicized, peak in absenteeism in kindergarten and sometimes preschool that is also damaging. 

Hedy Chang, one of the leading researchers of absenteeism and its effects, said kindergarten absenteeism needs educator鈥檚 attention, not just high school absences.

鈥淵ou really want to worry about both,鈥� said Chang, founder of the nonprofit Attendance Works. 鈥淵ou want to care about your youngest incoming learners, because that’s going to be critical for the long term. What you don’t invest in and address early, you might pay for later.鈥�

Consider: In Ohio, more than a quarter of Ohio kindergarteners missed at least 18 days of school in the 2023-24 school year, state data shows, making kindergarten the highest chronic absenteeism rate of any elementary school grade in the state.

That matches findings by nonprofit FutureEd in March that kindergarteners had the highest chronic absenteeism of any grade in Hawaii and Utah last school year. In all 20 other states FutureEd looked at, Kindergarten had the highest chronic absenteeism rates before 7th grade.

鈥淲e see this U-shaped curve,鈥� when charting absenteeism by grade, said Amber Humm Patnode, acting director of Proving Ground, a Harvard based research and absenteeism intervention effort. There is high absenteeism in kindergarten, it improves for several years, and typically rises again in late middle school.

She said there are really two separate absenteeism problems 鈥� one for the youngest and one for the oldest students 鈥� that need different strategies to fix.

Ohio State University professor Arya Ansari, who specializes in early childhood education, called kindergarten absenteeism 鈥減roblematic鈥� because missed classes add up over the years.

鈥淜ids who missed school in kindergarten do less well academically in terms of things like counting, letters, word identification, language skills.., they do less well in terms of their executive function skills, and they do less well socially and behaviorally,鈥� Ansari said. 

鈥淒ays missed in preschool or kindergarten kind of set the stage, or are precursors for future absences,鈥� he added. 鈥淪o when you’re frequently absent, it kind of begins to have a snowball effect and sets habits that are harder to break later on.鈥�

There鈥檚 also another dynamic at play with kindergarten absences: It varies by school, in very dramatic ways.

Though Ohio鈥檚 kindergarten chronic absenteeism rate was just above 26% last year, 27 kindergartens had chronic absenteeism triple that rate, coming close to or exceeding 80%. Lincoln Park had the worst rate in the state last year at nearly 90%, with close to 9 out of 10 kindergarteners qualifying as chronically absent.

Adding to the damage, the worst kindergarten absenteeism is happening in places where the students need it most. Ohio鈥檚 list of highest absenteeism rates is dominated by schools in, or next to, the state鈥檚 biggest or most poor cities 鈥� Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Youngstown 鈥� where students have performed well below suburban students for years.

In contrast, affluent and higher-performing schools easily have less than 5% kindergarten chronic absenteeism, with several at zero.

Students in the high-poverty schools are not only missing days that could start them on a path to catching up, the absences are holding everyone back even more, Chang said.

鈥淚 consider high (absenteeism) at 20%, 30% in a school,鈥� Chang said. 鈥�80%? That’s an extremely high level of chronic absence. When schools have really high levels of chronic absence, the churn just makes everything harder. It makes it harder for teachers to teach, set classroom norms and kids to learn.鈥�

Some of why kindergarten absenteeism is so high is easy to understand. For many kids, it鈥檚 the first year of school, so kindergartens become superspreader sites for colds, flu and other illnesses kids haven鈥檛 been exposed to before. Since chronic absenteeism includes any days missed, even for illness, rates could legitimately spike.

The pandemic added a twist to that, said Robert Balfanz, a Johns Hopkins University professor and another leader in absenteeism research.

鈥淚t used to be that parents got guidance (that) If your kid just had sniffles, you could send them to school,鈥� Balfanz said. 鈥淭hen, coming out of the pandemic, parents got the message鈥� perhaps overload, perhaps not鈥hat should you have any sign of illness, you could have COVID. That鈥檚 another factor.鈥�

Just as important: Only 17 states required students to attend kindergarten as of 2023, according to the Education Commission of the States. That easily leads parents to consider it optional and for school to really start in first grade.

Then there鈥檚 kindergartners鈥� need for parents or siblings to take them to school or to their bus stop. If school and work schedules don鈥檛 align, or if a sibling鈥檚 school is different, kindergarten falls lower on the priority list.

鈥淎 kindergartener not coming to school is not necessarily the kindergartner saying, 鈥業’m not going to school today,鈥� 鈥� said Jessica Horowitz-Moore, chief of student and academic supports for the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. 鈥淭hat has to do a lot with the parents.鈥�

Parents oftentimes don鈥檛 appreciate how fast absences add up. Another parent picking up children at Lincoln Park was a perfect example. That father said his child only missed school 鈥渁 couple times a month鈥� when in kindergarten. But twice a month is 10% of the 20 school days in a month (Four weeks of five days each) which is right on pace for chronic absenteeism.

