WELCOME TO THE BCHF FAMILY!
Buckeye Community Hope Foundation is pleased to welcome five schools to its portfolio! Read more

SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH CONCEPT SCHOOLS
It’s not too late to celebrate a late spring Ohio Supreme Court ruling in favor of Concept Schools which will provide nearly $10 million dollars in Quality Community Schools Support grant funding to 12 schools over a two-year period. Read more

DEWINE ENCOURAGES MASKS IN SCHOOLS
Against the backdrop of proposed legislation to prohibit schools from putting mask mandates in place, Governor Mike DeWine warned of a surge of the COVID-19 Delta variant – a “perfect storm” that could jeopardize in-person learning -- and urged schools to require students who aren’t vaccinated to wear masks. He also encouraged all students ages 12 and older who are eligible for vaccines to get them. Read more

ANOTHER NEW INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT NAMED
For the second time in just 60 days, the State Board of Education named an interim leader for the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) following State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria’s announcement of his plan to retire effective September 24. Read more

SEPTEMBER IS ATTENDANCE AWARENESS MONTH
Celebrate Attendance Awareness Month with the Stay in the Game! Network by participating in planned activities and events every week throughout September. Each week will highlight a different activity schools can participate in to show support and encourage regular attendance.

The month highlights the importance of mobilizing schools, families and community partners to promote regular attendance by developing tiered strategies and personalized interventions to reduce chronic absence.

A student who misses as few as two days of school a month is considered chronically absent. Ohio’s chronic absenteeism rate for the 2018-2019 school year was 16.7 percent – about 260,000 students. Data show that chronically absent students in Ohio are 89 percent less likely to graduate on time from high school and 65 percent less likely to meet the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

Access information and resources on the Stay in the Game! website at: Stay in the Game

RESTART READINESS ASSESSMENTS, RESOURCES AVAILABLE
The 2021-2022 Restart Readiness assessments are now available. These optional assessments consist of Benchmark and Checkpoint tests to help schools identify student progress early and receive actionable performance data.

Benchmark tests are full-length assessments that mirror the content and test characteristics of Ohio’s state tests. Checkpoint assessments are short, six- to ten-item tests that offer a range of opportunities to assess within each reporting category.

Access the assessments and resources online at: Ed-Connect

VIRTUAL OHIO SCHOOL SAFETY SUMMIT SLATED FOR OCTOBER
The Ohio School Safety Center recently announced that the 2021 virtual Ohio School Safety Summit will be held October 6-8.

The free summit will provide an opportunity for school safety, public safety, mental health professionals and others to share best practices, training and resources with schools and community leaders across the state.

Conference presentations and training opportunities will include experts in physical security, mental health, school climate, critical incident response, cyber, threat assessment and more.

Learn more online at: Ohio.gov

AIM HIRE VIRTUAL WORKFORCE AND EDUCATION CONFERENCE SET FOR NEXT MONTH
The Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation and Ohio Excels will join together to host the Aim Hire Workforce and Education Conference on October 6 from 1 to 3 p.m. The conference goal is to strengthen relationships between businesses and educators at all levels.

This year’s virtual event will explore the state of education and workforce in Ohio and key issues and solutions – such as work-based learning, career pathways and business advisory councils -- to better prepare Ohioans for success.

Register or learn more online at: Tickets

ATTENDANCE WORKS: NOTEWORTHY RESEARCH
A new study finds that a regular bedtime reduces kindergarteners’ absences and decreases their likelihood of being chronically absent, and the bedtime hour doesn’t matter.

The study by Michael Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania, and Jacob Kirksey, Texas Tech University, relied on a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners, and notes that bedtime routines are helpful.

Access the study – Going to sleep and going to school: Linking bedtime to student absenteeism – online at: Research