· March 8, 2012

IO Report: Caution on the Cleveland Plan

Research Summary

Innovation Ohio’s conducted an analysis of the education reform plan recently put forward by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. Given recent hints from Governor Kasich and the state’s past history of taking Cleveland experiments statewide (see: vouchers), it is important to closely examine this new plan. We must determine what can work, what needs tweaking, and what poses a threat to the idea of a democratically accountable system of public common schools. Authored by Education Policy Fellow, Steve Dyer, the analysis finds some things to like about the plan, others that need work, and a few detrimental proposals, which, if adopted, could destroy the founders’ vision for educating our children. Bottom line, we believe the Plan as written is a reasonable place to start, but would be a terrible place to end up. It needs work and IO stands ready to help any way we can. Read the report. Read the press release. Follow Steve Dyer, IO’s Education Policy Fellow, on Twitter (@stephenodyer)