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Issue #221--October 16, 2015     ED's $71 million Ohio charter grant creates storm of controversy The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) decision to award Ohio's troubled charter sector a five-year, $71 million federal expansion grant,  projected to increase the number of students attending charter schools in Ohio by nearly one-third at a time when Ohio's traditional sector is facing significant cuts, is generating intense controversy.  The Ohio Education Association (OEA), all Democratic members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland have all issued statements or written letters to ED expressing disbelief at the award or asking Secretary Duncan to reconsider the decision or withhold funding.  (Click here for the OEA statement,  the Congressional letter, and the Strickland letter.)  ED's surprising decision comes in the wake of three developments raising concerns about the performance of Ohio's charter sector.  First, a 2014 Stanford-based Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) )report found  that, on average, Ohio's traditional public school students learned significantly more than charter school students in both reading and math.   Then Ohio's chief charter school oversight officer, who prepared Ohio's grant application, resigned in July 2015 after the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the previous month that he had intentionally left F grades for online schools out of academic evaluations of charter school oversight agencies.  Finally, Ohio's Republican Auditor of State, a charter supporter, issued a statement in a recent audit that Ohio has a "broken" system of charter school oversight. OEA called for ED to withhold the charter expansion funds until an independent investigation of the allegations reported by the Plain Dealer has been conducted.  OEA has also urged the U.S. Congress to include Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown's Charter School Accountability Act, NEA-supported legislation boosting charter school accountability and transparency and increasing community involvement, in the ESEA reauthorization.  Amidst the grant controversy, the Ohio legislature on October 7 passed compromise legislation to bolster some aspects of oversight of the state's charter schools. States move to limit exit exams California enacted a law last week suspending its controversial high school exit exam requirement through school year 2017-2018.  The new law, SB 172, also applies retroactively back to 2003-2004, which means that tens of thousands of students previously denied diplomas could now receive them.  The California Teachers Association (CTA), NEA's state affiliate, joined those supporting the measure, noting that the exam is not aligned to currents standards and has outlived its usefulness.   The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), which works to end the misuse of standardized tests, responded with a positive statement describing a state trend toward repealing exit exams.  According to FairTest policy analyst Lisa Guisbond, "In addition to California, Minnesota and Mississippi also ended diploma exams this year.  Three other states-Alaska, Rhode Island and South Carolina-cancelled graduation tests in 2014.  South Carolina, along with Arizona and Georgia which dumped their tests in previous years, will also award diplomas retroactively to thousands of students." Obama administration takes on chronic absenteeism The Obama administration announced a new initiative to address chronic absenteeism titled Every Student, Every Day: A National Initiative to Address and Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism.  The initiative, which will seek to reduce chronic absenteeism by 10 percent a year, will be led by the White House and the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice. The administration highlighted several steps being taken to advance this goal including: A "Dear Colleague" letter on chronic absenteeism A new community toolkit to help schools fight chronic absenteeism  New school-level data on absenteeism, which will be released in the spring Technical assistance beginning in January for states and districts to implement early warning systems Public private partnerships, including a mentoring initiative and a public awareness campaign about the harms of absenteeism A virtual summit on chronic absenteeism to be held November 12, 2015.  To register, click here. States to undergo peer review of assessments ED issued new federal guidance on the peer-review process for state assessment systems required by NCLB, after nearly three years of suspension.  Changes to this peer review process include accounting for the increased importance of the use of technology, both in the development of assessments, and in the administration and scoring of those assessments.  Further revisions to the process reflect: (1) test security and protecting student data privacy and integrity; (2) alignment to state-developed standards that include demonstrating higher-order thinking skills, critical and analytical thinking skills, and measuring a student's writing ability; and (3) alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards and the expansion on the use of evidence a state may use to demonstrate quality. To give states time to participate in this process and accurately reflect changes to their standards and assessment systems, ED  is offering three peer-review sessions in late January, late March, and May 2016.  ED is allowing states participating in one of the two assessment consortia-Smarter Balanced or PARCC-or are using another assessment that is common to a significant number of states, i.e., ACT, to undergo the peer-review process in partnership with each other, rather than "recreating the wheel." ED awards $50 million in SEED grants ED announced $50 million in grants under the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program.  The SEED program is designed to provide grants to national nonprofit organizations for projects that, according to ED, "recruit, select, and prepare or provide professional enhancement activities for teachers, principals, or both."  The awards went to: Center for Civic Education; Criterion Education; KIPP Foundation; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform; National Institute for Excellence in Teaching; National Writing Project; New Teacher Center; The New Teacher Project; Urban Teacher Residency United doing business as National Center for Teacher Residencies; Teach for America; and WestEd. Take action Congress is considering issues critical to education, including ESEA reauthorization and the federal budget.  Find out how you can help ensure that Congress gets ESEA right and gives public education the support it needs by visiting NEA's Legislative Action Center.     Questions or comments? Contact the Education Policy and Practice Department at ESEAinfo@nea.org.