Some of the kindergartens in Ohio with the worst absenteeism in 2023-24 were failing in many other ways too: Two charter elementary schools with kindergarten chronic absenteeism over 87% closed before school began this academic year. Some, including the Stepstone Academy charter school in Cleveland, did not respond to multiple messages from 麻豆精品.

Lincoln Park, with the worst kindergarten absenteeism problem in the state, is part of the ACCEL charter schools, a fast-growing multi-state charter network, that had five of Ohio鈥檚 10-worst kindergartens for chronic absenteeism.

Representatives of the network said the schools are often in high poverty neighborhoods with families that move frequently, which disrupts attendance. Students often don鈥檛 have reliable transportation, they said, and Ohio鈥檚 charter schools have less money to put toward attendance issues than districts.

Lincoln Park school leaders say they鈥檙e trying to improve attendance and academic performance. Both the school鈥檚 principal and kindergarten teacher are new this year and interim Principal Erika Vogtsberger said she expects the preschool attendance rate to go up from 74% last year to about 80% this school year. 

She said fewer families are moving during this school year than last, and more than 90% of Lincoln Park鈥檚 students have signed up to return, bringing stability she thinks will help attendance.

The school has also been trying for a few years to encourage attendance. It has early morning and afterschool sessions so working parents can drop children off at 6:30 am and pick them up as late as 5:30 pm. It holds special events like pancake breakfasts for families to encourage attendance and gives classrooms with 90 percent attendance for five days a chance to spin a wheel for rewards like pizza parties or a chance to wear pajamas to school for a day.

But even at 90% goal to earn prizes still leaves 10% of students absent racking up days toward chronic absenteeism.

鈥淲e have to make it attainable,鈥� Vogtsberger said. 鈥淚f I had it at 95%, the kids who are here without missing a day are going to get discouraged because鈥� we do have a small cluster of people who are out pretty regularly.鈥�

鈥淣obody would get it,鈥� added Sherree Dillions, a regional superintendent for ACCEL. 鈥淎t least, with the 90%, peer to peer pressure is a big piece. You say 鈥榊ou better come … You better come tomorrow, because we want that pizza party鈥�, or we want whatever … Because the kid wants the prize.鈥�

Voghtsberger said she also does not want to punish students, either, because their parents aren鈥檛 doing what they need to do.

鈥淣o matter how bad some students want to be at school, if their parents are not getting up in the morning and bringing them, they cannot get to school, and鈥� that’s not their fault.鈥� she said. 

School officials also said parents are a problem beyond not bringing children to school. Parents, they said, are often abusive when called or visited to check on students and have sometimes threatened school officials with guns or dogs. Ohio has also moved away from taking action against students or parents for truancy, so parents face no penalty for keeping students home, as they do in other states, including Indiana, West Virginia and Iowa.

鈥淚f I had my way, parents would be held accountable across the board,鈥� Dillions said.

The Toledo school district, whose Sherman elementary school has the worst absenteeism of any school district kindergarten in Ohio, also saw parents push back when the school called or visited about students skipping school. The district decided in 2017 to pay for well-known people in neighborhoods, like football coaches or local volunteers, to serve as 鈥渁ttendance champions鈥� to talk to parents instead of school officials.

鈥�(They) go out to the homes,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淭hey complete home visits. They work with the families to remove barriers to attendance. They’re in the buildings every day, building relationships with students, removing barriers on that end as well.鈥�

鈥淭hey are not truancy officers,鈥� Baker stressed. 鈥淭hey are not to issue any punishment. That’s not their thing. This is about, 鈥楬ow can I help get Johnny back into school?鈥�

The champions have reduced some of the tension between schools and parents, she said.

Baker has seen better attendance this year, so she expects kindergarten chronic absenteeism there to fall from about 87% to 77% 鈥� still about triple the statewide rate.

There are some reasons for optimism across Ohio and nationally. Absenteeism at all grades, including kindergarten, is improving yearly since the end of the pandemic everywhere.

Baker said, though, that kindergarten may need to be more of a priority.

鈥淲e’re going to have to really hit preschool and kindergarten a little bit harder with our interventions that we are setting up,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have been very much focused on high school. But I think for us as a district … we really have to continue to hit this hard across the board.鈥�

Year-round schooling, which gained popularity in the 1970s, avoids long summer vacations in which students can during the school year. Under the plan, students attend classes as part of a normal grading period most of the summer. Their school years aren鈥檛 much longer than with a traditional schedule, just spread out differently, with their lost summer vacation days added to other breaks during the school year.

