The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2008 state of the state addresses. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format. To view the documents, click on the blue triangle next to the state.
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 | Ohio |
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| Governor Ted Strickland's State of the State Address
High School, Economic/Workforce Development
-- Stop thinking about high school as an end in itself. Whether through college or technical training, our young people must be brought up with the expectation that they need to continue their education beyond high school.
-- Create the Seniors to Sophomores to give every twelfth grader who meets the academic requirements a choice of spending their senior year in their home high school, or spending it on a University System of Ohio campus. Tuition for the year will be free. The goal is to raise the aspirations of all students, to challenge students who might feel disengaged from their high school studies, and to help students who want to accelerate their college education.
-- Work to ensure that all our schools can meet the needs of all our students in this globally competitive environment by creating learning environments that foster and nurture creativity, innovation, and global competency. Six core principles will guide our efforts to achieve that vision.
First, we cannot address our education challenges without strengthening our commitment to public education.
Second, a modern education must be directly linked to economic prosperity. Ohio cannot thrive without understanding that world class schools will produce a talented workforce, and a talented workforce will attract and create jobs.
Third, we need to identify the great strengths of our schools. There are features in our education system that the rest of the world seeks to emulate, and we must build on these triumphs.
We excel internationally in our ability to foster creativity and innovation. These skills fuel a lifetime of success, especially in an evolving global economy. Our schools must teach students to think past the limits of what's been done, and imagine what could be done.
Fourth, our best teachers can show us what works best in the classroom. We need to consult them and follow their lead. Great teachers can be a resource not only for their students but for their fellow educators. We should support these teachers by giving them the freedom to stay in the classroom and still be rewarded for sharing their expertise with their peers. We lose a lot of new teachers – as many as half of all new teachers leave the profession in the first 5 years – but we can help keep these talented people by giving them better access to senior colleagues.
Fifth, we must strive to develop a specific, personalized education program that identifies how each individual student learns and use the teaching methods appropriate to that student's needs and abilities.
And sixth, testing and assessment will continue to answer accountability questions. But their most important role will be to guide personalized and individualized education through a comprehensive and ongoing understanding of a student's capabilities and weaknesses and growth in the educational process.
I will be guided by these principles as I draft my plan not only for funding, but also for reforming our schools.
Governance
-- Ensure, like higher education, that there is a direct line of responsibility and accountability in K through 12 education -- so that elected and appointed leaders are working together to strengthen education in Ohio. (In 2007, the legislature gave the Governor authority to appoint the Chancellor of Higher Education.)
-- Create a new position: the director of the Department of Education. This office would be appointed by the governor, subject to approval by the Senate. The director would have oversight over all Department of Education efforts. The existing structure, including the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools, would remain in place in advisory and additional roles as determined by the director.
Postsecondary Access
-- Our Chancellor of Higher Education is required to construct a ten-year plan for Ohio's colleges and universities. This plan will raise the quality of all our academic programs, and will guarantee that anyone who is prepared and qualified will be able to afford to go. We will do this by operating creatively and efficiently, building centers of excellence, and increasing the amount of funds we raise publicly and privately for financial aid.
-- Build a system that is flexible enough to serve the potential students we are missing. Provide Ohioans what they need to succeed in the 21st century – access to high-quality, affordable associate and bachelor's degrees. The ten-year plan for the University System of Ohio will guarantee that a high quality associate and bachelor's degree in the academic fields necessary to land a good job will be available on a campus within thirty miles of every Ohioan. For students seeking a bachelor's degree, Ohio is now among the ten most expensive states. Under our plan, every Ohioan will have access to a high-quality bachelor's degree that will rank among the ten least expensive in the nation.
http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=799 | |
| Oklahoma |
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| Pennsylvania |
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| Rhode Island |
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| South Carolina |
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| South Dakota |
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| Tennessee |
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| Vermont |
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| Virginia |
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| Washington |
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| West Virginia |
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| Wisconsin |
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