Ohio

Ohio recognized that its education system was falling short when compared to world-class or international standards. To help improve the entire education system, Ohio enlisted support from Achieve, Inc. and McKinsey and Company to internationally benchmark Ohio’s K-12 system and identify best practice implications for the state. The resulting report on this effort, Creating a World-Class Education System in Ohio, (1) was released in 2007 by Achieve, Inc.

During this effort, Ohio learned that “the world’s highest-performing educational systems include:

• High Challenge – Sets high expectations for student achievement for those people most responsible for student achievement (students, teachers, principals and superintendents)
• High Support – Provides the necessary resources and builds the capabilities of those same people to ensure they can meet those high expectations of student achievement
• Aligned Incentives – Includes both positive incentives and negative consequences for meeting (or failing to meet) expectations for student achievement.

Benchmarking Ohio’s K-12 system against high-performing international systems resulted in seven recommendations: (2)

• Ensure readiness for college and the global economy by continuing to raise Ohio’s standards and improve assessments.
• Empower principals to function as instructional leaders.
• Align clear expectations for teachers with evaluation, professional development and consequences.
• Motivate and holistically support students to meet high expectations by addressing their unique needs.
• Ensure that funding is fairly allocated and linked to accountability.
• Increase effectiveness of school and district ratings and interventions.
• Provide all students with access to high-quality, publicly funded school options.

The full report, Creating a World-Class Education System in Ohio, provides detailed strategies and policies to achieve all seven implications and is available online at: www.achieve.org/files/World_Class_Edu_Ohio_FINAL.pdf.

Footnotes:

1. Achieve, Inc., Creating a World-Class Education System in Ohio, Inc., 4 (Washington D.C.: Achieve, Inc., 2007),
   http://www.achieve.org/files/World_Class_Edu_Ohio_FINAL.pdf.
   
   
2. Ibid, 4-6.