Cleveland鈥檚 move comes as some states like South Carolina and Florida have recently embraced or are trying out the approach, along with districts hoping to address pandemic learning loss. The number of schools using year-round schedules nationally fell from about 6% in the 1970s to under 3% before the pandemic, researchers report.

In Cleveland, previous district leaders once considered year-round school a promising way to turn around the struggling district. But it caught on in just six of Cleveland鈥檚 high schools, and new school leaders now want all district schools on the same calendar and curriculum so students aren鈥檛 lost if they change schools.

Leaders also aren鈥檛 convinced year-round school is helping. Athis year with researchers from Cleveland State University and the American Institutes for Research showed the city鈥檚 year-round schools often have higher math and English scores than other high schools, but mostly because the schools have more gifted students and students who would do well with any schedule. Research nationally is also mixed.

District CEO Warren Morgan decided gains were not enough to justify the additional $2.6 million in teacher salaries year-round classes cost.

鈥淭here was no evidence that there was substantial, meaningful difference in the academic outcomes in our different calendar types,鈥� Morgan said before the school board vote last week. 鈥淲e also recognize and value the excellence of our many different schools 鈥ut there’s also other variables鈥hat make them great.鈥�

David Hornak, executive director of the National Association for Year Round Education, said the pandemic renewed interest in year-round school as a possible way to tackle COVID learning loss, as well as increasing interest in related strategies, like adding summer learning programs or extra school days to the start or end of the school year.

Hornak estimates about 4% of schools now have a year-round schedule, but the association has scaled back over the years and has no staff to track it.

He said students are less likely to forget lessons over a shorter summer vacation. Longer breaks during the year, often about three weeks long, give schools a chance to give struggling students targeted help catching up, rather than waiting until July for a summer school that feels like a punishment.

鈥淚 would love school leaders to consider summer as just another academic block of time,鈥� he said.

Paul Von Hippel, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas and prominent skeptic of year-round school, said he sees no difference in learning from just scheduling the same number of school days in different ways.

鈥淚nstead of having one long break where students forget a lot, you have a bunch of short breaks where students forget a little,鈥� Von Hippel said. 鈥淭he amount of forgetting adds up to be about the same.鈥�

He added that though the pandemic prompted districts to consider year-round classes, he sees no evidence that they have caught on in a meaningful way. 

Teachers, parents and students of Cleveland鈥檚 six year-round schools, however, fought the district CEO and implored the district school board at two hearings to keep a schedule they say made their schools unique and offered students chances they wouldn鈥檛 have with a standard school year.

Students from one year-round school even protested the change outside district headquarters last month.

Xavier Avery, a junior at Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School who organized the protest, reminded the school board right before its vote April 29 that his school has received state awards and has better test scores than the district average. He also said that students spend part of school days in warmer months on boats and planes, both learning to operate them and studying Lake Erie as part of the school鈥檚 specialized focus.

鈥淥ur year-round calendar plays a huge role in this success,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s what makes our programs, internships and hands-on learning possible.鈥�

Cleveland also cut other non-traditional schedules as part of its push to put all schools on the same schedule. Morgan and the school board also axed extended school years, which added extra days at 17 other schools, as well as extended days, running 30 minutes longer each day at six schools. Those cuts drew more fire from parents, who said that being able to choose schools that offer extra time keeps them in the district, rather than selling their homes and moving to suburban districts.

Year-round schools started gaining national attention in the 1970s, experts say, for two major reasons. In some cases, most notably fast-growing California where schools were too small to handle exploding enrollment, schools spread classes out over the whole year so they could stagger student schedules to accommodate all of them.

The other major draw, the one that appealed to Cleveland, was limiting 鈥渟ummer learning loss鈥� or 鈥渟ummer slide,鈥� where students forget much of what they learned during long vacations. 

A found mixed results, with Black, Hispanic and low-income students more likely to see gains and the staggered schedules in California more likely to show losses.

California stopped using that strategy after building new schools for all its students. 

The total also fell as cities like and dropped the approach several years ago after not seeing big academic gains. Post-pandemic data was not readily available.

Educators still see promise in the approach. and three school districts in Florida are now  

Other school districts in Dallas and Philadelphia are trying a related, though different, approach: simply adding voluntary days to the year to reduce summer slide and to help students who are behind catch up, whether from the pandemic or just needing more class time. Richmond, Virginia, has also added at a few struggling schools, though squashed attempts to do that for the whole district.

