Candidates for office, download the entire questionaire HERE.
Education Voters of Ohio
2008 Ohio General Assembly Candidate Questionnaire
1) Pre-Kindergarten
It has been shown that young children who attend high quality preschool are much more ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. These children in turn are far more likely to graduate from high school, attend college and avoid the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, many families cannot afford the cost of providing their children with a preschool education, and many public schools do not have the resources to provide pre-school or full day education. Please describe your commitment to ensuring universal access to quality preschool education and full-day kindergarten.
2) State Standards
Ohio has taken a lead role in the development of academic content standards in all major subject areas. While the effort is commendable and needed, the current standards have been shown to be too broad and lacking the clarity needed to guide teachers in their instructional practices. Do you agree that Ohio needs to implement more rigorous academic standards so that the lessons that our students are taught in the classroom are specific, clear, and relevant to our rapidly changing world. ? Why or why not?
3) School Funding
The method by which Ohio funds K-12 public education has been deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. Fundamental reforms in K-12 school funding must be made. Please outline the steps you will take to ensure that K-12 school funding is adequate and equitably distributed.
4) Teacher Recruitment and Retention
Urban and rural school districts often have difficulty in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers. This has created an inequitable distribution of good teachers which favors wealthier school districts. Do you support providing additional funding for “hard to staff” school districts so that they may better recruit and retain good teachers? Why or why not?
5) Community Schools
Community (charter) schools in Ohio have been permitted to expand in number with very little regulation or accountability. Please describe what measures you would seek to ensure that students that attend community schools are provided with a high quality education and that the teachers, school leaders and boards of charter schools are held accountable to Ohio taxpayers.
6) Testing
The Ohio Graduation Test and lower grade level proficiency test and their punitive measures have been blamed for forcing teachers to “teach to the test” at the detriment of providing a well rounded education that prepares students for success in life. Research shows that there are better methods to measure student achievement other than “high stakes tests” that measure a student’s ability to do well on a test on a specific day. Alternative forms of assessments may include informal and structured observations, interviews, projects, performances, and portfolios. Would you support State adoption of scientifically based alternative assessment tools that can more accurately measure what a child has learned and still provide accountability for teachers and schools?
7) Access to higher education
It is clear that to be most prepared in the 21st Century, Ohio’s students will need additional training and knowledge beyond that provided in the State’s K-12 education system. The jobs of today and tomorrow require prospective employees to possess unique skill sets that are learned and refined at the post-secondary level. Therefore it is imperative that state legislators and the Governor work to ensure that all of Ohio’s students and residents have an opportunity to participate in the post-secondary education options that are available throughout the state. What measures would you support to make college and post secondary job training more affordable and accessible?
8 ) Achievement gap
Extreme disparities exist between poor and affluent school districts within the state. As a result of these disparities combined with disadvantages associated with living in poverty, Ohio suffers from a dismal graduation rate among minority students, especially among African American males. To begin to address this problem, in 2007 Governor Strickland introduced the Governor’s Initiative for Increasing the Graduate Rate. Do you support continuation of this initiative into the next budget biennium at its current funding of $20 million? If not, how would you address the achievement gap?
