Grading the performance and effectiveness of state officials as
education policy makers; and the performance of charter schools and
school
districts: State officials and charters rated low - public
school districts rated high, Part I
The idea of grading public schools A-F has been enticing to many
state officials in Ohio; hence Ohio's public schools are graded
A-F. Few really claim the
grading system is valid. The criteria used to arrive at a
performance level are based on opinions of a few policy people as
to what the outcomes of public schools should yield.
It would now seem befitting to grade state policy makers on the
basis of their
education policy pronouncements and enactments. An opinion
survey regarding the performance and effectiveness of selected
categories of state officials in Ohio, and the performance of Ohio
charter
schools and school districts was conducted in May and June 2015.
This was NOT a scientific random sample survey. Responses were
received from those
who chose to complete a survey conducted as a part of these
daily postings. Over 500 responded to the survey. Those who
responded identified themselves
as one of the following: School board member 83 District
superintendent 73
Building principal 70 Teachers 126
Central office staff 54 Support staff 8 Parents 27
Taxpayers 75 College or university engaged in
o Teacher evaluations 13
State officials and schools were rated on the following scale:
Excellent (A)
Good (B) Fair (C) Poor (D)
Very poor (F) Persons were asked to:
Rate the performance and effectiveness of the Governor, State
Superintendent, State Board of Education and State legislature
Rate the performance of the overall traditional public education
system,
charters/community schools and your own school district They
were also asked to identify three things that could be done at the
state
level to improve Ohio's public schools.
Although the responses to the survey don't represent a random
sample, the ratings by each category of respondents are very
similar and show distinct
trends. There was no attempt to solicit responses from select
persons within each category. It is amazing how low the various
categories of state officials
were rated and how consistent the ratings were from one group of
respondents to the other.
Ratings of each one, in response to the statement "Overall,
please rate the performance and effectiveness of the following
state level education policymakers":
Governor
1 - F 2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
51.2% 30.2% 15.1% 2.63% 0.88% 457
State Superintendent
1 - F 2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
50.81% 31.17% 14.37% 3.24% 0.4% 494
State Board of Education
1 - F 2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
48.59% 34.27% 15.73% 1.41% 0% 496
State legislature-House and Senate
1 - F 2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
47.76% 34.76% 15.04% 2.44% 0% 492
The various groups of respondents were consistent in the ratings
for each category of state officials. The results speak for
themselves; however it is
amazing that each category of state officials received more than
80% in poor and very poor ratings and that state officials
individually or as a group received less than 4% in the combined
excellent and good ratings.
Tomorrow, Part II will disclose the ratings of charter schools
and public school districts.
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