Cleveland鈥檚 experiment with year-round school started in 2009 at a specialized STEM school created as a magnet for the city鈥檚 top students. Former Cleveland school district CEO Eric Gordon soon after considered moving the entire district to year-round schedules. 

In launching a district turnaround plan in 2012, he jokingly dismissed the traditional school year as an 鈥渁grarian calendar we currently use so that all of my students are free to bring in the harvest every summer.鈥�

Gordon said the district could close half the gap between his students and higher-performing suburban students by eliminating the accumulation of 12 years of summer slides before graduation. 

But attempts to use a year-round calendar at one large neighborhood high school failed after parents objected to students losing summer breaks and its effect on family vacations, summer jobs and school schedules of siblings on regular schedules.

A lack of air conditioning in some old schools and parent objections to a much-smaller change 鈥� starting the school year earlier in August than before 鈥� put plans to use the schedule at more schools on hold.

The year-round schedule ended up at no neighborhood schools and just six schools the district created with alternative class styles 鈥� a school based in a hospital or one focused on learning through digital art projects 鈥� that families could pick, but not be assigned to.

But what about the longer-term story in Steubenville? Although early academic success is incredibly important, it’s only part of what students need to achieve better outcomes down the road. As Chad Aldeman pointed out in a recent analysis of Steubenville鈥檚 strategy, 鈥淒espite its near-perfect early reading scores, strong middle and high school achievement and a 96% graduation rate, the district鈥檚 post-high school results are only slightly above statewide averages in terms of college-going and completion rates and the percentage of graduates who find 鈥榞ainful employment.鈥� 鈥�

Academic preparation is a critical nut that has not fully been cracked, which is why success stories like Steubenville are noteworthy. But academics are only one part of what students need to find success. 

First, it鈥檚 critical to help students figure out what they want to do next and see relevance in what they鈥檙e learning. This means schools must support career awareness and exploration well before high school and help students begin to imagine their future selves early 鈥� with the understanding that their vision is likely to change many times on their way to finding a fulfilling career. Students should have the chance to engage in meaningful experiences in , with age-appropriate ways to start to explore what they like, what they鈥檙e good at and which potential careers might suit them. Educators and counselors also need to help students build connections between what they鈥檙e learning in school and real-world careers so that they see in their education. 

Career exposure and exploration are important, but they are not sufficient. Students also need wraparound support to enable them to successfully move on to education and training opportunities after high school.

Last year, 15 national organizations came together to help identify the conditions that districts can create to provide effective supports for students鈥� success in their chosen postsecondary pathways. The they laid out can serve as a roadmap for helping more students find long-term success.

One area of particular need is advising. In nearly all high schools across the U.S., counselors are overloaded, making it challenging for every student to receive the personal guidance needed to navigate the next steps beyond high school. As a result, it鈥檚 important for districts to think more creatively about expanding the 鈥渨ho鈥� when it comes to advising. This can include leveraging 鈥渘ear-peers鈥� who can serve as trusted sources of guidance. A number of communities 鈥� ranging from rural Appalachia in Kentucky to New York City 鈥� are to dramatically expand the number of caring young adults who can connect with students and help them find their paths to success. They can provide advice on not only which classes to take, but which work-based learning experiences to pursue, which colleges to consider, how to secure financial aid and much more. 

Because the need for navigational support doesn鈥檛 end with high school graduation, there has been a recent trend among K-12 and to invest in persistence coaches to guide recent graduates through their first year of college. Taking on a degree of responsibility for their students鈥� success even after they have moved on is a critical step for these schools toward ensuring that those outcomes improve. 

Finally, districts and states need to measure longer-term student outcomes, transparently report them and use them to drive decisionmaking and improvements. With a greater focus on like college enrollment and persistence, degree attainment, employment rates and wages, districts can gain a better understanding of where students are and are not succeeding and how to help more of them to get on the right path. Ohio deserves credit for the powerful it has made available; without them we would only have half the story in Steubenville. Unfortunately, in far too many states, K-12 leaders operate in the dark when it comes to how their students after graduation.

Steubenville can teach the country a great deal about helping students find academic success against the odds. Which districts will emerge as the star pioneers in long-term student outcomes? 

Ohio Republicans are dominating the 鈥渃ulture wars鈥� over schools and students, joining other states in passing a barrage of new laws involving race, ethnicity and gender with several more in the pipeline.

Both emboldened by President Donald Trump鈥檚 success in the 2024 elections and as a backlash against former President Joe Biden, bills pressing the Make America Great agenda in schools have accelerated and come in rapid fire.

