Strickland school summit tries to ID what works

by Scott Stephens
Cleveland Plain Dealer

School’s out for the summer, but more than 300 educators, business chiefs, community leaders and parents will begin comparing notes today in a first-of-its-kind statewide summit on improving public education.

The invitation-only, three-day event, which ends Saturday, is being grandly billed as “the Governor’s Institute for Creativity & Innovation in Education.” But its purpose is plain: Identify what works in Ohio classrooms, and figure out how to replicate it.

“All of the people participating have, to a certain extent, acted as change agents in their respective communities,” said Keith Dailey, spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland.

One of those people is Jim Mahoney, executive director of Battelle for Kids, a Columbus-based not-for-profit group that helps educators accelerate student progress.

While much of the groups’ reform effort has been data-driven, Mahoney said creativity and innovation are equally important.

“It isn’t about who gets highest test scores,” Mahoney said. “Ultimately, students have to have the kind of skills important in the marketplace.”

Another participant, William Wendling said he is hopeful the conference will address two of his areas of interest: Urban education and the community’s role in education.

Wendling is executive director of the Ohio 8, a coalition of the state’s eight big-city superintendents and teacher union presidents. He is also involved in establishing what will be Cuyahoga County’s first “P-16 council,” groups that help the education system work together seamlessly from preschool through college.

“The idea is that this is a communitywide effort,” Wendling said. “It shouldn’t be confined to the schoolhouse.”

Not everyone is hopeful about the governor’s event. In his group’s newsletter, Chester Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said Ohio was going “squishy.”

While praising the state’s push to establish special science, technology, engineering and math academies, he said state officials should be more “hard-nosed” about education.

“Ohio’s Ted Strickland has invited several hundred Ohioans to a fiesta of education psychobabble, full of every loopy idea ever encountered in this field and as lacking in teeth as a 3-month-old,” Finn wrote.

Whether innovation or psychobabble, the event kicks off today with an address from John Stanford, Strickland’s top education adviser. The day ends with a cookout at Strickland’s home.

Friday and Saturday will feature group sessions. Strickland will conclude the event with an address Saturday afternoon.