House and Senate Education Hearings
Both the Ohio House Education Committee and the Ohio Senate Education Committees met yesterday.
The Senate Education Committee met for the sixth hearing on SB19 – Regarding Public Schools-Academic Intervention. Jennie Stump, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the Department of Education and Workforce provided invited testimony regarding two amendments that were subsequently passed (AM1261-1 and AM1279).
Amendment 1261-1 was passed in an effort to reconcile SB19 with the recently passed HB96 language surrounding “advanced learning opportunities.” More specifically, this amendment has removed language that would require each school district to enroll seventh-grade students who score “accomplished” or advanced” on their math achievement assessment into Algebra I in the eighth grade. Instead, this amendment does the following:
Beginning on July 1, 2027:
- “Provide each student in grade 3-5 who achieves an advanced level of skill on a math achievement assessment with advanced learning opportunities in math;
- Enroll each student in sixth grade who achieves an advanced level of skill on a math achievement assessment in an advanced math course;
- Enroll each student in grades 7-8 who achieves an advanced level of skill on a math achievement assessment in Algebra I, or another advanced math course if the student has already completed Algebra I.”
If a student has already taken Algebra I in the seventh or eighth grade, the student must enroll in another advanced math course.
SB19 has been reported out of the Senate Education Committee with these amendments. SB19 will still have to be voted out of the Senate before it heads to the House for more hearings.
The Leaky Pipeline: Assessing the college outcomes of Ohio’s high-achieving low-income students
The Fordham Institute has released the aforementioned report, which can be found [here]. This report outlines high-achieving, low-income (HALO) students’ likelihood of attending top colleges and universities. Somewhat not surprising to those of us in the gifted field, this analysis concludes that HALO students who participate in “advanced learning opportunities” (not necessarily gifted services, but this research does outline the importance of gifted services) are more likely to attend four-year colleges. If interested in discussing this research further, reach out to [email protected] and let’s chat!