In the past year, Ohio鈥檚 Republican supermajority has defended in court its 2023 bans of transgender athletes participating in school sports and including hormone treatments and blockers for minors. 

Since Trump鈥檚 November victory, the state has also passed or is still pursuing far right bills including a and a opposed by the LGBTQ community, while also opening the door for religious study by public school students and attacking 鈥淒iversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)鈥� efforts in both colleges and K-12 schools.

The bill affecting colleges, which also includes restrictions on teaching 鈥渃ontroversial beliefs,鈥� drew strong opposition but was

Ohio, the state with the sixth most students, is one of several passing similar bills 鈥� but the number and speed of them reflects the state鈥檚 shift to the right in recent years. Ohio was once one of the most reliable bellwether states in presidential elections, . But Ohio voted for Trump in 2020 and has now backed him in three state elections and the state is for what some consider extremism on education and other issues such as abortion. 

Troy McIntosh, executive director of education efforts for the Center for Christian Virtues, an Ohio nonprofit whose influence on legislators has grown in recent years, said Trump鈥檚 November win and the wave of bills are fueled by parent anger over how some social issues were framed and taught in online classes during the pandemic. It鈥檚 also a pushback against Biden giving transgender students more rights in ways some parents feel infringe on their own.

鈥淧art of the message the electorate sent in that election is, 鈥榣ook, we need to fix this,鈥欌�� McIntosh said. 鈥淭his is not something we support – these progressive, radical in many ways, interpretations of law,  of culture, ethics. So, sure, the (Ohio) General Assembly is responding to what the electorate told them they wanted.鈥�

Democrats, whose opposition to the Trump-aligned bills is regularly outvoted by the state鈥檚 Republican supermajority, said the bills distract from more pressing issues like school funding and improving learning, while also being destructive.

鈥淪ome of it is just the politics of fear,鈥� said State Senator Kent Smith, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. 鈥淚t’s a racist agenda, not the 鈥榦ut of many, we become one,鈥� which the country was founded on.鈥�

Bills like those passing in Ohio have cropped up in several states.Texas and Florida have led the way, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation, with other states like Indiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky each passing or proposing different combinations of bills, some directly focused on schools and others lumping schools in with all public services., for example, to pass some form of a parental bill of rights.

Many have centered on rights of transgender youth, which flared into national controversy when the Biden administration made gender identity, not just biological sex, a protected class under Title IX, a 1972 law against sexual discrimination in education. That led to debates over schools allowing transgender youth to use bathrooms they choose and over transgender students participating on sports teams, usually male students transitioning to female.

鈥淲e’ve seen really a host of state prohibitions, either through executive order or by legislation, related to gender,鈥� said Jonathan Butcher, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. 鈥淥hio is in the midst of it.鈥�

Trump is leading the charge to undo Biden鈥檚 guidance, most notably with orders in January declaring that there are just two sexes 鈥� male and female 鈥� and that only biological sex, not gender identity, counts in federal law. But Butcher said states need to take action, particularly with no federal laws in place to carry Trump’s plan out.

鈥淓xecutive orders are, of course, valuable and strong, but legislation is stronger,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need provisions right in law in order for these things to not just take effect, but also remain in effect.鈥�

Butcher said he isn鈥檛 as surprised as some at how much legislatures like Ohio鈥檚 have acted the last few years, saying it鈥檚 typical for changes and tempers to flare when emotional topics are debated, though he sympathizes with feelings of 鈥渨hiplash鈥� as the nation goes through it.

Ohio鈥檚 shift to the right didn鈥檛 start with these bills or Trump鈥檚 election. Vice President J.D. Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate for Ohio in 2022 and Republican Bernie Moreno just knocked off Democrat Sherrod Brown for Ohio鈥檚 other Senate seat in November. Republicans hold the majority in both state legislative houses, plus all major statewide offices including  auditor, attorney general and secretary of state. 

Republicans also prevailed in a statewide controversy over how state legislative districts are drawn that many say allows polarization of state politics to continue. Though the state supreme court ruled five times that Republicans had gerrymandered state House and Senate unfairly, Ohio voters sided with Republicans in November on a ballot issue that would have redrawn districts under a new process.

Critics charge that candidates don鈥檛 have to appeal to both sides, since districts are set up so races are really decided in Republican primaries.

鈥淚t (the legislature) has definitely moved towards a much more ideological conservative view,鈥� said Christina Collins, a former state school board member who now heads the left-leaning Honesty for Ohio Education nonprofit.

鈥淚t is easier for them to keep up these attacks and to keep the rhetoric going and the vitriol and to keep stirring their base, which is what seems to be happening,鈥� she said.

