Ohio schools should have a preliminary list by month’s end of instructional materials that meet new state literacy standards, according to the Department of Education and Workforce’s (DEW) point person for reading.

DEW leadership convened Thursday its second public meeting, something the agency is required to do every other month to provide updates on initiatives and programs. The public meeting mandate was included in the HB33 (Edwards) governance transition provisions for K-12 education, which converted the Ohio Department of Education into DEW and put it under authority of the governor’s office rather than the State Board of Education. The board retains oversight mostly of educator licensure and professional conduct enforcement.

The biennial budget includes a requirement for schools to use high-quality instructional materials aligned to the science of reading.

Melissa Weber-Mayrer, literacy chief for DEW, said by the end of January the agency expects to publish a preliminary list of qualifying materials, with plans to continue reviewing additional materials and to put out a final list by March.

Chad Aldis of the Fordham Institute asked DEW officials their outlook on how long the literacy initiatives will take to start showing results, and their estimate of how many schools will need to choose new instructional materials.

Regarding the timeline for seeing results, Aldis said implementation has proven to be the stumbling block for prior reading initiatives in the Taft and Kasich administrations and urged DEW to stay the course.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. If we miss this opportunity, it will be Ohio students and the next generation that pay the price for that, not the grownups,” Aldis said.

“The General Assembly, and these are my words not yours, can be impatient,” Aldis said. “How are you thinking about when the state will begin seeing progress?”

DEW Director Steve Dackin said he’s been urging local superintendents to take ownership of this literacy push, saying it’s vital to children but will also earn them respect with the General Assembly.

“I am challenging superintendents around leadership of this issue. Because to me, this is about leadership. Yes, there’s a lot of technical things that need to be done, but we are providing a framework to do it, and now it comes down to will,” Dackin said.

“I said, if you want a seat at the table, then this is the opportunity. Get the results that we need for our kids and our families,” he said. “I know it’s complex … but if we can do this one thing better than anyone else in the country, think of where we’d be.”

Dackin and Weber-Mayrer said while conventional wisdom holds that results will come after implementation in the coming school year, some districts are much farther along in this work as a result of prior literacy initiatives that included some of this work. Some districts are close to full implementation now, Weber-Mayrer said.

“Full implementation, where we are seeing outcomes across the board, is going to take more than two years,” she said.

Chris Woolard, chief program officer for DEW, demurred on estimating how many schools will need new materials, saying he wants to await publication of the approved materials list before hazarding a guess.

Barbara Shaner, a lobbyist who works with school administrator associations, said some schools have practical questions about how stipend payments will be made under provisions of HB33 for compensating teachers who complete training in literacy instruction.

Aaron Rausch, chief of budget and school funding for DEW, said the department contracted with the Management Council for the Ohio Education Computer Network to gather information from schools about what teachers have taken which trainings, and will use that to include payments to schools as part of regular foundation payments. While the stipends are for $1,200 or $400, depending on the type of teacher, DEW will pay districts additional money to cover the entire cost. Since the stipends count as compensation, they come with the obligation to pay retirement system contributions, but the law allows DEW to cover that cost.

Melanie Bolender, a former State Board of Education member, commented that improving literacy achievement is everybody’s responsibility.

The meeting included review by attorneys of numerous administrative rule revision proposals, many reflecting the change from ODE to DEW, as well as the migration of some former ODE/DEW programs to the new Department of Children and Youth.

Among the rule proposals are changes to Rule 3301-51-15, which covers the operating standards for schools to identify and serve gifted students.

Abbie Sigmon, executive director of the Ohio Association for Gifted Children (OAGC), suggested a few revisions. She also commented on “deeply unsatisfactory” staffing levels in Ohio schools that contribute to staff burnout. Ohio has about 940 gifted intervention specialists (GIS) and fewer than 1,150 gifted staff, compared to a population of 225,000 students identified as gifted. Sigmon said the association would support adoption of a mandate to serve gifted students, which would require districts to hire adequate staff.

Sigmon’s suggested changes to the draft rules included the following:

- Clearly specifying that gifted staff provide talent development for gifted students. “Classroom teachers are not trained to provide talent development for academic giftedness or cognitive giftedness. Talent development must happen with input from GISs; however, talent development classes should not detract from gifted student education, and the rule as proposed could erode services for gifted students across the state.”

- Specifying that cluster grouping, while a promising practice, should be used only where possible, and more clearly defining temporary waivers outlined in the relevant rule section.

- Removing a requirement for GISs to meet with parents, which Sigmon said is unreasonable given the staffing ratios she’d previously discussed. A meeting mandate would ultimately diminish the amount of gifted instruction students will get.

- More clearly specifying the credentials needed for providers of professional development on gifted education.

The next DEW public meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 14 at the DEW office, 25 S. Front St., Columbus.