Week in Review 10-2-2020

Week in Review > Week in Review 10-2-2020

Posted by Buckeye Association of School Administrators on October 02nd, 2020

CORONAVIRUS

Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said Friday that Interim Health Director Lance Himes signed an updated health order on athletics that rescinds the rule limiting teams to one game per calendar day.

Though not exact, results of antibody testing have found that hundreds of thousands of Ohioans have already contracted COVID-19 and millions more remain susceptible, Ohio State University (OSU) Associate Professor Abby Norris Turner told reporters Thursday during Gov. DeWine’s update.

EDUCATION

The U.S. Department of Education included 16 Ohio schools among 367 nationally recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020. Schools are recognized in two award categories: Exemplary High Performing Schools, the top performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests; and Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools, which show the best performance in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria announced Tuesday that 37 Ohio schools will receive the Purple Star Award for the 2020-21 school year. The award recognizes a school’s demonstrated commitment to serving students and families connected to the United States armed forces and Ohio National Guard.

Education and workforce officials issued five recommendations Thursday for ways to assist students who haven’t qualified for graduation by the end of 12th grade to earn their diplomas. The biennial budget, HB166 (Oelslager), required the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) and Office of Workforce Transformation (OWT) to convene a committee to study the topic. At least one million adults in Ohio left school without a diploma, the report notes.

Citing a recent decreasing emphasis on civics education in lieu of increased testing, the League of Women Voters in a webinar Thursday released a free civics education curriculum for use in online learning designed to reenergize interest in civics by being tailored to “Generation Z.” The curriculum, titled “Voting and Civics: Know Your Ohio Government,” is designed for use in middle and high school classrooms, but its framework is flexible enough to work for elementary through college level classes. Instructors will be able to pull the individual resources they like from the program for use in their lesson. To view the full, free curriculum, visit https://tinyurl.com/y2cpjxnn .

STEM education group “Believe in Ohio” announced recently the creation of a statewide scholarship program to recognize Ohio high school students for their contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship in STEM fields. The program was collaboratively developed by the Ohio Academy of Science (OAS) and Entrepreneurial Engagement Ohio (EEO) and is funded by the state through the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE). An online application for the scholarship is available at https://form.jotform.com/OhioScience/STEM-scholarship.