Ohio鈥檚 transgender bathroom ban, though proposed months earlier, passed after the November election. The state legislature followed that by passing a bill in December and creating a that requires schools to tell parents about 鈥渁ny request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex.鈥�

Schools must also inform parents before students can receive any mental health services, which would also include counseling over gender identity or sexual preference. While supporters praise the bill for letting parents, not schools, decide how to handle student sexuality issues, others blasted the bill as requiring schools to 鈥渙ut鈥� students and expose them to violence.

Schools have until July to set policy for how to inform parents, but counselors are bracing for a 鈥渃hilling effect鈥� the bill would have on students seeking any type of help.

鈥淢any students struggle with unsafe or unwelcoming homes, homes ravaged by poverty or stress, or even comfortable homes where students just sometimes feel the need to vent about family matters,鈥� Douglas Cook testified in hearings on the bill on behalf of the Ohio School  Counselors Association. 鈥淪chool counselors鈥� offices are safe spaces for those students.鈥�

鈥淭his will likely be incredibly jarring for students and result in their being scared that they will lose the privacy of having a safe listener available to them at school,鈥� Cook added.

This year, after Trump started his own campaign in January against what he called 鈥渞adical indoctrination鈥� in schools, Ohio quickly passed a ban on DEI in training and hiring in state colleges. The law also regulates teaching of 鈥渃ontroversial beliefs鈥� including foreign policy, diversity, immigration, abortion and climate change.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed that ban Friday after heated debates with 1,500 pieces of written testimony submitted and in protest. Opponents labeled it the 鈥淗Igher Education Destruction Act鈥� that amounts to state censorship of educators.

State Sen. Jerry Cirino, the bill鈥檚 author said it 鈥渨ill return our public universities and colleges to their rightful mission of education rather than indoctrination.”

In the latest move, bills blocking DEI in training and hiring, though not lessons, in K-12 schools are being heard in the Ohio House and Senate.

that would yank funding from schools that let students change their name or pronouns and another bill that would so schools can post them.

Support from voters for the new laws isn鈥檛 clear, though a found some backing. The poll found residents backed Trump鈥檚 order that there are just two sexes 61 percent to 32 percent. Support for anti-DEI policies was more narrow, 49 percent to 42 percent.

But what about kids living in poverty? Don鈥檛 schools need more money, and more staff, to be able to get good results?

Well, yes and no. Poverty is certainly correlated to reading scores, and the best evidence suggests money helps boost a range of student outcomes.

But that doesn’t mean the best school district in the country is the most well-resourced or the one with the fanciest buildings or most prestigious alumni. In fact, based on how much students learn 鈥� which, in my opinion, is how schools should be evaluated 鈥� there鈥檚 perhaps no better district in the country than Steubenville, Ohio.

Last fall, I worked with 麻豆精品鈥檚 Art & Technology Director Eamonn Fitzmaurice to find districts where students had high reading scores despite serving large concentrations of low-income students. We highlighted Steubenville, a high-poverty district in Ohio鈥檚 Rust Belt, as a true outlier. (In a follow-up piece, we showed that Steubenville was also exceptional at teaching kids math.)

But I wanted to revisit the case of Steubenville after it was spotlighted recently on Emily Hanford鈥檚 award-winning 鈥溾�� podcast. Are its results just a one-time fluke? And if not 鈥� if the results are real 鈥� what can other districts learn from Steubenville鈥檚 success?

First, it鈥檚 quickly apparent that Steubenville is not a flash in the pan. A 2012 story noted that its success traces back to the early 2000s.

It鈥檚 also incredibly consistent over time. I used the tool from the Education Data Center to look at its recent results. The graph below compares Steubenville鈥檚 third-grade reading proficiency rates (in blue) to the statewide average (in gray). As the graph shows, Steubenville consistently gets 95% to 99% of its third graders over the proficiency bar. In 2018, it had a bad year, and “only” 93% of third graders scored proficient. But the district did not suffer much of a drop-off in the wake of the pandemic, hitting 97% in spring 2022.

Steubenville鈥檚 results are also remarkably strong across student groups. Last year, for example, 100% of its Black students, 99% of its low-income students and 92% of its students with disabilities scored proficient in third grade reading.

How does Steubenville get such remarkable results? What can other districts learn from its success?

It鈥檚 not that the district has extra money or more staff. Steubenville $10,718 per student last year, which was about $1,500 less than the average Ohio district and well below many other districts in America. It also had slightly more students per teacher than other comparable districts.

