On January 2, 2019, the Ohio Department of Education released its plan “to lift aspirations, create hope and excitement, guide development of state-level education policies and promote high-quality educational practices across the state.” Each Child Our Future Ohio Strategic Plan For Education: 2019-2024, at 4 (#EachChildOurFuture). The plan includes ten strategies to help increase the number of Ohio high school graduates who are enrolled in a learning experience, serving in the military, earning a living wage, or engaged in a self-sustaining vocation one year after graduation. The ten strategies include:
- Increase the supply of highly effective teachers and leaders and provide supports to ensure they are effective or highly effective;
- Support every principal to be highly effective—especially those leading schools that serve the neediest children;
- Improve targeted supports and professional learning so teachers can deliver excellent instruction today, tomorrow, and throughout their careers;
- Identify clear learning standards and guidelines that reflect all four equal learning domains;
- Move toward a varied system of assessments to appropriately gauge the four equal learning domains and allow students to demonstrate competency and mastery in ways beyond state standardized tests;
- Refine the state’s accountability system to be a fairer, more meaningful process that reflects all four equal learning domains;
- Work together with parents, caregivers, and community partners to help schools meet the needs of the whole child;
- Promote the importance of early learning and expand access to quality early learning experiences;
- Develop literacy skills across all ages, grades, and subjects; and
- Ensure high school inspires students to identify paths to future success and give students multiple ways to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for high school graduation and beyond.
To read the full strategic plan, click here.
Authors: Matthew John Markling and the McGown & Markling Team.
Note: This blog entry does not constitute – nor does it contain – legal advice. Legal jurisprudence is like the always changing Midwestern weather. As a result, this single blog entry cannot substitute for consultation with a McGown & Markling attorney. If legal advice is needed with respect to a specific factual situation, please feel free to contact a McGown & Markling attorney.