Grading the performance and effectiveness of state officials as education

policy makers; and the performance of charter schools and school

districts: State officials and charters rated low - public school districts
rated high, Part I
The idea of grading public schools A-F has been enticing to many state officials
in Ohio; hence Ohio's public schools are graded A-F. Few really claim the
grading system is valid. The criteria used to arrive at a performance level are
based on opinions of a few policy people as to what the outcomes of public
schools should yield.
It would now seem befitting to grade state policy makers on the basis of their
education policy pronouncements and enactments.
An opinion survey regarding the performance and effectiveness of selected
categories of state officials in Ohio, and the performance of Ohio charter
schools and school districts was conducted in May and June 2015. This was
NOT a scientific random sample survey. Responses were received from those
who chose to complete a survey conducted as a part of these daily postings.
Over 500 responded to the survey. Those who responded identified themselves
as one of the following:
School board member 83
District superintendent 73
Building principal 70
Teachers 126
Central office staff 54
Support staff 8
Parents 27
Taxpayers 75
College or university engaged in
o Teacher evaluations 13
State officials and schools were rated on the following scale:
Excellent (A)
Good (B)
Fair (C)
Poor (D)
Very poor (F)
Persons were asked to:
Rate the performance and effectiveness of the Governor, State
Superintendent, State Board of Education and State legislature
Rate the performance of the overall traditional public education system,
charters/community schools and your own school district
They were also asked to identify three things that could be done at the state
level to improve Ohio's public schools.

Although the responses to the survey don't represent a random sample, the
ratings by each category of respondents are very similar and show distinct
trends. There was no attempt to solicit responses from select persons within
each category. It is amazing how low the various categories of state officials
were rated and how consistent the ratings were from one group of respondents
to the other.
Ratings of each one, in response to the statement "Overall, please rate the
performance and effectiveness of the following state level education
policymakers":
Governor
1 - F 2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
51.2% 30.2% 15.1% 2.63% 0.88% 457
State Superintendent
1-F
2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
50.81% 31.17% 14.37% 3.24% 0.4% 494
State Board of Education
1-F
2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
48.59% 34.27% 15.73% 1.41% 0% 496
State legislature-House and Senate
1-F
2 - D 3 - C 4 - B 5 - A Responses
47.76% 34.76% 15.04% 2.44% 0% 492
The various groups of respondents were consistent in the ratings for each
category of state officials. The results speak for themselves; however it is
amazing that each category of state officials received more than 80% in poor
and very poor ratings and that state officials individually or as a group received
less than 4% in the combined excellent and good ratings.
Tomorrow, Part II will disclose the ratings of charter schools and public
school districts.
William Phillis
Ohio E & A