Some things Steubenville does have are not easily replicable. As Robert Pondiscio pointed out in a recent column, the district can boast incredible continuity: It has been following the same reading program, called , for the last 25 years. Teacher turnover is low, and the same superintendent has been in place for a decade.

But Hanford a few things that Steubenville did differently that other schools can learn from. Steubenville, for example, offers subsidized preschool beginning at age 3. And in those early years, teachers regularly remind students to speak in complete sentences as language practice for later, when those kids will start learning to read and write.

The district also deploys staff differently than most do. Every elementary teacher, even the phys ed instructor, leads a reading class. And during that reading block 鈥� which all students have at the same time 鈥� children are grouped with peers performing at the same level, regardless of age.

Steubenville kids are also practicing constantly, either as part of the whole class or in small groups, where kids work on their fluency skills by reading aloud to each other. That stands in contrast to schools that prefer to give kids silent reading or 鈥溾�� time, which can be great for kids who already read well but or even harmful for children who aren鈥檛 ready for long blocks of independent free reading.

Now, it鈥檚 worth noting that Steubenville鈥檚 robust education results have not guaranteed kids a path to economic security. Despite its near-perfect early reading scores, strong middle and high school achievement and a 96% graduation rate, the district鈥檚 post-high school are only slightly above statewide averages in terms of college-going and completion rates and the percentage of graduates who find 鈥済ainful employment.鈥�

But those early adulthood outcomes are at least partly tied to the economic climate in a given community, and it鈥檚 hard to find fault with anything that the school district itself directly controls. Most districts would envy Steubenville鈥檚 impressive results. 

I鈥檝e made no secret of my admiration for Emily Hanford, who has done more to build demand for scientifically sound reading instruction than nearly anyone in the last decade 鈥� not just in journalism but in education at large. Her original “Sold a Story” series was a seismic shift, grabbing public attention and spurring state legislation mandating curriculum and instruction rooted in the science of reading. Now, she鈥檚 back with , as potent as ever. These tell the story of Steubenville, Ohio 鈥� a gritty steel town-turned-reading powerhouse thanks to a 25-year commitment to Success for All, a research-backed, whole-school reform model Nancy Madden and Bob Slavin began developing as reading researchers at Johns Hopkins in the 1970s. Like all of Hanford鈥檚 work, the new episodes are deeply reported, well-informed, engaging and must-hear podcasts. I binge-listened to them twice on a long drive this week. 

Here are my takeaways: 

Continuity Is King

In education, especially for schools serving disadvantaged kids, curriculum changes as often as losing baseball teams swap managers 鈥� new year, new playbook, same old slump. Not so in Steubenville, where sticking with Success for All for 25 years has been a game-changer. In fact, they haven鈥檛 changed the game in a quarter-century. Minimal churn 鈥� low teacher turnover, a decade-long superintendent and 48% of staff are local grads 鈥� breeds a stability other schools and districts can only envy. Hanford gets baffled looks when she asks Steubenville teachers if they鈥檇 ever heard of Lucy Calkins, Fountas and Pinnell or even balanced literacy. 鈥淪teubenville had no need to pursue the latest trend, to even know what the latest trend was,鈥� she reports, 鈥渂ecause what they were doing was working. It鈥檚 been working. For 25 years.鈥�

Success for All Is Really Good

SFA is a standout, backed by a mountain of research that Hanford highlights. It鈥檚 not just a reading curriculum, it鈥檚 a whole-school overhaul 鈥� curriculum and instruction, professional development, leadership training, etc. 鈥� that鈥檚 lifted Steubenville鈥檚 poorest kids to nationally recognized heights, pushing reading scores two grade levels above peers’. Hanford cites research that shows eighth graders staying ahead in reading, with fewer held back or in special ed, cutting costs over time. Interestingly, SFA also shaped Success Academy鈥檚 early days, as I chronicled in my book How the Other Half Learns. A New York hedge fund manager, John Petry, wrote a charter school application after he and his partner Joel Greenblatt persuaded and paid for a Queens, New York, public school to implement SFA to great effect. They hired Eva Moskowitz to lead it. About the same time, Steubenville was looking for a new reading program. 鈥淢ost people familiar with the reading research seemed to agree at the time that there were probably only two reading programs that had been tested and proven with scientific research,鈥� Hanford reports: Success for All and Direct Instruction. 

