Race to the Top. Ohio Report. Year 1: School Year 2010-2011. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2012-01-10
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gains,Administrator Effectiveness,Administrator Evaluation,Best Practices,Budgets,Charter Schools,Competition,Data,Data Collection,Disabilities,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,English Curriculum,Enrollment,Federal Legislation,Federal State Relationship,Graduation Rate,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Mathematics,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Performance Based Assessment,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Evaluation,Program Implementation,Reliability,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,STEM Education,Systems Approach,Teacher Effectiveness

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Ohio's Year 1 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation to date. Prior to the first year of its Race to the Top grant, Ohio revised some Ohio Department of Education (ODE) job functions to improve alignment with the four Race to the Top education reform areas. The State also developed tools and processes to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in implementing their Race to the Top plans. In addition, the State and Education Service Centers (ESCs) assigned coordinators and specialists, respectively, to each of the State's six Race to the Top regions to act as a primary resource and give targeted support to LEAs. In addition to providing LEAs with strong supports, Ohio worked with participating LEAs and stakeholders to identify and validate requirements for a State standard instructional improvement system (IIS). Ohio developed its principal and teacher evaluation systems, both of which the State will use to inform professional development and human resource decisions, including retention, dismissal, tenure, and compensation. Furthermore, Ohio awarded the contract for the Ohio Network for Education Transformation (ONET), which will support school reform efforts, provide technical assistance, produce reports, and connect and develop innovative school models. In Year 1, Ohio faced staffing and organizational transitions as well as State and local budget deficits. Transitions in leadership and key staffing positions resulted in timeline delays for several initiatives, including the selection of an assessment consortium, rollout of the kindergarten readiness assessment pilot, and the hiring of a lead for the work related to performance funding for successful educator preparation programs. As a result of budget deficits and limited resources, the State needed to reduce the number of State-level ODE staff, as well as reduce the number of fellows it committed to in its  Woodrow Wilson STEM Fellowship Program activities in order to ensure adequate support for each fellow. Finally, the State found that supporting and maintaining engagement from participating LEAs with low funding allocations proved challenging, and the total number of participating LEAs decreased from 538 at the start of the grant period to 478 as of October 2011. A glossary is included. (Contains 13 footnotes.) [For the parent document, &quot;Race to the Top Annual Performance Report,&quot; see ED529267. For the full report, &quot;Race to the Top. Ohio. State-Reported APR: Year One&quot;, see ED529324.]