by Michelle Faust
The Ohio Department of Education released community school sponsor evaluations Thursday. None of the state’s charter school sponsors received the highest rating of “exemplary.”
ODE looks at factors such as school performance, as well as “quality practices,” like whether they train teachers and have a clear mission.
Five out of 65 of the state’s charter school sponsors were rated effective.
“You're going to get a lot of feedback and I think if I had the group in here that were rated effective, I would tell them the same thing. ‘You guys need to really understand what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are and keep pushing yourself to keep getting better and better,’” says DeMaria.
The 39 sponsors rated as “ineffective” are doing some things right, according to State Superintendent of Instruction Paolo DeMaria. But he says, they’ll need to work with ODE to make improvements.
Twenty-one sponsors received the lowest rating: “poor.” They may appeal, but DeMaria says the organizations face real consequences.
“If it’s sustained that the rating of poor applies, they will no longer be in the business of being sponsors,” says DeMaria.
ODE will temporarily oversee schools that lose their sponsor under this process, until the schools can be taken on by a sponsor with a higher rating.