Time for action. Done with Tinkering.

By now you have read or heard about Governor Strickland’s State of the State report. Some further information may be of interest to you as you digest and reflect on the contents of the Governor’s message.
The following is quoted directly from a memo from the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools, CORAS (www.coras.org). “Ohio schools should have a freer hand awarding tenure to good teachers and firing bad ones, a report by the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, a philanthropic coalition, said Thursday in recommendations to the governor and Legislature. The forum also recommends eliminating Ohio's standardized high school graduation tests and suggests replacing them with other ways to gauge critical-thinking skills and readiness for college and work.
The report was developed by 43 people from 33 organizations interested in education issues, including the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Department of Education (OEA) and the Ohio School Boards Association. The recommendations were endorsed by the forum's board, but not every organization with a participant backed all proposals, according to a news report. OEA said it found common ground with many of the proposals but backed the state's current teacher tenure and dismissal standards.”
The report itself is titled, Beyond Tinkering: Creating Real Opportunities for Today's Learners and for Generations of Ohioans to Come. You may read it at: www.ohiograntmakersforum.org. Here are the three broad recommendations. See what you think.
1. A bold plan for accelerating the pace of innovation-for restructuring the traditional, industrial model of teaching and learning and for addressing the lowest-performing schools in our state-is needed to keep pace with the demands of the 21st century.
2. Bold action is required to refine Ohio’s academic standards and restructure the state’s assessment system. The state standards need to be revised to articulate what we expect all students to know and be able to do so they are ready to compete in the increasingly global labor market, can live and thrive in a diverse society and can participate as informed members of our democracy. And we need to move to a more balanced assessment system that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities in different ways, informs teaching strategies and improves learning and provides a complete picture of how schools are doing against a consistent set of expectations.
3. Bold steps are needed to ensure that we have the very best teachers and principals working in all of our classrooms and schools for the benefit of all of our students, especially minority and low-income students who traditionally have been underserved.
Three “bold” recommendations to the General Assembly, the Governor and members of the State Board of Education. All coming before the Governor’s address, but on the heels of two years of relative inaction on the education issue which was a main campaign promise.
Note, too, the title of the report and how it warns that we need to be “Beyond Tinkering.” The issue is far too important to Ohio now and in the future.
In the same memo from CORAS, the following comment: “On a related note, House Speaker Armond Budish told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that inequalities that plague Ohio's public schools can be reduced by using multimedia technology to bring high-quality courses from wealthier school districts into the poorest ones. While not the definitive solution to the state's school-funding problem, long-distance learning programs are a cost-effective way to chip away at disparities, the Speaker said.”
Ohio’s school funding system has been unconstitutional since March 24, 1997. It’s time to do more than “chip away” at the problem. Does the Governor’s plan do that?