鈥楽cripted Curriculum鈥� Would Benefit from the Emily Hanford Effect

SFA and Direct Instruction both face a big 鈥� and, for some, insurmountable 鈥� hurdle: Both are scripted, and some teachers hate that. Teachers tend to valorize freedom over recipes, and that resistance keeps SFA and Direct Instruction niche, even with Steubenville鈥檚 success and DI鈥檚 decades of data. Could 鈥淪old a Story鈥� change that misperception? We鈥檒l see. What has made Hanford鈥檚 work so impactful is that she demonstrates how teachers have been misled about what is and is not effective practice; her work casts teachers not as sinners, but as sinned against by schools of education, publishing companies and instructional gurus. The same is true about instructional design and 鈥渟cripts.鈥�  In 鈥淗ow to Be the Next Emily Hanford,鈥� a piece I wrote for with my colleague Riley Fletcher last year, we encouraged education journalists to follow Hanford鈥檚 lead and cast their gaze on classroom practice 鈥� teaching and learning 鈥� rather than the policy and politics that tend to dominate education reporting. If these new episodes bolster SFA and DI鈥檚 reputations and discredit detractors, spotlighting evidence over perceptions of rigidity, it will be a big service.

Teacher Buy-In is Huge

SFA isn’t just a program 鈥� it鈥檚 a pact, insisting that teachers vote to adopt it before it takes root. Steubenville conducted a secret ballot in which 100% of the staff agreed to adopt it 鈥� proof that the buy-in was real. That鈥檚 no small thing. I鈥檝e often rankled my fellow curriculum advocates by saying I鈥檇 rather my daughter鈥檚 teacher be a Kool-Aid-swilling acolyte of a curriculum and pedagogy I dislike than have my preferred curriculum imposed on her and implemented begrudgingly. In How the Other Half Learns, I expected to write about curriculum and instruction at Success Academy but surprised myself by writing more about school culture: The X factor that makes those schools soar is every adult in a kid鈥檚 life singing from the same hymnal. SFA gets that: Without teachers on board, even the best program flops. Steubenville鈥檚 success hinges on that buy-in, a lesson too many reform efforts 鈥� and too many top-down technocratic reformers 鈥� miss or elide. Winning hearts and minds matters. 

EdReports is a Mixed Blessing

EdReports looms large in Hanford鈥檚 latest episodes, a flawed gatekeeper in the science of reading push. In her Steubenville saga, it鈥檚 a shadow player 鈥� SFA鈥檚 evidence shines and Steubenville was implementing it long before EdReports emerged on the scene. But not long ago Ohio鈥檚 initial 鈥渁pproved鈥� list of reading curriculum snubbed SFA because EdReports hadn鈥檛 reviewed it, while green-lighting programs with weaker bona fides. How is that possible? EdReports was created to aid and abet Common Core implementation, not as a science of reading arbiter, yet states like Ohio leaned on it to approve curricula. That led to picks that often flunked the evidence test. Hanford shows EdReports鈥� clout 鈥� 40 publishers tweaked products for its ratings, and nearly 2,000 districts followed suit 鈥� but also its flaws: It gave high marks to programs employing discredited techniques like 鈥�three-cueing,鈥� while SFA, as a 鈥渨hole-school鈥� model, was beyond its scope. That disconnect nearly cost Steubenville its proven program. I鈥檝e long put EdReports in the category of 鈥渢hings I choose to love.鈥� If you believe, as I do, that high-quality instructional materials are critical to student success, EdReports helped pushed curriculum to the center of reform conversations. But Hanford鈥檚 reporting echoes a worry I鈥檝e harbored: Standards alignment isn鈥檛 enough. Built for Common Core, EdReports encourages a view of reading that is neutral to agnostic on quality. A 鈥渟tandards-based鈥� view of reading means you can teach Dickens or dreck. EdReports鈥� ratings don鈥檛 tell me if a program鈥檚 texts are worth the time. 

Another Mixed Blessing: State Lists of Approved Curriculum 

I鈥檝e written favorably about state efforts to center curriculum in reform, like Louisiana鈥檚 push to 鈥溾�� by curating top-tier options. But Hanford shows critical pitfalls: Ohio banned three-cueing and built 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� lists 鈥� bravo! 鈥� yet nearly axed SFA because EdReports didn鈥檛 review it. Steubenville dodged a bullet, but the misstep echoes : good intent, shaky execution. Lists can guide, but when they lean on flawed tools over hard evidence, they鈥檙e more clutter than clarity.

Steubenville proves schools can defy the odds with evidence, continuity and teacher buy-in 鈥� not just phonics. SFA and DI shine 鈥� I鈥檝e been hyping DI and 鈥� yet state lists and EdReports risk sidelining them for flashier flops. Education is cursed with too much innovation, not enough execution. These episodes scream it louder. Hanford鈥檚 work remains a wake-up call, and these episodes raise the stakes: We鈥檝e got the evidence, so why aren鈥檛 we using it?