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Governor Ted Strickland recently hosted 11 “Conversations on Education” throughout every region of Ohio. The conversations focused on the mission and six principles for education reform the Governor laid out in his State of the State address as well as on vetting specific policy ideas for making sure that Ohio’s schools are among the best in the world and meet the needs of every child. At each regional forum, Governor Strickland gave invited local citizens the opportunity to discuss proposed ideas on creating a system of education that is innovative, personalized and linked to economic prosperity in Ohio. The meetings were broadcasted on local PBS stations and streamed live on the Web. Local citizens and educators that did not attend the event were invited to gather for “watch parties” to view the broadcast/webcast, participate in guided discussion, and provide feedback within their watch party and online in response to the Governor’s meetings. On Friday October 10th Ohio AEYC hosted a virtual watch party for members to have the opportunity through facilitated discussion to provide feedback to the Governor regarding education reform. Based on the call the following is the summary of the messages that Ohio AEYC submitted to the Governor's office. • The social and emotional development and well-being of children are integral to their ability to learn and must be acknowledged and supported. Some suggested ways to do that are: 1) develop social and emotional content standards; 2) provide support, resources and opportunities for teachers to gain knowledge and skills in addressing children’s social/emotional needs, particularly in those districts where families as well as schools have fewer resources and greater barriers to success; and 3) recognize that standardized, high-stakes testing adds emotional stress to children’s educational experience, particularly for those children most at risk for failure who are the children who are most in need of positive educational experiences. • Alternative approaches to assessment need to be explored. Assessment needs to useful as a formative evaluation of instruction for teachers and schools as well as summative evaluation for government funding. • We need to increase the focus on children birth to age five. • We need to re-establish the neighborhood school as the hub of the community. • Parent engagement is often strong in the early years of school but drops off as children get older. Schools and parents need to work together to explore the reasons for diminished parental involvement in the upper grades and develop creative strategies for engaging parents in ways that will enhance their children’s success as well as their school’s success.
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